From the Boston Herald:
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says the federal government is preparing to offer several incentives to get Americans to buy more U.S.-made cars.
In a White House speech, Obama said the IRS will start notifying consumers who purchased cars after Feb. 16 that they can deduct the cost of any sales and excise taxes. The program would remain in effect till year’s end.
Obama says he wants to work with Congress to use parts of the economic stimulus package to fund a program that would allow consumers to get a "generous credit" when they replace an older, less fuel-efficient car and buy a new, cleaner car.
The president says he wants to make the program retroactive starting Monday. It’s meant to boost car sales in the U.S., which have seen their worst decline in 27 years.
Obama also said the government will guarantee warranties on any GM or Chrysler vehicles.
Showing posts with label GM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GM. Show all posts
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
GM, Obama: My Heart is Broken - "Joe the MBA Student Speaks"
"WASHINGTON — The White House on Sunday pushed out the chairman of General Motors and instructed Chrysler to form a partnership with the Italian automaker Fiat within 30 days as conditions for receiving another much-needed round of government aid.
The decision to ask G.M.’s chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, to resign caught Detroit and Washington by surprise, and it underscored the Obama administration’s determination to take a hands-on role in the companies it is bailing out — a level of government involvement in business not seen since the Great Depression..." - NYTimes.
Under pressure from the Obama administration, GM CEO Rick Wagner was forced to resign. Socialism's march through this once great nation continues unabated, with the people blinded by hope and self-delusion into thinking that the federal government has the ability to manage the return to profitability of the auto industry. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there are a variety of possible scenarios, what I see unfolding over the mid-term is this:
The government takes an AIG-like ownership position in GM, dictating the production of vehicles that do not appeal to the domestic market, let alone to auto buyers in Europe, Asia or Russia. Future Chevrolet's will be green eco-boxes that post great fuel economy numbers, but cost thousands of dollars more to produce than their highly-efficient internal combustion rivals, making them much more expensive on the sales floor - even with generous federal vouchers issued to encourage their purchase (subsidies that our sons and daughters will spend a generation trying to pay for).
Cap&Trade cars will not return GM to profitability as long as gas remains reasonably priced and the American public prefers mid-size cars and trucks, cross-over vehicles and even SUV's. Realizing that Obama's Car Czar has dictated the production of a product that is "ahead of its time" and too enlightened for the masses, the federal government will then mandate a gas tax to maintain the price of a gallon of fuel at $4+ for the duration. The concept will be extended to all industries that rely upon fossil fuel - government dictated taxes that make normal production and use prohibitively expensive, in favor of "green" alternatives.
The increased cost of doing business will further decrease output and GDP will continue to slide, while wages stagnate and consumption falls further still.
But looking back to the auto industry, which will become fully-owned by the federal government within 18-24 months, expect by the end of Obama's first term to find the auto industry to be brain dead, run out of some creepy bureau in Washington named "The Vehicular Output Office" or something suitably GreatDepressionistic in its hue. Obama wins a second term because the Republicans are still too chicken to shoot the fundamentalists who've so contaminated and corrupted the ideals Reagan stood for, and the Party fails to field a viable candidate.
By the final year of the Obama administration, the means of production may be in the hands of the working class, but no one will have any money to buy the pairs of two left shoes and battery powered "cars" costing $42,000 each that Detroit is pumping out. Enter, at this point, when it doesn't seem like it could get any worse, a private sector representative reminiscent of JP Morgan when he saved the financial system of the US. He'll come with a plan and an investment cartel and the goal of re-privatizing the domestic auto industry so that we can get back to making the cars that America wants, and not the rolling-mechanized-green-lobby-PR-boxes that some members of the radical environmental lobby believe it their duty to secure.
If you're a classic car fan, better to enjoy them now, before the enviro-Nazis confiscate them and give you the choice of a Tesla Roadster or a Tata Nano.
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For media inquiries, I am "Joe the MBA Student" the antithesis of "Joe the Plumber." Commentary and interview requests click here.
The decision to ask G.M.’s chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, to resign caught Detroit and Washington by surprise, and it underscored the Obama administration’s determination to take a hands-on role in the companies it is bailing out — a level of government involvement in business not seen since the Great Depression..." - NYTimes.Under pressure from the Obama administration, GM CEO Rick Wagner was forced to resign. Socialism's march through this once great nation continues unabated, with the people blinded by hope and self-delusion into thinking that the federal government has the ability to manage the return to profitability of the auto industry. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there are a variety of possible scenarios, what I see unfolding over the mid-term is this:
The government takes an AIG-like ownership position in GM, dictating the production of vehicles that do not appeal to the domestic market, let alone to auto buyers in Europe, Asia or Russia. Future Chevrolet's will be green eco-boxes that post great fuel economy numbers, but cost thousands of dollars more to produce than their highly-efficient internal combustion rivals, making them much more expensive on the sales floor - even with generous federal vouchers issued to encourage their purchase (subsidies that our sons and daughters will spend a generation trying to pay for).
Cap&Trade cars will not return GM to profitability as long as gas remains reasonably priced and the American public prefers mid-size cars and trucks, cross-over vehicles and even SUV's. Realizing that Obama's Car Czar has dictated the production of a product that is "ahead of its time" and too enlightened for the masses, the federal government will then mandate a gas tax to maintain the price of a gallon of fuel at $4+ for the duration. The concept will be extended to all industries that rely upon fossil fuel - government dictated taxes that make normal production and use prohibitively expensive, in favor of "green" alternatives.
The increased cost of doing business will further decrease output and GDP will continue to slide, while wages stagnate and consumption falls further still.
But looking back to the auto industry, which will become fully-owned by the federal government within 18-24 months, expect by the end of Obama's first term to find the auto industry to be brain dead, run out of some creepy bureau in Washington named "The Vehicular Output Office" or something suitably GreatDepressionistic in its hue. Obama wins a second term because the Republicans are still too chicken to shoot the fundamentalists who've so contaminated and corrupted the ideals Reagan stood for, and the Party fails to field a viable candidate.
By the final year of the Obama administration, the means of production may be in the hands of the working class, but no one will have any money to buy the pairs of two left shoes and battery powered "cars" costing $42,000 each that Detroit is pumping out. Enter, at this point, when it doesn't seem like it could get any worse, a private sector representative reminiscent of JP Morgan when he saved the financial system of the US. He'll come with a plan and an investment cartel and the goal of re-privatizing the domestic auto industry so that we can get back to making the cars that America wants, and not the rolling-mechanized-green-lobby-PR-boxes that some members of the radical environmental lobby believe it their duty to secure.If you're a classic car fan, better to enjoy them now, before the enviro-Nazis confiscate them and give you the choice of a Tesla Roadster or a Tata Nano.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For media inquiries, I am "Joe the MBA Student" the antithesis of "Joe the Plumber." Commentary and interview requests click here.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
WTF GM?
From the NY Times,“...General Motors acknowledged in its annual report on Thursday that its survival was in 'substantial doubt'...GM warned last month that its auditors, Deloitte & Touche, could raise concerns about its viability...Despite the notice, G.M., which lost $30.9 billion last year and has already borrowed $13.4 billion from the government, said that it still believed it could be viable and that it did not intend to file for bankruptcy protection….G.M. said in Thursday’s filing that it had no way to repay the loans right now and could soon become insolvent without at least $9.1 billion more aid.”
WTF? This is all from the same article.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Dead End in Detroit for White-Collar Workers
BusinessDead End in Detroit for White-Collar Workers
By BILL VLASIC and NICK BUNKLEY
Published: February 17, 2009
"The resolve of Detroit’s white-collar workers has given way to grim resignation as General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler have announced more and more job cuts."
This article is sobering... My dad was a white collar GM worker. He died back in 1989 when he was 52, so he'd have been retired by now, but still...I love cars and I love the auto industry and this is a crappy time...
GM will keep at least one loyal customer, though unfortunately she's not one who the company stands to make much money off of: my mom. She can buy GM cars at "employee cost" through the GM Family First employee purchase program (as can my brother and me), but really - in this market? GM dealers are hardly working off of big margins and it's not like there is a lack of supply that is boosting up prices. Rather, the lack of demand for GM products has ground the price of GM's offerings into the dirt. Sad, sad days.
And with Bob Lutz bowing out as head of GM's global product development at such a watershed moment... It's now only a matter of time until the company is compelled to declare bankruptcy, though hopefully something viable emerges from the ashes. Poorly managed for too many years with endless production runs of vehicles that did not appeal to a wide enough market segment? Yes. But still, this company is close to my heart - it was the company in which my father (God rest his soul) built his career. It deserves better than what we're seeing.
GM will keep at least one loyal customer, though unfortunately she's not one who the company stands to make much money off of: my mom. She can buy GM cars at "employee cost" through the GM Family First employee purchase program (as can my brother and me), but really - in this market? GM dealers are hardly working off of big margins and it's not like there is a lack of supply that is boosting up prices. Rather, the lack of demand for GM products has ground the price of GM's offerings into the dirt. Sad, sad days.And with Bob Lutz bowing out as head of GM's global product development at such a watershed moment... It's now only a matter of time until the company is compelled to declare bankruptcy, though hopefully something viable emerges from the ashes. Poorly managed for too many years with endless production runs of vehicles that did not appeal to a wide enough market segment? Yes. But still, this company is close to my heart - it was the company in which my father (God rest his soul) built his career. It deserves better than what we're seeing.
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