Uncle Sam is willing to shell out $4,500 for your brand new car. That’s the new plan President Obama worked out with Democrats in the House today. You just have to trade in an old gas-guzzler for a nice, modern gas-saving model.
And might I suggest one that runs on Willie Wonka’s trash?
Scientists today unveiled a racecar that can go 145 miles per hour on the vegetable oils and chocolate waste that candy manufacturers call garbage.
Showing posts with label Auto Industry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Auto Industry. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Friday, December 12, 2008
Corker Tells a Lie
Fox Business reports:
The UAW concessions include allowing the domestic automakers to postpone their required health-care contributions from 2010 to 2012 and to eliminate the controversial jobs bank.
Sen. Bob Corker says:
The fact that they [the unions] were willing to make no concessions — zero — and let these companies fall into peril as they are now, to me, as I wake up today, it’s pretty surreal actually.
One of them is lying, and for once it’s not Fox.
Merry Christmas from Sen. Bob Corker
After Senate Republicans killed the auto industry bailout, GM was forced to immediately announce the shutdown of 20 manufacturing plants for the month of January, temporarily laying off all those workers in time for Christmas.
No word yet how that will affect Spring Hill workers here in Tennessee. But I have a pretty good guess how it will affect the economy.
A quick reminder to the GOP: jobs = good, layoffs = bad.
Update: Fortunately, those temporarily laid-off workers will receive a partial salary in January. Unless Sen. Corker gets his way. Under Corker’s plan for the auto industry, they would get nothing. The federal government would step in and kill their partial salaries during temporary plant closures. Is that want you want your Senator fighting for?
No word yet how that will affect Spring Hill workers here in Tennessee. But I have a pretty good guess how it will affect the economy.
A quick reminder to the GOP: jobs = good, layoffs = bad.
Update: Fortunately, those temporarily laid-off workers will receive a partial salary in January. Unless Sen. Corker gets his way. Under Corker’s plan for the auto industry, they would get nothing. The federal government would step in and kill their partial salaries during temporary plant closures. Is that want you want your Senator fighting for?
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Bad Idea
The biggest Union-associated costs bogging down GM right now are pensions and healthcare costs. Therefore, Sen. Bob Corker wants to slash union wages and unemployment benefits? Swing and a miss, Senator.
PS: That plan is especially bad when we’re desperate to stimulate the economy.
PS: That plan is especially bad when we’re desperate to stimulate the economy.
Fail-Mongering
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), trying to explain why an auto industry bailout will lead to widespread violence (!), says, “There are already people rioting because they’re losing their jobs when everybody else is being bailed out.”
Um, what? Where?
Sorry, Senator, I call FAIL. Maybe you should leave the fear-mongering to Fox News.
Um, what? Where?
Sorry, Senator, I call FAIL. Maybe you should leave the fear-mongering to Fox News.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Corker & The Big Three
I’ve got to say Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is right on the money when he sums up the situation for Chrysler and Ford.
He says Chrysler just wants a little spending money to stay afloat until it can sell itself off to the highest bidder:
"The fact is basically what your plan is about is that you want to hang around long enough so that you can date somebody and hopefully get married soon before you run out of money," Corker said.
Furthermore:
He told Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally, whose company is not in immediate danger of collapse, that he was just there because Chrysler and GM were asking for help.
As for GM, Sen. Corker has some good ideas and bad.
He gave GM a laundry list of solutions to it’s problems, including offering its debtors 30 cents on the dollar, which is more than they’re getting in the debt reselling market right now. Plus, Corker wants the UAW to cut GM some slack on retiree healthcare payments and unemployment payments above and beyond what the government gives laid off workers.
Well, GM should try to buy back its own debt for pennies on the dollar if it can, and that’s not a bad use for a government bailout check, if it gets one.
Here’s where Corker goes wrong. In this economy, the last thing you want to do is take money out of the hands of consumers, even (or especially) unemployed ones. For one, they’re buying necessities, not frivolities. And for two, we want to encourage all the spending we can.
The second-to-last thing you want to do is take healthcare away from retirees. Either the government is going to end up paying for it, or they’re going to have to go without. Neither is a good thing. And the ones that go without are likely to get sick and cost the government a whole long more money in the long run away.
So that’s two more good things to do with a government bailout check.
I’ve been on the fence on the whole auto industry rescue thing, but Sen. Corker now has me leaning towards a bailout for GM at least. The other two… not so much. Ford says they’re not going to declare bankruptcy either way, so if they’re not even at risk of bankruptcy why the hell do they need bailout? Chrysler’s a goner anyway. Would a bailout help them find a buyer or only give them longer to put it off?
He says Chrysler just wants a little spending money to stay afloat until it can sell itself off to the highest bidder:
"The fact is basically what your plan is about is that you want to hang around long enough so that you can date somebody and hopefully get married soon before you run out of money," Corker said.
Furthermore:
He told Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally, whose company is not in immediate danger of collapse, that he was just there because Chrysler and GM were asking for help.
As for GM, Sen. Corker has some good ideas and bad.
He gave GM a laundry list of solutions to it’s problems, including offering its debtors 30 cents on the dollar, which is more than they’re getting in the debt reselling market right now. Plus, Corker wants the UAW to cut GM some slack on retiree healthcare payments and unemployment payments above and beyond what the government gives laid off workers.
Well, GM should try to buy back its own debt for pennies on the dollar if it can, and that’s not a bad use for a government bailout check, if it gets one.
Here’s where Corker goes wrong. In this economy, the last thing you want to do is take money out of the hands of consumers, even (or especially) unemployed ones. For one, they’re buying necessities, not frivolities. And for two, we want to encourage all the spending we can.
The second-to-last thing you want to do is take healthcare away from retirees. Either the government is going to end up paying for it, or they’re going to have to go without. Neither is a good thing. And the ones that go without are likely to get sick and cost the government a whole long more money in the long run away.
So that’s two more good things to do with a government bailout check.
I’ve been on the fence on the whole auto industry rescue thing, but Sen. Corker now has me leaning towards a bailout for GM at least. The other two… not so much. Ford says they’re not going to declare bankruptcy either way, so if they’re not even at risk of bankruptcy why the hell do they need bailout? Chrysler’s a goner anyway. Would a bailout help them find a buyer or only give them longer to put it off?
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