Car sale surge as economy improves

[editec]

Car Sales Surge as Economy Improves - ABC News

Yes, good news, and not really surprising either.

I imagine that there was a huge pent up demand for new vehicles building up over the last few years as people put off buying because of the economy.

But eventually (and that is now, I think) people just have to replace their old cars.

 

[Katzndogz]

Never in danger of going under?

If that was the case where was all the PRIVATE investment in the US auto industry? Why didn't the private banks stand up and lend them the money?

Only the US Government was willing to stand up and say....The auto industry will not be allowed to fail

And it worked!

Simple, the auto industry was always more than GM. Toyota was never in danger of going under. Ford didn't take the bail out. Nissan, Kia, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda. Not a single one was in any danger whatsoever and had no problem getting investment. It was GM and only GM. They were paying more in union legacy benefits than for material to build cars. No one is going to invest in a company whose entire cash flow is going to pay pensions to those who don't contribute to the company's viability. GM should have declared bankruptcy and had their contracts negotiated. But no, the government gave them a bail out which paid the investors pennies on the dollar but kept the union benefits intact.

We bailed out both GM and Chrysler. Ford got their loans before the collapse happened. Ford, by the way supported the bailout.
What happens to the millions of GM and Chrysler employees who spent their lives at these companies with the agreement that they would have a pension? It is fine with you to just brush them off, laugh and say too bad suckers while you protect the compensation of the CEOS

Pensions bled those companies dry, like pensions bled Stockton dry, and the Post Office. Unions are leeches, they don't know when their sucking is killing the host.

 

[rightwinger]

Simple, the auto industry was always more than GM. Toyota was never in danger of going under. Ford didn't take the bail out. Nissan, Kia, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda. Not a single one was in any danger whatsoever and had no problem getting investment. It was GM and only GM. They were paying more in union legacy benefits than for material to build cars. No one is going to invest in a company whose entire cash flow is going to pay pensions to those who don't contribute to the company's viability. GM should have declared bankruptcy and had their contracts negotiated. But no, the government gave them a bail out which paid the investors pennies on the dollar but kept the union benefits intact.

We bailed out both GM and Chrysler. Ford got their loans before the collapse happened. Ford, by the way supported the bailout.
What happens to the millions of GM and Chrysler employees who spent their lives at these companies with the agreement that they would have a pension? It is fine with you to just brush them off, laugh and say too bad suckers while you protect the compensation of the CEOS

Pensions bled those companies dry, like pensions bled Stockton dry, and the Post Office. Unions are leeches, they don't know when their sucking is killing the host.

Millions of retired auto workers who spent their lives working for auto companies and held up their end of the union deal are leeches?

Is that you Mitt?

 

[Dragonlady]

Pensions bled those companies dry, like pensions bled Stockton dry, and the Post Office. Unions are leeches, they don't know when their sucking is killing the host.

Government protectionism let the US auto industry become complacent about emissions and safety issues, which lead to the US auto industry to fall behind the rest of the world where gas efficiency, emissions and safety standards were raised. Ultimately the US was producing cars that could only be sold in the US, because they couldn't meet standards in other countries.

My FIL worked for GM for over 30 years and is a retired GM worker. The company was built on the backs of people like my FIL. I notice how you blame the little guys, instead of the people on Mahogany Row, who collected the multi-million dollar salaries, flew around in private planes, and made all of the decisions that lead GM and Chrysler to their financial difficulties.

That's the problem with conservatives, they keep focusing on the little guys while the those making off with the big bucks are utterly ignored.

 

[Katzndogz]

It's the executives fault for caving into union demands. Car makers in right to work states are doing just fine.

 

[jasonnfree]

It's the executives fault for caving into union demands. Car makers in right to work states are doing just fine.

You conservatives think only the poor and unions get help from the government it seems like. This anti government thing you guys have was made popular started by Reagan (government is the problem) who proceeded to use government money to drive us into debt. DC is has thousands of lobbyists from corporate american wining and dining politicians for favors. Same on the state and local levels.

 

[jasonnfree]

obama never saved the auto industry. He saved the unions and prevented them from sucking the last drop of financial blood from GM, but the industry itself was doing just fine. The auto industry was never in any danger of going under.

Volt sales triple, then we find out that the reason is that the government bought thousands. Now car sales improve, but few people are getting cars. The bulk of car sales is going to bulk buyers, like companies who are replacing fleet cars. And, out of those car makers, the one with the most sales is Nissan!

If someone has the money and can make a major purchase they should do so now while the dollar is still worth something. Once the dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency and allowed to float on its own, it will be worth as much as a Greek Drachma.

Never in danger of going under?

If that was the case where was all the PRIVATE investment in the US auto industry? Why didn't the private banks stand up and lend them the money?

Only the US Government was willing to stand up and say....The auto industry will not be allowed to fail

And it worked!

Simple, the auto industry was always more than GM. Toyota was never in danger of going under. Ford didn't take the bail out. Nissan, Kia, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda. Not a single one was in any danger whatsoever and had no problem getting investment. It was GM and only GM. They were paying more in union legacy benefits than for material to build cars. No one is going to invest in a company whose entire cash flow is going to pay pensions to those who don't contribute to the company's viability. GM should have declared bankruptcy and had their contracts negotiated. But no, the government gave them a bail out which paid the investors pennies on the dollar but kept the union benefits intact.

You do know that toyota is subsidized by it's own government, don't you? The chinese government supports it's industries also. Many american corporations couldn't do business world wide if it weren't for our military making the world safe for them. When you hear "protect our interests" in foreign affairs, this is what the term means. If you're a private citizen and are in trouble in a foreign country, you're on your own. I like to tell people I "served" in the USN on a ship. I helped make the shipping lanes safe for corporate america. And I got crummy wages to boot. Our government knows how to serve corporate interests.

 

[DGS49]

The current generation is not as motivated as previous ones to accumulate material wealth. Whether it is buying houses or expensive cars, they don't seem to worry about it, unless there is a parent pushing and pulling it along (with financial help). Of course, they all have to have the latest electonic gadgets, but these are as often as not made off shore, and don't drive the economy all that much.

 

[editec]

The current generation is not as motivated as previous ones to accumulate material wealth. Whether it is buying houses or expensive cars, they don't seem to worry about it, unless there is a parent pushing and pulling it along (with financial help). Of course, they all have to have the latest electonic gadgets, but these are as often as not made off shore, and don't drive the economy all that much.

I SUSPECT that the current generation is AS MOTIVATED as their parents generation was to LIVE INDOORS, though, right?

If yopu are telling yourself that your generation isn't materialistic?

You are deluding yourself in EXACTLY the same way my HIPPIE generation deluded itself.

WE too thought our parents were grasping materialists.

Little did we understand the material they were so deperate to grasp was merely what it takes to live in the modern world.

What your generation is going to learn is that the same selfish pricks and bullies you knew as kids, will become selfish pricks and bullies as adults.

Sad but true, amigo.

 

[Dragonlady]

Simple, the auto industry was always more than GM. Toyota was never in danger of going under. Ford didn't take the bail out. Nissan, Kia, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda. Not a single one was in any danger whatsoever and had no problem getting investment. It was GM and only GM. They were paying more in union legacy benefits than for material to build cars. No one is going to invest in a company whose entire cash flow is going to pay pensions to those who don't contribute to the company's viability. GM should have declared bankruptcy and had their contracts negotiated. But no, the government gave them a bail out which paid the investors pennies on the dollar but kept the union benefits intact.

Nissan, Kia, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Honda are all foreign owned auto makers. In their home countries, they have government funded health care, day care, quality education and a social safety net which includes unemployment insurance and retirment benefits - all things that are lacking in the US. Therefore, their employees don't NEED unions to get them benefits that American unions have to negotiate for.

Foreign auto makers manufacturing in the US haven't been in the US long enough to have a lot of legacy workers but that will start to change soon. My BIL has worked for Toyota since they first moved to Canada and he's getting ready to retire in a couple of years.

All of these foreign corporations have a very different attitude towards their workers than is traditional in American companies. Toyota views their employees as a resource without which, they cannot do business. The employees come first, the investors second. It is only by fair treatment, good wages and benefits, etc., that they are able to keep out unions. Workers don't organize, because they are treated well and have no reason to do so.

 

[Meathead]

Car Sales Surge as Economy Improves - ABC News

We must be indeed be extremely desperate to post any uptick in the economy as an absolution of Obama's policies. When the unemployment rate gets below 7% and people start getting off food stamps get back to us.

It's a bit like saying that global warming must be true because temperatures in Tallahassee were above normal in March.