Obama and McCain both support $25 billion automaker bailout
The presidential nominees of the Evil Party and the Stupid Party both support a massive bailout of the auto industry.
Tack on another $25 billion to bailout-palooza. And forget conservative principles: Michigan’s electoral votes are at stake!
As I have said many times: God save us from bipartisanship.
If your blood pressure isn’t off the charts, you aren’t paying attention:
Among the few bills likely to actually become law before Congress closes shop for the elections is a plan to give struggling U.S. automakers $25 billion in federal loans.
Opponents criticize it as a taxpayer-funded industry bailout, but the legislation is steaming ahead anyway, buoyed by the support of both John McCain and Barack Obama.
It’s no coincidence that the legislation would help manufacturing states like Michigan and Ohio, whose voters could very well determine the outcome of the presidential election.
The loans would be used to help General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler LLC retool their factories to produce cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles as required under an energy bill passed last year.
The automaker loan program was established — but not funded — under the same bill. That sets it apart from the federal government’s intervention to prevent the collapse of Bear Stearns and a subsequent takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Funding is needed before any loans can be made. The money would subsidize the loans, provide a cushion for possible defaults and absorb the cost of permitting automakers to defer loan payments for up to five years. The Congressional Budget Office says the $25 billion in loans would cost the government $7.5 billion…
…For his part, McCain initially opposed the program, but reversed course after coming under assault.
“Our auto companies are rising to the challenge of building the next generation of American cars,” McCain said last month, adding that the government should “assist Detroit and its suppliers in making it through this difficult time of transition.”
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Trackbacks
- Regulation…who did what and when? UPDATE « Mcnorman’s Weblog
- Automaker Bailout « Improve With Me (previously pass the buck)
- No More Buyouts!!! « Tai-Chi Policy
- BizzyBlog » Bailout Blues
- Calanda-Technology.Com » Blog Archive » Bailout Blues, and Now AIG Too (with Car Companies in View)
- Michelle Malkin » The Mother of All Bailouts = The Death of Fiscal Conservatism
- Plumb Bob Blog
- Michelle Malkin » Here comes the $25 billion automakers’ bailout
- More bailout-palazoo: $25,000,000,000 in loans to the auto industry. | I'm Surrounded By Idiots
- Michelle Malkin » John McCain’s AIG bailout revisionism
- Michelle Malkin: Captain Amnesty AKA John McCain’s AIG bailout revisionism | "Captain Amnesty” Senate Career Criminal AKA John McCain
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Categories: Barack Obama, John McCain, Subprime crisis
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Where and how does this end?
Bankruptcy. It can be Ford, AIG, or it can be the USA. But its going to happen.
The bath tub is overflowing and noone has the gumballs to shut the water off.
I had a business that needed a loan. I went to the SMALL business association, and they told me (I kid you not), that my business was TOO small. From that moment on I realized I had to make my way through life without ANY HELP from the Feds. I am now thankful I never got that loan.
Lets bail out Delta, yet punish Southwest Airlines who has figured out how to make a profit during hard times. Lets bail out Nike, then punish New Balance with higher taxes. EVERY one of these bailouts rewards the poorly run companies, thus punishing those small competitors who do thing right.
McCain obviously is pandering to the Michigan crowd.
See what happens when Michigan is in play.
Hey, free money for everybody. Bureau of Engraving and Printing: Order more paper, more ink, printing presses to full power. What, me worry? Attention inmates, the asylum is yours.
Chevrolet unveiled the production version of their electric car, the Chevy Volt, yesterday. Story and video here. GM official press release, here.
It’s a really sharp looking car. Official site here.
So there is some good news coming out of Detroit.
How much would it cost the US taxpayers to rescind the stupid CAFE rules — Zero … Net savings, $25 billion
I don’t think that “bipartisan” is the right word here. It’s not like they disagree on anything important.
We live in a one party state.
This is waht the UAW has given us. I’ll bet their accounts are pretty full!
Congress ought to make it as difficult for Detroit to get a loan as it is for Americans to buy a car. Have congressmen go “talk to the sales manager” multiple times, leave Detroit sitting in the tiny “office”, and screw them blind on add-on options and financing fees. Then sell them additional “insurance” against crappy product performance in the future. Perfect.
get rid of the ‘cafe’ standards imposed on the auto makers.. the 30 miles per gallon that the Big Three have to conform to and the other crap..
get the unions out.. at the very least, bust up the UAW so it’s not so monolithic..
a few years ago my wife and I bought a mini-van to make room for baby number 2..
I’m over six feet tall.. the main thing I was looking for was leg room..
tried a few Japanese mini-vans.. cramped..
the Big Three mini-vans.. very nice..
(settled on a used Dodge Caravan)
American car makers do the best in designing cars for big people..
not to mention I LOVE GMC trucks..
Let the auto makers do what they do best without ridiculous interference from the big brother..
then big brother doesn’t have to write another bail out check on the back of American tax payers..
The selling out of the USA is almost complete. Now they say the money to insure bank deposits may be dwindling…….no, you’re kidding!!??? Gee, how long can one play with monopoly money before the game box is empty? Wait and see …..Thieves are running amok and the congress will probably get their hand in there somewhere for a piece of the pie. America isn’t just broken…it is FLAT BROKE ! And now they want to insure future Americans are as broke as we are now.
The fallout and stupidity from the fake market we’ve had over the last several years continues. I say let all these shady irresponsible businesses fail. Serves them right. Bailouts reward bad behavior.
Bipartisanship: political jargon for working together to screw the American people, caving in to conservative values to appear likable to liberals, creating non-solutions to save elected officials sorry a$$ jobs and create larger government beauracracies.
Do you want the undercoating with that?
As far as the politicians are concerned? It doesn’t end. Not until politicians have their hooks in everyone. Not until they have convinced the American people that it is the job of the federal government to take care of us all, from cradle to grave.
As far as the people are concerned? It will end the minute we finally wake up to the fact that every time we abdicate a little more personal responsibility to Washington, we also abdicate personal freedom.
Wake up and live your own life. Take responsibility for not just the good days, but the mistakes made.
That’s the message people have to learn before it ends.
God help us, but it’s time to put Ron Paul in charge of the till.
Good lord…once that spigot is turned on it never gets shut off, does it? Now GM, Ford, and Chrysler can p!ss that money away on asinine labor contracts and vehicles nobody wants. Yay! Big Labor is as responsible as company management for their problems, yet that goes unnoticed.
I’m going to need more Tylenol…
Ugh.
We’re turning into a welfare state. Obama wants to tax huge corporations more but bail them out, when their businesses fail. Is the government going to take over the oil companies next? That’s what Hugo Chavez did.
Paul Revere – “Ugh” is right!
I fully understand President McCain’s decision to do this – there’s no way he can get the support of autoworkers (not their unions) in Michigan and Ohio if he positions himself against their source of employment – but I cannot support giving America’s “big three” a blank check on the tax payers, simply because these auto-building behemoths couldn’t deal effectively with unions in putting together health and retirement packages that were sustainable and didn’t break the companies’ backs.
I have several close relatives and many friends who work in the auto industry in KY (Toyota and Corvette-GM), and I support autoworkers and want the best for them. But the auto unions really didn’t do their members any favors in negotiating deals that may well end their members’ sources of employment.
So now we’re subsidizing brilliant practices like adding over $1000 to the cost of a new car to cover health benefits for UAW retirees?
“When there is no penalty for failure, failures proliferate.” –George Will
Why don’t we just have the gov’t operate the auto industry.
We can then call it Volvo.
This place is starting to smell like Europe.
yech…
Another “Bailout” like their helping the business, but is it really the nationalization of the auto industry?
The government can dictate what kind of car you buy. In manufacture, what it’s mpg must be; what bells and whistles are offered on the inside; how fast it can go (for your own protection); even, if they want to, what color is must be, and on, and on.
And the autoworkers become employees at the beck and call (and termination if your an “unfit worker”) of the government.
On September 17th, 2008 at 10:41 am, Dexter Alarius said:
Thank you, Dexter. I’d never heard that quote before, but I think it is very apt!
Yep, murder-suicide– that’s what the UAW has done to American auto manufacturing.
We’ve got some seismic activity at founding fathers’ burial sites. Mass spinning in their graves, say scientists…
At some point, somebody has got to have a backbone and make the country decide, once and for all, if we’re Socialists or not.
Similarly, the longshoremen’s unions are pushing cargo ships to Mexican ports with their salary and benefit demands. It’s all about me, me, me… gimme, gimme, gimme… more, more, more!
Bipartisanship usually means the Republicans get the short end of the stick.
Here’s a good article showing how non-bipartisanship by the Dems allowed China to win one of the first oil contracts over U.S. Corporations. Our friends Schumer, Kerry, and McKaskill made sure we don’t receive additional oil supplies and thus lower prices in this country.
Democrats are our friends? Yeah right!
Even though I’ve donated to Bob Barr’s campaign, I started to consider the McCain ticket solely because of Sarah Palin. But then McCain opens his mouth and I’m slapped back into reality. The man does not like capitalists. He is no different from the Democrats, and McCain and Palin’s populism are not admirable qualities. They’re panderers.
If that is true then why can’t Ford sell the 2009 Ford Fiesta Eco that gets 75 mpg hwy and 55 mpg city in the U.S?
EXACTLY, I was trying to expand and thats when I found out the gov thinks small businesses are those with 500 employees or less….I had 12, too small.
The auto industry is the ONLY industry I might help. Environmentalists have made their job next to impossible. Americans want big cars and SUV’s and we LOVE our cars but the greenies want cars to run on rat farts or something.
Most people have no idea how difficult it is to raise the MPG avg for an entire fleet from an automaker, every vehicle sold goes into the mix.
The left and the crazed enviro-jerks have done more damage to our car industry than the msm is willing to report.
We cant give the future of cars to Japan and Korea.
I’m pretty sure it’s because of the safety requirements. But, I can’t imagine that the Eco could be any less safe than, say, a Mini Cooper, or one of those goofy bug-looking cars… what are they called?
‘Smart cars’!
Couldn’t think of it…
I’ll say one thing about Democrats they are consistent. Anytime a Republican has extended his/her hand across the aisle, that Republican always comes back with a stump. Screw bi-partisanship. I want a fight at every turn. Then you know if the bill is good or not. Rubberstamping is killing us.
LET. THEM. FAIL.
We’ll be better off for it, I promise.
On September 17th, 2008 at 10:49 am, NormalAmericanInLA said:
CERN, hell. The Founders’ spinning is enough to make a black hole.
This is where it is ultimately heading. Think about it. Decades ago there were dozens of US auto manufacturers. One goes under because of bad decisions, there was regional impact, but little effect nationwide (or worldwide) and another new one might be created to replace it but for the resistance of the existing ones to new competition.
Now, thanks to mergers blessed by the government, we are left with the big three. Same is true for many other industries.
Mergers for eficiency, profitability and buying out the competition, are leaving the nation with a handful of mega multi-national corporations. The fewer the businesses the less competition and also magnification of poor business practices coupled with misguided government interference or lack of effective oversight, thanks to political motives.
Thus. each corporation, like AIG, Ford, etc, becomes too huge to allow to go under, requiring a government bailout and eventually nationalization.
And I thought that if Obama won, it would lead to socialism. Heck, we’re already there!
What’s the lesson of all this? If you play by the rules, take your chances, and accept the ups and downs of your decisions, YOU’RE A SUCKER!!!
The taxpayers have been conscripted into financing the Vegas bender these financial institutions have been on except we don’t get a martini and a showgirl of our own, we just get the markers to pay off when things go bad for the Big Boys. When they win, they keep it all (including the showgirls); when they lose, they hand us the tab and grunt, “Pay the bill, would ya?”
Atlas needs to shrug, if you follow…
I am so sick of supporting companies that fail, farms that fail. No one would support me if I failed at anything. Car companies with unions have their own selves to blame. Financial institutions believed the lies buyers of homes told them about their finances. Charlatans looked for a fast buck in asking 20% return on stock at board meetings… idiots all. In a lot of this, we have ourselves to blame as well.
Not only that, but the big 3 have to retool to meet new government regulations, it’s hard not to argue that the government shouldn’t pay for their own regulations. Every time the CAFE standards are raised, more traffic deaths occur as the surest way to improve economy standards is take more weight (steel) out of the cars meaning less steel to protect occupants.
Maybe they both think the GWB really did invade Iraq just for oil profits, and he has those profits stashed in the White House, and as soon as one of them gets in the WH, they can get them and use them for the bailouts.
That’s a part of the problem as well, but the big 3 aren’t failing, they’re doing well overseas. Just another case of buying Michigan votes. You would think we would be a red state this time around. Our Governor has had a miserable go of it. Her first term she spent blaming the previous Governor, and her second term was spent blaming Bush.
Somebody already has decided, and they live in Washington.
When we saved Chrysler Coropration, “Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979″, Lido Anthony “Lee” Iacocca served as CEO for $1 a year. We should expect no less in return from today’s CEO’s.
Old tanker
Point taken
Wonderful. McCain and Obama are trying to see which can out-Carter the other.
Speaking of bailouts:
Bush Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in 2003
”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.’
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed. ”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said.
If this crisis was caused by a mass and unprecedented outbreak of greed, how is feeding the monster with billions and billions of taxpayer dollars going to resolve it? Aren’t we then rewarding the evil that is greed? Well McCain always said “Patriotism over profit.” Now these companies have no profit, I guess we will have a surfeit of patriotism. Sorry that none of this makes any sense. Somewhere in heaven, von Mises and Rand are weeping.
This bailout bull is one of the many reasons I’m dreading a McCain presidency. Yes, we’re voting for Palin – McCain and against Obama, but we’re getting McCain and the ghosts of Bushes past. Now that he has secured his base, there will be no stopping him from embracing all the liberalism he is comfortable with, and brothers, that is a lot. At least neither candidate makes pretense about knowing anything about economics. But it frosts me no end that the leftists are right about one thing: the McCain Presidency will be Bush’s third term.
How is it that the foreign car makers are able to put their engineers to work to meet the new MPG standards, but the US automakers cry poor and need help to meet standards that they’re currently trying to avoid through waivers.
Welcome to Socialism “American Style.” Getting the government involved is going to make automobiles much, much better!
“Peace, bread and land!” I can hardly wait.
Anybody still think McCain is really the LOTE?
Not so fast.
Those who would vote for socialism-lite need a full dose to cure them of their delusions.
Vote against the two divisions of the one party system.
Yeah, I’ve been watching the whole Kaus-Krikorian-Coulter debate on Amnesty and McCain’s Spanish language ads. MM hasn’t noted it as least as far as I am aware of, and it appears to be pretty much under the radar. For the most part polls do show that McCain has secured his base which is what I based my comment on. Whether that will change this late in campaign, I don’t know but I think it doubtful. Most of the base I believe accepts the inevitability of one of the most ghastly choices in American electoral history. But Palin as a VP would be a good thing regardless. However, if anyone thinks otherwise, at this point I am disinclined to argue. I’ve given up and bought my nose plugs.
Once we bail the automakers out (again), will we get better made cars???
I own an 11 yr old Toyota Corolla with 215,000 miles on it that I owned since I bought it with a mere 9000 miles on it. It runs better than any “Big Three” made cars I ever owned.
Can LGM answer the following question: How will bailing out companies who make bad decisions, cause them to make better and more environmentally favorable products??
beenthere speaks for me as well.
I think I’ll send my credit card bills to my reps in Congress, demanding that they bail me out.
On the other hand, I’ve been stupid enough to live within my means and since we now have a government that rewards incompetent recklessness and punishes competence and responsible behavior, I guess I’m screwed.
There’s welfare for the poor and welfare for the rich and welfare for corporations and welfare for CEOs and welfare for lobbyists and welfare for illegal aliens and welfare for unions and welfare for homeowners and welfare for parents and welfare for kids and welfare for the hurricane-prone and on and on and etc. and etc. Folks like me, we’re forced to pay for all of it.
The federal government can kiss my a$$.
All the CEOs and Congressional overseers of this mess need to come forward and answer questions. The decisions to issue these bad loans were beyond stupid. Where’s the accountability? Bailing them out makes no sense if there’s no punishment for bad judgement. Walking away with millions of dollars is not punishment. Tax money should not be used until these CEOs return the money given to them as a reward for driving their companies into debt.
Welcome to the Plutocracy.
So, McCain = Bush?
I have a better one:
Clinton = Bush = McCain = Obama.
People don’t care though – they’d rather read about lipstick-gate or hollywood gossip. There is absolutely no difference between the two parties – right now we are voting on personalities, nothing more.
From #64…..
“voting on personalities, nothing more.”
I actually considered voting when McCain picked Palin as his running mate.
LOTE…..My hurting backside…
I think I’ll spend election day picking up aluminum cans by the roadside. I’m probably gonna need the money.
When the government owns everything and everyone is unemployed.
Had an Econ teacher once who told the class, “Someday half of you will work at McDonalds, and the other half at Burger King. You’ll go across the street for lunch.” Sadly it looks like he was right.
The US is already broke – if the Chinese call our bluff, we’re screwed.
Absolutely. If the Feds own the debt, the Feds should sue them to get the money back.
I have a feeling that McCain will make Bush look like Reagan. On several issues, like global warming and free speech, he’s way to Bush’s left.
You may well be right and I certainly wouldn’t deny the possibility. It’s just that I have a dread of going there: McCain as Bush II, the Sequel is as far as my despair for the country can willingly take me.
… this just in … we have now crossed the 800 billion in govt to corporation give aways THIS year … more to follow …
I may not like the other bailouts but this one is a necessary evil. I support it if there is actual reform involved. Why do I support it? Because it isn’t just the Big 3, it is the 1000’s of suppliers in this country that will be laying off millions of people if we don’t help them out.
It’s b.s. to say we are modernizing the plants. It doesn’t take a modern plant to warehouse the latest technology to make it as easy as possible for a UAW worker.
P.S. these plants have the latest technology, they may just have crappy looking plants
I’ve just emailed my senators (Georgia), promising them that if they vote to fund the auto industry Bailout, I will not vote for them. (One of them is up for reelection this year.)
God save America! Please!!!
Ok, so my plan was to vote for Bob Barr as I had no feelings whatsoever on which Republicrat won. This has put me over the edge, a republican administration has basically just nationalized the mortgage, and now the insurance industries. Here’s my question: if Kerry won the last election, and this same federal intervention was happening right now, what would the righty blogosphere be doing? Pretty easy answer right? They would be going into nuclear meltdown. Every single right of center blogger would be crying “Socialism!”, “Communism!”, etc.
Almost every righty blog I frequent has regarded this issue with either: silence, a nebulous post calling out the government as a whole, or silence. Malkin has been above average in her coverage, but still sinks into the partisan bickering of McCain v. Obama.
Anyway, these events have forced my hand. I will vote for Obama in November, not because I like him, or respect any of his policies – but so republicans will start acting like republicans again. Obama becomes president and will instantly become the Jimmy Carter of this century. Inflation is going to go into hyperdrive, and the markets are going to stagnate. It wont be his fault, he will just get blamed for it.
Another good sign that the US will actually take her medicine with an Obama administration is that one of his top economic advisers is Paul Volcker, chairman of the Fed during the Carter years. Now Volcker probably pulled us out of the financial mess of the Carter years, and even though Carter wasn’t directly responsible for the crisis manifest in his administration, he bore the brunt of the blame.
I’m voting Obama/Carter, for the future of the Republican party.
Every time McCain does one thing right he veers off and starts doing and saying a dozen utterly stupid things.
The idea that McCain represents any real change is ludicrous. He has been in Washington for more than 20 years. John McCain, just like Joe Biden, is the epitome of everything that is wrong with Washington and the federal government.
Both McCain and Obama will continue to beat the economy to death with their stupid, big-government, socialist plans.
Bush has set the stage for them. He has opened the door to socializing pretty much any part of the economy either of them wants to.
Frankly, I fear the Republic is dead. The body has not yet reached room temperature but it can’t be long now. For all of us who voted for Bush twice I apologize. In the end, he threw the door wide open to socialism in the name of “compassion.”
I am not feeling well. I think I am about to get “compassionate” all over my shoes….
“Don’t blame me…. I voted for Ron Paul!”
That’s going to be my favorite line for the next 4 years!…and longer.
You know what’s funny? In the end, Ron Paul was the smartest man in the room.
Regarding posts #74 and #75……
Your positions make a lot o sense to me……
Might have to take a break from picking up cans on election day and vote….
We’ll see……
Whoe there ‘Ahh a Lion!’ – Carter was very responsible for making a big mess of it all. IMHO, what Carter needed to do was to find a way to restore the steel industry, instead he just condemned it as a ‘dirty’ business and let the enviro-whackos run rampant. Ditto the nuclear power program. He sat right in the white house and told ppl to turn off the lights and freeze in the dark. A total idiot.
Can anyone out there see Obama and family in sweaters doing the same thing?
Hey I’ve got some credit cards I don’t feel like paying off because in order to do that, I’d have to start living responsibly and within my means. Where’s my bail-out so I can continue to enjoy my over-extended lifestyle?
What’s interesting about Carter is his adherence to free markets. He was responsible for a lot of positive deregulation which helped the economy under Reagan. With Volcker drawing a line in the sand in regards to inflation by hiking interest rates up to 18%, the economy under Carter had to take its medicine for the excesses of the past. Granted Carter was an absolutely lame duck president, but I truly believe we wouldn’t have got a Reagan if it wasn’t for Carter.
As long as Americans think the role of government is to “do good” – then we are destined for more and more insanity. When Americans understand the role of government is that which is specified in the constitution (and ONLY that), then and only then will responsible behavior return.
The answer to the woes of the American auto industry: build a better product. They should not just assume that I’ll “buy American” if they aren’t producing as good of a product. I have no issues with getting my wife a Subaru.
The same advice goes to the Republican and Democratic parties: if you want my vote, then produce better candidates. Otherwise, they can pound sand.
I agree FJP, let them fail. The free market system will survive. All things (markets, seasons, relationships) are cyclical. You got to let the bad stuff fail and fall away so the good stuff can grow and thrive. Imagine how futile it would be to keep winter from coming? But you go through winter and then you get SPRING! Sometimes winter is mild and sometimes (like 2004) south Texas gets a foot of snow. But spring always comes. Right now it’s just winter in the car industry.
History lesson. In the 1970’s OPEC cut back drilling and we experienced gas lines. Our government said “Forget buying your oil, we’ll go get our own.” When OPEC figured out we were serious, they flooded the market with oil and it dropped to $12 a barrel. Guess what that did to the Texas economy. Let’s just say, we know Detroit’s pain.
What happened is Oil companies didn’t fold (well, the mismanaged ones did). They merged, tightened their belts and got smart. They learned how to turn a profit on $15 a barrel oil. A lot of the technology that is available now came about because of the necessity of that time. Extracting oil is cheaper and easier now. The early 80’s were a cold, hard winter here in Texas. No one bailed us out and we now thrive.
Lesson over.
Today is Constitution Day. I wonder if anyone on Capitol Hill knows that, or cares for that matter. It would be a good day to read it…for once.
Eenie…meenie…minee…mo’ money.
If a third-party candidate were viable, I’d vote for that person. Not happening this election cycle. The vote for President is not the time to make a statement of displeasure with the Republican party. The ramifications would be too severe. For me to switch to Obama or to not go to the polls on Election Day, it would mean that I want to do my part to sabotage America’s best interests. All we can do at this point is vote for the lesser of two evils and not let up on our (the American people’s) demands. Keep hammering at McCain. He may come around in time with enough pressure. Better to have a moderate in the big seat than a socialist with one degree of separation from a terrorist.
I want to speak in defense of US built automobiles and trucks.
In fifty years in the oil business, I have driven more than 2 million miles, from Canada to the Gulf and coast to coast, every mile in a US manufactured vehicle, Plymouth, Chevy, Ford,Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, GMC, Cadillac, Lincoln, much of that mileage on bad roads and in inclement weather, pulling mud and breaking snow drifts.
All except the Plymouth went more than 100,000 miles with virtually no mechanical repairs, except brakes. In all fairness the Plymouth’s useful life ended abruptly in a deep ditch that I T-boned on a dark snowy night in northern Kansas in 1957.
My current Lincoln has 283,000, runs all day at any speed I can get away with, gets 24-27 mpg on highway. The previous Lincoln had 418,000. I only traded it because there was a tape stuck in the tape deck and it was going to cost more to replace the radio than the car was worth. You can drive these cars in comfort 1000 miles in a (long ) day and still walk when you alight.
Bottom line: Admittedly, there is a little bit of jingoistic Buy America in my motives but if you keep em full of gas,oil and coolant and proper air in the tires, US cars will compete with those of any nation.
Ok….I’ve got a Chevy, a Ford, and a Harley.
Anybody remember that Harley-Davidson didn’t require a bail-out to stay solvent?
LOL…I do with the Harley was completely paid for, however….
oops….should have been “wish” in the last line……sorry
On September 17th, 2008 at 10:17 am, Goldwater Knight said:
I don’t know where, but I’m pretty sure I know how, and it has something to do with the 2nd amendment.
5 points:
#1 The government shouldn’t selectively bail-out companies
#2 The government shouldn’t bail-out ANY company.
#3 The government should NEVER interfere with the workings of the free-market.
#4 The government ruins EVERYTHING it touches and NOBODY gets this.
#5 Government is organized plunder.
As Michelle said in another post…
)(&*^%##$%^&*(*%$$^&&%$%&
So now we are not bailing out failing companies we (taxpayers) are taking control of companies that need to upgrade.
At this rate think I am going to stop paying my mortgage, invest in gold (and firearms to protect my gold) instead and wait for my bailout.
Ah yes, awarding failure and punishing success again I see…
How can we lose?
On September 17th, 2008 at 10:20 am, Mister P said:
Ever think that Communists actually want to drive our corporations and country into the ground?
Ever think that there really might be a Vast LEFT-Wing Conspiracy?
Thank God for people like Virginia Foxx:
McAmnesty is soooooo bad in every way. I am going to hate voting for the jerk.
Barack’s Agenda…
The summary:
The Source: