Obama Says He’ll Buy A VOLT; GM Suspends Production

The Power of the Obama:

Earlier today we reported that the Chevrolet Volt sales nearly doubled in February, but doesn’t seem to have made a difference.

General Motors announced today that Volt production will stop for five weeks from March 19 through April 23 in order to curb rising inventories of the plug-in hybrid.

“We need to maintain the right inventory levels and continue to meet demand,” GM spokesman Chris Lee said.

1,300 workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant will be temporarily laid off as the plant shuts down. At the end of February, GM had a total of 6,300 Volts left in inventory, which could last them almost half a year based on current sales rates.

The Volt is an important vehicle to Chevrolet, but also the industry as a whole. As the flagship range-extended EV to land in the American market, it serves as a barometer for EV sales sustainability.

There’s no question other companies that are later to the party, like Ford with its all-electric Focus, will be watching closely. If the Volt continues to suffer, it might be a strong indicator of how other manufacturers approach the EV market.

On the up side, if the Volt continues to be a poor seller, folks may find the price dropping to a more palatable level than the current $39,145 MSRP, which could represent substantial savings when paired with federal tax credits.

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2012/03/chevrolet-volt-production-halted-workers-temporarily-laid-off.html?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

Emails Show that Obama Team Was Actively Partcipating in GM Management Affairs

New emails obtained by The Daily Caller contradict claims by the Obama administration that the Treasury Department would avoid “intervening in the day-to-day management” of General Motors post-auto bailout.

These messages reveal that Treasury officials were involved in decision-making that led to more than 20,000 non-union workers losing their pensions. (General Motors not eager to be political talking point in 2012)

Republican Reps. Dan Burton and Mike Turner say that during the GM bailout, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner decided to cut pensions for salaried non-union employees at Delphi, a GM spinoff, to expedite GM’s emergence from bankruptcy.

At a Wednesday hearing, the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending started pushing the Treasury Department for answers on the effects of the bailout and on how much of a role the department played in picking winners and losers.

The key point of the Wednesday hearing was to show that the Obama administration advised GM on how to eliminate the Delphi workers’ pensions. The evidence suggests Geithner’s team played a significant role in that process, despite claims to the contrary.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20110622/pl_dailycaller/privateemailsdetailobamaadmininvolvementincuttingnonunionworkerpensionspostgmbailout

GM Paid Back Part of Its Bailout $$$—– With Bailout Dollars

I’ll bet you heard this week that GM paid back 5 billion of their 50 billion or so, that it received in TARP bailout money…well, not so fast.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/22/grassley-slams-gm-administration-loans-repaid-bailout-money/

 

“Watchdog Neil Barofsky told Fox News, as well as the Senate Finance Committee, that General Motors used bailout money to pay back the federal government”

 

“The bottom line seems to be that the TARP loans were ‘repaid’ with other TARP funds in a Treasury escrow account. The TARP loans were not repaid from money GM is earning selling cars, as GM and the administration have claimed in their speeches, press releases and television commercials,” he wrote”

Auto Task Force: GM Dismantler is a 31 year old Student

     What qualifies this individual to (a) serve on the auto task force and (b) lead the GM restructure process on behalf of the White House:

The 31-Year-Old in Charge of Dismantling G.M.

by David E. Sanger

It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism.

But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry.

Nor, for that matter, had he given much thought to what ailed an industry that had been in decline ever since he was born. A bit laconic and looking every bit the just-out-of-graduate-school student adjusting to life in the West Wing — “he’s got this beard that appears and disappears,” says Steven Rattner, one of the leaders of President Obama’s automotive task force — Mr. Deese was thrown into the auto industry’s maelstrom as soon the election-night parties ended.

For Full Story:  http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/107136/The-31-Year-Old-in-Charge-of-Dismantling-G.M.?mod=family-autos

A Visual Perspective of the Cars the CEO of US AUTO says we WILL Drive

     The CEO of the new United States Auto Industry, Barack Obama, issued new emission standards and fuel efficiency standards, moving the target date from 2020 to 2016. Here is a visual perspective of where we are and what Obama says we WILL BUY:

Ford Fusion– our average midsize sedan

Tata Nano

HOW SAFE DO YOU FEEL??!!

Chrysler Dealership Franchises aren’t being closed: They are being “given” (at no cost) to others; Obama using Chrysler bankruptcy as a means of Redistributing the Wealth

     The following letter/comment was emailed to me today, and it was taken from the Plains Radio website. It is  by no means the only story that I have heard or read in the past week revealing the same scenario:

Letter from a Dodge dealer letter to the editor

My name is George C. Joseph. I am the sole owner of Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu, a family owned and operated business in Melbourne, Florida. My family bought and paid for this automobile franchise 35 years ago in 1974. I am the second generation to manage this business.

We currently employ 50+ people and before the economic slowdown we employed over 70 local people. We are active in the community and the local chamber of commerce. We deal with several dozen local vendors on a day to day basis and many more during a month. All depend on our business for part of their livelihood. We are financially strong with great respect in the market place and community. We have strong local presence and stability.

I work every day the store is open, nine to ten hours a day. I know most of our customers and all our employees. Sunshine Dodge is my life.

On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to them. My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009. Without the Dodge franchise we can no longer sell a new Dodge as “new,” nor will we be able to do any warranty service work. Additionally, my Dodge parts inventory, (approximately 0,000.) is virtually worthless without the ability to perform warranty service. There is no offer from Chrysler to buy back the vehicles or parts inventory.

Our facility was recently totally renovated at Chrysler’s insistence, incurring a multi-million dollar debt in the form of a mortgage at Sun Trust Bank.

HOW IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CAN THIS HAPPEN?

THIS IS A PRIVATE BUSINESS NOT A GOVERNMENT ENTITY

This is beyond imagination! My business is being stolen from me through NO FAULT OF OUR OWN. We did NOTHING wrong.

This atrocity will most likely force my family into bankruptcy. This will also cause our 50+ employees to be unemployed. How will they provide for their families? This is a total economic disaster.

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN IN A FREE MARKET ECONOMY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?

I beseech your help, and look forward to your reply. Thank you.
 
George C. Joseph
President & Owner
Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu

**************************************************

Thoughts???

Memo to Prez: Let AutoMakers Regroup and Restructure before issuing MORE Mandate changes

     Even as Chrysler and GM struggle to remain viable, the Obama administration released a series of new fuel mileage and emission mandates for the automobile industry, with a 2016 deadline.

     For the story:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090518/pl_politico/22650

NY Post: 100 Days = 100 Mistakes

100 DAYS, 100 MISTAKES

1. “Obama criticized pork barrel spending in the form of ‘earmarks,’ urging changes in the way that Congress adopts the spending proposals. Then he signed a spending bill that contains nearly 9,000 of them, some that members of his own staff shoved in last year when they were still members of Congress. ‘Let there be no doubt, this piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business, and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability,’ Obama said.” – McClatchy, 3/11

2. “There is no doubt that we’ve been living beyond our means and we’re going to have to make some adjustments.” — Obama during the campaign.

3. This year’s budget deficit: $1.5 trillion.

4. Asks his Cabinet to cut costs in their departments by $100 million — a whopping .0027%!

5. “The White House says the president is unaware of the tea parties.” — ABC News, 4/15

6. “Mr. Obama is an accomplished orator but is becoming known in America as the ‘teleprompt president’ over his reliance on the machine when he gives a speech.” – Sky News, 3/18

For the Full 100 Mistakes: http://www.nypost.com/seven/04252009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/100_days__100_mistakes_166177.htm?page=0

President Pelosi & Obama and Co: Take a Lesson from GM

I refer to the trio in Washington who are leading the Socialist charge to steal from the next three generations as P.O.R, Pelosi Obama Reid.

The following is from a guest blogging author:

President Pelosi and Mr. Obama & Co Need to take a lesson from GM

 In their darkest hour, and on bended knee, they flew to Washington to beg for a loan.  This loan would keep GM afloat for a period of time, while they would continue to incorporated Washington’s demands to build vehicles their way.

 The executives of GM sat obediently, listening, while being verbally whipped, by the curled tongues of those in government, while the world watched.

 The government body bashed GM for not being able to prove their loan-worthy value.

 GM management was reminded again, again and then again, that they had not spent their money wisely or produced enough cost reduction within their organizations, AND, they had WASTED money and time by not prioritizing, responsibly, the expenses of their businesses.  They said GM could not prove they were worthy of tax payer dollars.

 The GM executives never l ash ed out, or placed blame, or REMINDED those who were judging them, that it was Wash ington that created standards for the auto industry, that contributed to their demise…(hey, Barney-Fannie, sound familiar?)

 GM just wanted the loan; NEEDED the loan.  And it seemed they would DO almost anything to get it.

 Within only a few weeks of shaming GM into flying business class, and after realizing that the strings DC would attach to GM was a form of capitalistic strangulation, GM came up with some alternatives…. At least for a while, they would not need to borrow more money from the tax payer.

 GM looked INWARD for cost reductions, instead of trying to make payroll the same old way, with the same old burdens..  They performed an internal critical analysis of their spending habits and negotiated with unions and other contractors, to come up with a plan.

 While the plan may be temporary, they should be applauded for their ability to PRIORITIZE their spending, to get them through another quarter… without passing the contribution basket, once again, to the hypocrites in DC, who hold OUR purse strings.

 Imagine the possibilities, if DC were to make this “crisis” a real priority, and look internally for cost reductions.

 Wash ington needs to join GM in the Church of the Painful Truth (favorite Boortz phrase).  Redemption is waiting.