I wonder why that is...

Consumer borrowing declines for 10th straight month | Business | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle | dc0de's

Amidst all the recent financial woes, we find that Marcus Schrenker must have barely graduated last in his class.

For the first of his many stupid human tricks, he failed as a business man, but that's not enough, once served with subpoenas, he fled in his $1M airplane, and tried to be "Mr. Clever".

That's where it get's interesting. He's too stupid to pull it off.

I suggest that if he wants to disappear, that he try the self-inflicted high-velocity lead poisoning technique. That would save some taxpayer dollars.

Dealbreaker - A Wall Street Tabloid - Business News Headlines and Financial Gossip - Today’s Ponzi Trifecta Begins? | dc0de's notes...

flynn23 wrote:

dc0de wrote:

flynn23 wrote:

It's not 1979. Go to any Big 3 dealership and look at the products. They are well made, cost competitive, and come with stellar service intervals and maintenance packages. You can hardly get a better value these days.

Perhaps, if you want a vehicle that doesn't get good gas mileage.

This is bullshit. The average engine size in the US is 3.2L, and in Europe it's 2.0L.

That is due to the marketing, the hype, and the lack of efficient choices by the big 3. They sell vehicles that are crap, that "look" pretty... and fall apart in 3-5 years. I'm still driving a 1994 Toyota Camry 2dr, that get's 33MPG. That's on my daily commute, not just hwy miles.

I had a big 3 dealership last year tell me that I needed a new car, because, "Your Camry doesn't have any warranty, and can't be that efficient." And they wanted to sell me a vehicle that got 24/28mpg for 19K.

Sorry, the Big 3 have been screwing the American people for FAR too long. Let them fail. Good Riddance.

Wrong.

For one, engine size is not a good determinant of fuel efficiency. If it was, then diesel engines on ships would never get out of the harbor.

Add to that the fact that European drivers are completely different consumer types than Americans. Driving is for the well to do in Europe. And given that the whole of Europe could fit into America, well... do the math. The products here need to tackle city commutes and take the family on vacation for 4000 miles. And look good doing it. That's a difficult balance to strike.

Detroit makes the cars that people want. Not all people. But they're not making stuff that people don't want. The proof is in the pudding. They sell more cars than foreign marques. Not just globally, but domestically. They don't go in some high rise board room and decide to sell powerful engines that get 20mpg in a "pretty" package because that's what they think will sell. They spend YEARS on market research and focus groups. In fact, one of the biggest problems is that the product development cycle is too long. Takes too much market research into consideration, which is why you get things like the Aztek or the Lincoln pick up. But you also get the Hemi back, the Jeep Liberty, and the return of the Charger and the Challenger (both of which get 25mpg+). The market tells them what they want, and they deliver. The Hemi engine's power efficiency is moot with today's engine designs. But it was the most successful engine branding campaign ever and that's why Chrysler sells a lot of Hemi's. The market WANTS it.

You're also forgetting that General Motors resurrected the electric car with the EV1, and proved that there was a marketplace for it, despite California's emission rules being dropped. If anything, the government screwed GM by telling them that 10% of all cars sold would have to b... [ Read More (0.6k in body) ]

RE: Show Of Hands

flynn23 wrote:

dc0de wrote:

Hijexx wrote:

How many of the automaker CEOs (and by the way, that includes Gettlefinger, if my viewing of the hearings is correct) travelled commercial to get to Congress yesterday and today?

Zero.

.....

All three CEOs - Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler - exercised their perks Tuesday by flying in corporate jets to DC. Wagoner flew in GM's $36 million luxury aircraft to tell members of Congress that the company is burning through cash, asking for $10-12 billion for GM alone.

.....

GM and Ford say that it is a corporate decision to have their CEOs fly on private jets and that is non-negotiable, even as the companies say they are running out of cash.

.....

Fine.

As a US Taxpayer this is my answer to your request for a bailout:

Is that clear enough or do you need it spelled out one letter at a time?

I agree entirely. Not only no, but HELL NO!

Build some cars that we WANT, not the crap that you've been pushing on us for the past 30 years.

My parents purchased a brand new 1979/80 Subaru DL sedan that provided 38mpg city and 44 hwy. It was a decent car, and my mother drove it until sometime in the mid 90's, when she traded it in. It burned regular and unleaded fuel, was a standard transmission, and seated the entire family comfortably, with a trunk that could hold a good days' shopping. (It was about a 4 on the "gambino" scale - meaning you could get four dead bodies in the trunk)

Tell me, how is it that the US car makers cannot provide an automobile that was present for us over 20 years ago.

How does that work?

It's not 1979. Go to any Big 3 dealership and look at the products. They are well made, cost competitive, and come with stellar service intervals and maintenance packages. You can hardly get a better value these days.

Perhaps, if you want a vehicle that doesn't get good gas mileage.

This is bullshit. The average engine size in the US is 3.2L, and in Europe it's 2.0L.

That is due to the marketing, the hype, and the lack of efficient choices by the big 3. They sell vehicles that are crap, that "look" pretty... and fall apart in 3-5 years. I'm still driving a 1994 Toyota Camry 2dr, that get's 33MPG. That's on my daily commute, not just hwy miles.

I had a big 3 dealership last year tell me that I needed a new car, because, "Your Camry doesn't have any warranty, and can't be that efficient." And they wanted to sell me a vehicle that got 24/28mpg for 19K.

Sorry, the Big 3 have been screwing the American people for FAR too long. Let them fail. Good Riddance.

RE: Show Of Hands

possibly noteworthy wrote:

A month from now, $50 billion worth of adjustable rate mortgages will "reset" from the low interest rates at which they originated in October 2005 to much higher rates that will be due for the next 28 years. Hundreds of thousands of people are about to be hit with 30 to 40 percent increases in their monthly payments. Since house prices are falling and October's resets are just the first of many, a long wave of foreclosures seems inevitable.

A fifth of all subprime mortgages made in California since 2005 are headed for foreclosure.

Also, from this week's Economist:

Not surprisingly, Wall Street's seers are chalking down their projections for construction and house prices. Economists at JPMorgan, for instance, now expect the pace of new-home building to fall by a further 30%, while they expect average house prices to tumble between 7.5% and 15% by the end of 2008. Jan Hatzius, an economist at Goldman Sachs, thinks that house prices could drop by between 15% and 30% over the next few years.

Also, from Bloomberg via Marc Andreessen:

Suppose regulators decide to play hardball on how the financial community marks to market, imposing rules that outlaw the existing freewheeling approach to how over-the-counter derivatives are assayed.

Moreover, suppose those new decrees come just as much of the underlying collateral is so tarnished as to be almost worthless compared with its initial valuation.

The ensuing carnage in the balance sheets of every financial-services company in the world would dwarf the damage wrought in the securities industry by the subprime crisis so far.

RESCUE them?

Please, if they can't afford the house, they shouldn't buy!!! And if they haven't figured out that getting to a fixed mortgage isn't important, let them lose their houses.

Why should more of my tax monies go to stupid lenders and dumb buyers?

RE: Rescuing Mortgage Holders

The Ford Motor company has decided to "change" it's stance on building hybrid vehicles, according to this Autotopia article.

Ford says it was just kidding about its pledge to produce 250,000 hybrids per year.

Well... I have to laugh at the Charlie Sheen reference... although it does make the news oh so bittersweet...

Ford takes 1 step forward, and twenty seven thousand, three hundred and six back.