Remember way back in 2008 when presidential candidate John McCain was dead set against the loans being given to our domestic vehicle manufacturers to prevent the entire industry from collapsing? It has turned out to be a big win for President Obama and his administration since then, but John McCain didn’t think it was a good idea at all: I […]

The federal government is about to get back more of the money it loaned to American automakers. This time it’s the Chrysler Corporation. They are going to sell some debt and take out bank loans to pay back the U.S. government.  Chrysler says it will take out bank loans and sell debt later this quarter to repay $6.6 billion in […]

Just in case you were wondering if the Obama administration’s decision to save the automotive industry in the USA was a good idea, check this out: The number of people employed by the Detroit Three in Michigan could increase 34% as the economy and automotive sales slowly recover, Sean McAlinden, senior economist for the Center for Automotive Research said today. […]

Good news for the Rustbelt states like mine (Michigan): Ford sales up 19% over last year. GM up 11%. Chrysler up a whopping 31%. Ford actually sold more vehicles than GM for only the second time since 1998. Ford reported March sales of 212,777, up 19 percent from the same month a year ago. That compares with GM’s 206,621 sales […]

Lots and lots and lots of talk these days about “shared sacrifice”. But, somehow all the sacrifice seems to be on those in the middle class or below. Comic by Mike Thompson – Detroit Free Press But there’s an example of TRUE shared sacrifice right in front of us today. And it worked. It’s the bailout and subsequent recovery of […]

It’s been a busy day over at the New York Stock Exchange. GM’s initial public offering (IPO) had its stock priced $33 but it opened well over that at $35.40. As I type this, the latest trade was $35.18. Detroit Free Press editorial cartoonist Mike Thompson perhaps put it best: Something tells me that that a whole lot of anti-auto […]

As I’ve written about before at Daily Kos and elsewhere (HERE and HERE, e.g.), GM has had remarkable success in 2010 and their impending initial public offering (IPO) Thursday is cause for some rejoicing. This morning we learn that GM’s share price, originally forecasted to be $26-29, will be $32-33, an increase of of about 14%. This will increase the […]

Tim Walberg should have stayed home from his meet-and-great at an Adrian coffee shop this week. All it did was to reveal just how much of a Pander Monkey he is. When he was in Congress, he missed a vote on the rescue of America’s auto industry due to surgery. At the time he said he would have “reluctantly” voted […]

Remember back in the “good old days of 2009 when the Obama administration stepped in to keep two of the largest American auto companies from going under? Remember how, even though it was only a loan program and a temporary stock purchase that it was characterized as a “taxpayer-funded bailout”? Well check out these headlines: Chrysler Tops Operating Profit Outlook, […]