Once again, you are putting words in someone elses mouth. I do care about workers in Michigan and elsewhere. I also know that the economy can and will run on its own given time. Supply and demand can be a nasty thing. I've been on both the good and bad end of it. But, as a whole, it works. If the Big Three can make a reliable vehicle for an affordable price they'll succeed. If they don't, they won't prosper. It was government intrusion that started the banks on the, "make loans to people who can't afford to pay them back", ball rolling. This, in turn, led to banks failing and got us where we are. As for putting hundreds back to work, I'm not so sure. When I looked at a Nissan Titan (made in Tennessee) they were selling existing stock. The same is true for pretty much all the manufacturers. They've been selling mainly vehicles that have been collecting dust. While it's good they are selling them, I'm not sure how many "people got back to work" as a result.

 

Some of the plants are working full tilt right now. Don't have the figures handy, but whole assembly plants are working again. Now, now long this all lasts once the orders are filled is another story. This was meant to fill the void and take some of the pressure off. It's been pretty successful in that regard.

Essentially, it's a tax break for those who were able to cash in. At least the average Joe gets some of the pie, however small it may be.

 

man you are so confused

 

Would have like to have seen any type of numbers on how many perfectly good running automobiles were traded in, and subsequently ruined.

But it's not like there were any less fortunate average Joe's that could use a first or second vehicle for their household.

 

OK FireX. Confused is somebody that makes no sense, which would be you.

 

OMG... I don't believe we are talking the cash for clunkers stuff.

This is the dumbest s#it ever! (the program).
But proves some points of mine....

1- Our trade agreements have hurt us
2- People are easily distracted and occupied with "sub-topics" which keeps attention off the deep rooted issues.


I heard another example lastnight I think...
Something about China being furious over a tariff being put on Cheng Shin tires?

 

I've seen some of the junk turned in. It's far from "perfectly good". A friend tried to trade in a Ford Taurus from like 1996 and it was rejected. They are not beauties by any stretch. One man's trash is another man's treasure though. Millions of cars traded in, some descent ones likely got through.

I hear ya on giving the cars to the less fortunate, but you know what would happen....they would be selling them the next day flooding market with used 2wd F150s. It would have cost a lot more to police the give-away and decide who gets what and why. Gotta crush them all.

 

Yeah, that's right. Obama is first in a long time to have the ***** to put some damn tariffs on them. Don't hear any credit given to him for that. Not sure it will last though, or if it's even active yet......

 

You stopped snapping the red pills in half didn't you.

 

Yeah, but why just tires though?... And just tires from China?...

Gotta save those jobs right?... Heck, most of them are already gone. The factories around here closed years ago. And what makes what's left better than the other similar cases?

Obama is just fulfilling a promise to the Union in repayment for their campaign contribution.


I'm glad it happened and everything.
But I'm also not too blind to see that it is a special interest thing.

In the end, the jobs will probably still leave, but instead will just go to another country besides China, where they will now have the competitive edge against the others who already invested in Chinese factories.

See how that works?
Doing it that way makes it look like something it is not, and doing it that way does NOT facilitate a "FAIR" market environment to compete in....

Tariffs can't be about picking and choosing and still serve there honest purpose.
A standard has to be established that everyone plays by... and you have to also keep the standard from becoming corrupt in the process, else it's pretty much price fixing..... which by the way in a nutshell is pretty much the root cause of our health care issues.