Car sales up, but for how long?

[opebo]

Car sales have been abysmal since the 1980 policy debacle.  More (and better) cars were sold during the Carter administration than anytime since.  Which is pretty impressive considering how much smaller the population was then.

[opebo]

I don't see how it matters. We broke people out of the mentality that leads itself to a liquidity trap, got people buying something again, and helped the environment in the process.

But I don't see how people buying less cars after CARS is somehow proof that the program was a failure.

Proper policy - income support for the working class - would put car sales back at the late 1970s levels permanently, MB.  If workers were making $35/hour with a sense of security they would buy lots of cars.

[opebo]

Yeah it was silly to actually demand a 'clunker' as part of the deal - they shouldve just given everyone the $5,000 to generally stimulate demand, and to specifically stimulate the car industry the government itself shoud've bought about five million GMs and a million chryslers and thrown them in the ocean.

That said, I think there is still an enormous pent up demand for all sorts of things out there, including cars.  This program barely impacted car sales at all compared to where they should be at in normal times.

[opebo]

Yeah, fuck it.  Bankruptcy worked for GM and Chrysler, it can work for the government, too!

The man with the gun never 'goes bankrupt'.

[opebo]

Yeah, fuck it.  Bankruptcy worked for GM and Chrysler, it can work for the government, too!

The man with the gun never 'goes bankrupt'.

Exactly.  Which is why the US government will never get the money it needs for something like that.  You should know this by now.  The owners have a gun to its head.

That's not precisely the right way to put it, fussy.  The State is the gun, the owners are the man with it.

[opebo]

Yeah, fuck it.  Bankruptcy worked for GM and Chrysler, it can work for the government, too!

The man with the gun never 'goes bankrupt'.

Exactly.  Which is why the US government will never get the money it needs for something like that.  You should know this by now.  The owners have a gun to its head.

That's not precisely the right way to put it, fussy.  The State is the gun, the owners are the man with it.

And now why would they want to turn the gun on themselves, exactly?

Well, as you can see from the fact that some Keynesian policy has been implemented in the past, the controlling class or at least some large portion of it has believed that such policy would benefit them.

[opebo]

From the Cleveland Ohio Business News:

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- While "cash for clunkers" rebates helped most automakers post sales gains for small cars in July, General Motors' numbers fell sharply.

The Lordstown-built Cobalt compact car fell 43 percent, despite being the company's most fuel-efficient offering, a distinction that could have qualified some buyers for a $4,500 government rebate on the vehicle.

Sales at the automaker fell 19.4 percent, a sharp contrast to Ford's 2.3 percent increase and Chrysler's 8 percent drop.

Yes, I never could understand why they made 'cash for clunkers' apply to other automakers besides General Motors and Chrysler.  Really made no sense to give a subsidy to foreign carmakers or Ford.