Originally Posted by Joeypete

Funny, I just got into an argument with one of my friends about this yesterday. Granted we argue a lot over American cars anyhow...she hates them so we throw insults back and forth at each other's cars...haha. But she really pushed my buttons when she told me that my Oldsmobile's were gas guzzling pieces of junk and should be destroyed. Needless to say I won't be talking to her for quite a while.

I personally think they should have a program that helps people get their old cars FIXED and running properly. Both of my cars failed emissions the first time around. Luckily it only cost me about $100 a piece to get them passed, but I've seen tons of old cars that are in dire need of repair. Car repairs are expensive if you can't do it yourself, lots of people leave their cars broken because they can't afford to get them repaired. I'd certainly take advantage of it being unemployed

Originally Posted by WhatIf

These cars could have been GIVEN to people that dont have cars. I have a teenage son (15) that watches all these videos on youtube and he cant believe what he sees. He would like some of these cars. I was watching tv the other night and my son Eric yells out ""DAD! They're crushing an AURORA!" I had an 02 Aurora that was a piece of crap. My son can't believe they are crushing decent cars. He said his friends in school think the same thing. They are all trying to save money to buy their first car and they see our government crushing cars they want.

What is Obama doing??? I see his plan is to move cars off lots and get people back to work in the plants but what will happen when they do go back to the plants and begin producing cars who will buy them at full price?? Who's idea was this thing???

Originally Posted by toro68

Obama and Company are driving the prices of used cars throught the roof.

Originally Posted by toro68

The long and short of it- Cash for Cluckers - SUCKS !

Originally Posted by z11375ss

It's called pulling demand forward. We did it for the last 25 or so years. From the stock market to home equity loans to giving you a loan for 125% of the worth of the home you were buying to giving you a loan that put you upside down on your car loan as soon as you signed the papers. They would lend you money if you could fog a mirror. What would have been bought in due time is bought now, forgoing the purchase in the future. How does this affect the economy. Well, it just makes the plants run hard now and idles them in the future. Layoffs come because we all have the cars we need thanks to the government getting us to buy NOW instad of when we and the market are ready. I should have known things were going bad. I live where I can see I-80 from my front door and last year there were truckloads and truckloads of smoke and mirrors on their way east. I guess they ended up in Washington. Thank you politicians. You suck. And yes, I vote. Every chance I get. Havent missed one since I was 18. That would be Ronald Reagan, our last true believer in the America I wish we still lived in.

Originally Posted by wolfman98

And let's not forget who got us here in the first place , the banks and wall street with their insatiable greed. Remember that the millions of home loans with paper trails that can be impossible to find could still come back to bite them in the a** . I know that up here our government has said the recession is over but the people who go out and spend are the ones who decide when it's over. The Prime Minister even came here to announce a highway project 6 months ago and all we have to show for it are some red stakes in the ground.No one knows where the money is?

Originally Posted by gearheads78

Lets also not forget who forced the bank to make the loans in the first place.

Originally Posted by ent72olds

Keep in mind, just because a car says Ford, Chrysler or GM on it doesn't mean its built here employing OUR OWN! Many of their products are built in Mexico, Canada and Australia to name a few! We Americans (meaning USA here) put ourselves in this mess top to bottom! Starting from corporate managment(and I DO work for a Fortune 500 co., who's stock has plunged so bad we are on furloughs, and am in the Automotive biz) down to the janitors, we all lived above our means and became gluttons! What ever happened to working hard for a living! No, we look for as many paid vacation days as we can get, and when is break time! Our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who came through Ellis Island, were degraded, and built this country with pride and adopted it as THEIR COUNTRY knew what it was like to struggle, and never complained! But I can't totally blame anyone. Unions saw what management was making(bonuses and such), and wanted their fair share. Then management wanted more and unions and on and on until profit margins slipped, quality slipped and we had to find a way to be profitable again! OVERSEAS!!!! CHEAP LABOR!!!! Hence unemployment!!! We weren't happy with some, we wanted all!!! The ones who built this once proud country are rolling over in their graves! I could go on and on, but don't want to risk offending anyone.....Oh, and by the way...if you trully believe the Japanese cars are so much better quality than ours, think again! And ever have a foriegn car break and have to get it fixed! Not cheap! So if you really want to buy American, check and make sure it's American!!!!

Originally Posted by joe_padavano

I'm going to disagree here. Let's have a little personal responsibility. If home buyers were too stupid to realize that buying a $500K house with no money down was a BAAAD idea, then they deserve to parted from their money. What part of "negative amortization" did they not understand?

Businesses (that includes banks) are in business to earn a profit by any means that's allowed by law. That's their duty to their owners/shareholders. Consumers need to be responsible for looking out for themselves. Sorry, but that's life.

Originally Posted by gearheads78

Joe I agree with you 100% but when banks were telling people no (as they should have) The Community Reinvestment Act forced them to start making loans they did not want to make. It got out of hand and property values kept skyrocketing and anyone that could fog a mirror could get a loan resale the house in 6 months for 100,000 profit. When the bubble burst in home pricing everything came tumbling down. Before this all started a bank would have 5-6% of what was considered and high risk borrower Right before the collaps many banks were 25% or more with this type of loan. AIG and others sold these banks credit defalt swap policies to help protect the risk. The problem was all the banks were doing the same thing and all the packaged loans become worthless when all the defalts kicked in.

Originally Posted by wolfman98

A lot of people got caught even those making good money but then the market was so high in some areas you just knew it would collapse , but they were still banking on it going up and making money from it.

Originally Posted by joe_padavano

Again, you'll pardon me if I'm not sympathetic. My wife and I decided to put our money into a large piece of land instead of a large house. We had a substantial down payment, did not buy new cars (my daily driver is the POS 84 Custom Cruiser, hers is the 93 Allante), and did not overextend ourselves. Our reward is that we get to bail out the idiots who did...

Originally Posted by joe_padavano

I'm going to disagree here. Let's have a little personal responsibility. If home buyers were too stupid to realize that buying a $500K house with no money down was a BAAAD idea, then they deserve to parted from their money. What part of "negative amortization" did they not understand?

Businesses (that includes banks) are in business to earn a profit by any means that's allowed by law. That's their duty to their owners/shareholders. Consumers need to be responsible for looking out for themselves. Sorry, but that's life.

Originally Posted by Olds64

Richard, I found the answer to your original question...

NO!

Check it out!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20090824/...20090821304909

Originally Posted by joe_padavano

I live in Loudoun County, VA. Over the last ten years we were consistently in the top ten fastest growing counties in the US. Around me farms were being mowed down and carpeted with McMansions. All were consistently overpriced and yet people couldn't buy them fast enough. These are 5000 - 8000 sq ft homes on about 3 acres that sold for between $600K and $1M. Every one of these brand new homes had two brand new luxury SUVs in the driveway and a brand new Kubota tractor with a front end loader (after all, you gotta plow the couple of inches of snow we get here ). All this stuff was bought at about the same time, yet these expensive houses frequently had bed sheets as curtains and no landscaping. Of course, not only do these buyers now complain that they are underwater with the house value vs. loan value, but they are also complaining about the cost of heating and cooling these monster houses.

Again, you'll pardon me if I'm not sympathetic. My wife and I decided to put our money into a large piece of land instead of a large house. We had a substantial down payment, did not buy new cars (my daily driver is the POS 84 Custom Cruiser, hers is the 93 Allante), and did not overextend ourselves. Our reward is that we get to bail out the idiots who did...

Originally Posted by gearheads78

So since I have an unmatched washer drawer pair that were bought at different times for a grand total of $125.00 I must be doing it wrong huh? 4 years on the washer and 3 years on the dryer so far. My 50.00 used washer before this one lasted 7 years. I better run out now and spent $2000 to save 5.00 a month on my electric bill.