You can't blame him for trying.
John Bergstrom, the head of Wisconsin largest auto dealer group, is pushing a plan to help the auto industry and the economy: $5,000 government vouchers.
Bergstrom, who has 26 operations in the Milwaukee area and in the Fox Valley, has written a letter to President Obama about his plan, but has not heard back, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.
Gee. No response. Does this plan look just a bit self-serving?
Here is Bergstrom's plan, according to his letter. For a period of 90 days, from Feb. 15 through May 15, everyone who buys a new vehicle would be given a government voucher for $5,000. The manufacturer would then match it with another $5,000 voucher.
Only 90 days? Just when there are, oh, I dunno, about 1,200,000 newly-laid-off people?
"We could get this industry rolling in a hurry," Bergstom says.
And John could pay down his line of credit--and maybe even pay off some of his mortgages on those 20 dealerships!!!
The Bergstrom plan assumes that dealers would go along with selling the vehicle at invoices prices, and that auto finance companies would go along with workable terms.
"Workable terms" from the finance companies, eh, John?
Warren Buffet just lent Harley-Davidson Finance $300 million at FIFTEEN PERCENT, John. That means that HDFC must get more than 15% rates from people who finance LowRiders, just to break even.
That's what you think is "workable," John?
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2 comments:
I now have doubts as to how bad off these GM dealers are. I went to my local Saturn dealer to look at the new Astra, and they didn't seem interested at all in making a sale. Good bye! The week before, same thing at a local Chevy dealer, in fact, the very one I bought my current '05 at. Good bye! Hey Detroit! I guess you're not hurting as bad as you say.
Do I get to write $5,000 off of my federal tax return for the purchase that I made in October of last year?
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