OT: An Interesting Factoid

[Cdnwolf]

And this is what $30,000 will get you in the USA.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

And this is what $30,000 will get you in the USA.

Yeah, but you can use it for a Cash-for-Clunkers trade-in!

[Cdnwolf]

That was what he traded his clunker in for!!!

[Cdnwolf]

That was what he traded his clunker in for!!! Interesting concept that cash for clunkers program... Get people who have no money or bad credit to invest in new cars and then when they default have foreclosure and repo's on all the vehicles.

Hey wait a minute... isn't that what happened in the housing market????

[natehale1971]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

That was what he traded his clunker in for!!! Interesting concept that cash for clunkers program... Get people who have no money or bad credit to invest in new cars and then when they default have foreclosure and repo's on all the vehicles.

Hey wait a minute... isn't that what happened in the housing market????

YUP! Exactly. The Congress forced the bankers to lower their standards for giving the morgages (Barney Frank and another Democratic Congressman whose name I can't remember off-hand wrote the legislation) because they claimed the standards were racist. The housing market and other problems the economy has suffered can be tracked back to policies that came into being after the change over in Congress in 2006.

[kato13]

Sorry guys getting too purely political. I am not trying to stifle comments, I just know that political discussions get heated and causes rifts. Trying hard to prevent that.

Back to the cars. 30k should get you a nice basic new car (including taxes). It would get you a very nice used car.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by kato13

Back to the cars. 30k should get you a nice basic new car (including taxes). It would get you a very nice used car.

Phew! Thanks for the clarification.

Of course I'm more interested in motorcycles and US$30,000 would buy me a very nice bike, new or used. Mmm, wouldn't mind getting me a Triumph Speed Triple or a Buell, but I think I'll have to get a 1000cc Kawasaki in the mean time until my bank balance ios looking a little more healthy.

[kato13]

Originally Posted by Targan

Phew! Thanks for the clarification.

Of course I'm more interested in motorcycles and US$30,000 would buy me a very nice bike, new or used. Mmm, wouldn't mind getting me a Triumph Speed Triple or a Buell, but I think I'll have to get a 1000cc Kawasaki in the mean time until my bank balance ios looking a little more healthy.

I just found a 2004 Jaguar convertible with 24k miles for 27,999. That really surprised me as I believe the 2009 model is in the high 80s.

[natehale1971]

Originally Posted by kato13

Sorry guys getting too purely political. I am not trying to stifle comments, I just know that political discussions get heated and causes rifts. Trying hard to prevent that.

Back to the cars. 30k should get you a nice basic new car (including taxes). It would get you a very nice used car.

Not anymore... Cash for Clunkers has actually taken the good used cars that people like me could afford off the road. they are required to do things to the vehicles 'cashed-in' that when done, they can't even sell spare parts from the engines. I live in an apartment complex that is right in the centre of nearly TWENTY NEW car lots (not counting the various used car lots in the area). And there is another ten less than 10 miles from here heading towards Charlotte!

Our biggest problem has been the over saturation of car dealerships that are having to compete with each other. Usually that would be a good thing since it would keep the prices down... But when it costs more to have the car companies to pay their employees to build cars that will never get sold than to lay them off... well, it's not conductive to keeping prices down.

Back when i could walk, i would take leasurily walks past all of the car dealerships in the area. i'd start by walking out the back of the complex onto Monroe Road, and walk down to the mall, then back up Roosevelt Bld to swing around to the complex. And since they remembered me form when i was a tire recovery & recycling specialist I'd get to talk with them on a regular basis about how business was.

When i walked out to the walmart last month (yes, i walked out there with my forearm crutches... what use to be a 10 minute walk took me nearly two hours... but I WALKED to the walmart and back. i still haven't recovered from the walk, but i did it) the dealerships that had been so successful where no longer 'official' major automotive dealerships holding sales to get rid of all of the vehicles since they had lost their contracts so suddenly.

they told me about the cash for clunkers, and the recquirements they had to do to those vehicles 'traded-in' really broke the mechanics hearts. Because they said they where having to destroy perfectly good engines just to get qualified for the program. and don't get me started on just how upset the salesmen where upset over the requirements over allowing the federal government to 'own' everything on their computers...

one of the dealerships found out what happened to me, and one of the guys offered to get me a used car. but i said no because i know that i will never drive again. while i was there we found out just i'm terrified of getting behind the wheel of a car... i needed to sit down and they opened the drivers side door to let me sit in the car and i tired, i really did. but i had an anxity attack. i think i cried for nearly an hour.

I can't wait till the middle of September, the VA has been able to get me a special psychitrist to help me deal with the PTSD and other problems I now have developed since the accident. i really hope they can help keep me form breaking into tears everytime i see a father holding their babies on TV or look at pictures of me and the boys.

[Nowhere Man 1966]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

That was what he traded his clunker in for!!! Interesting concept that cash for clunkers program... Get people who have no money or bad credit to invest in new cars and then when they default have foreclosure and repo's on all the vehicles.

Hey wait a minute... isn't that what happened in the housing market????

It's hurting us in the auto parts business as well as some of the used car dealers I've talked to. Most people I hang with are the types that can only afford those $2000 to $5000 cars and that program is hurting them by taking some of those cars off the market as well as hurt those dealers who are trying to sell them. Even so, I cannot afford a car payment for a new car, program or no program. Expect repos to rise.

Chuck

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

And this is what $30,000 will get you in the USA.

Is that satirical or does a piece of crap ride like that cost US$30,000? In Australia US$30,000 would get you an okay new car or a pretty sweet used car.

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

And this is what $30,000 will get you in the USA.

it looks like a pretty good image of a refugee camp to me..

about the math - if there are 28 000 000 Iraqis - would they need one house each -or would they need one bigger house pr say 5 or 10 people ? Making the 30 000 a head something between 150 000 and 300 000 ? ( but number of houses decrease obviously ? )

Any ways - the fact that it is up for discussion wether or not this bit of the war has been handled well is bad imho .It is kind of like giving up a hard won hill after everything the guys on the ground has suffered to take it ,some planner in an office made mistakes and it is lost again .

A bigger effort and better plan on this would have saved a ton of grief.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by headquarters

Any ways - the fact that it is up for discussion wether or not this bit of the war has been handled well is bad imho .It is kind of like giving up a hard won hill after everything the guys on the ground has suffered to take it ,some planner in an office made mistakes and it is lost again .

A bigger effort and better plan on this would have saved a ton of grief.

Hence the beauty of a nuclear war - no need to bother with a recovery plan.

[Nowhere Man 1966]

Originally Posted by Targan

Hence the beauty of a nuclear war - no need to bother with a recovery plan.

And things will be more libertarian.

Chuck