Tag Archives: General Motors

More Stories and Insights from the U.S.

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Last week we discussed some real on-the-ground stories from Phoenix. Here are a few more insights worth sharing:

First and foremost, something very critical that separates us from the current U.S. policy. We spoke briefly last week about Prime Minister Harper traveling the country stating how well we are doing as Canadians in this economy. And he’s right. This isn’t about politics, although in the interest of full-disclosure, I’m a fiscal conservative. I believe that much of the intervention in the U.S. economy by the government is doing nothing more than creating a phony and temporary sugar high. Cash for clunkers was $3 billion of tax money to sell 700,000 cars – the car market is now dead again.

There’s an $8,000 tax credit for first time home purchasers. I guarantee you, when that expires in November, the housing market will die off again. Foreclosures are still increasing, and there are more than 17 million people out of work – and that’s still rising. The only way to get the economy back to health is to create jobs, and to reduce the killer debt load the average American is under.

If you believe the government programs are a blessing and not a temporary fix – just wait a year for them to expire, and you’ll see the results. Until then, you might not like Prime Minister Harper’s policies, but as a former economist, he knows that governments can’t be the solution to everything.

General Motors has now begun to sell new vehicles on the giant auction site e-bay. The trial with their California dealers was last month, but you can bet it’ll be back nation-wide. And GM is now working on a $4,000 vehicle. Tata Motors is selling their inexpensive one in India right now for $2,000, and they already have European certification, so you know they’re coming to North America at around $5,000 or so. Yes, GM is behind again – but not as far as usual.

Anyone who travels a fair bit will love this story: For some time now, there has been an on-going, multi-country investigation into illegal price fixing by airlines into their fuel surcharges. The CEO of Virgin Atlantic has already admitted to it. But it’s sad that any company that’s convicted will only have to pay a fine. And that fine will be way less than they made in profits from the fuel surcharges. Some of these executives should spend some jail time!

A Lot of New Stories This Week

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Starbucks, as if they didn’t have enough problems in a recession where people aren’t interested in spending four bucks for a coffee, had a big hiccup on the May long weekend. More than one million customers who paid with credit or debit card were double charged because of a computer error. The company fixed it internally, but it’s another reason to always, always check your statements!

An old 1980’s scam is back that you should make sure you know about. It’s that you’ve won the Jamaican lottery. But you need to first pay for the transfer funds. Sorry, you didn’t win – honest, but this fraud has really taken off again. In fact, gangs in Jamaica are killing each other in fights to get the sucker and reload lists, it’s that hot.

Bankrupt General Motors is cleaning house some more. They just sold their Saab division, which apparently never ever made a dime of net profit for them. OK, and they didn’t actually sell Saab – they gave it away to a small Swedish luxury car maker.

President Obama is proposing a new consumer legislation agency in the U.S. If it passes, and that’s not a given, one big goal of the agency is that disclosure on credit cards and other products be in plain language. The goal is to have any disclosure written at a grade 11 level, one page or less, where someone can read it AND understand it in less than four minutes. Now that’s a great goal.

Have you noticed that the big no-service banks are now in the product sales business in a bigger way? In a mailer this month from the Scotiabank, I received a flyer to buy a Garmin 255 GPS. Why is the bank selling GPS systems? Their price is $300, while Amazon sells them for under $200!

Last week’s American Express rewards catalogue had something I would really really like to buy with my points: A new 2009 Elise SC sports car from Lotus. It’s 14.2 million points. You might guess I’m a little short. But I’d like to know who runs up over $14 million of charges on their American Express!

There was a survey a couple of weeks ago that should be great news: When the economy recovers: 25% of people said that they will return to their regular spending habits, but 61% said that they will stay with their reduced spending and budgeting.

Would you like to have lunch with Warren Buffet in New York? Sure, who wouldn’t! It’s a fundraiser auction for the Glide Foundation and you can bid on E-bay until this weekend. But before you log on: Last year, the price was $2.1 million! It’s for you and seven of your friends. So if you do bid: I would love to be your friend!

Poor retailer Eddie Bauer. They went bankrupt for the second time in four years last week. This time it involves about $420 million in debt. Gees, you’d think they would learn the first time that heavy borrowing doesn’t work. But then, it’s another retailer that we can learn from, because, over the long term, debt doesn’t work for us, either.