jadziasman

Foreclosures Slow, Still Near Record Highs

No mystery here.

Most people who have mortgages are not self employed. It's easy to pay your mortgage while employed and nearly impossible to do so when not. The official unemployment rate is 9.4% but in reality it is much higher with the underemployed and those who have been unemployed so long they are no longer being counted.

Good paying jobs for the high school graduate are few and far between now and even college grads are having difficulty finding $20 per hour jobs as well.

Until new industries/services pop up that can pay the average joe more money, the economic doldrums will not abate.

China's Car Sales Jump 47% Year over Year on Subsidies

Chances are many folks with guzzlers still have payments remaining on their Land Yachts. Even with $4.5 K, they're not going to be able to upgrade (downsize) to a brand spanking new Lincoln MKX with an EcoBoost V-6 in it, are they?

Oh? Didn't you hear? Americans are the world's nouveau poor! Can't even get credit any more. Want to buy a new vehicle? Do you have the down payment? (eh -- wat's dat?) Used to be able to borrow 125% of the purchase price - not any more.

Hey, here's an idea - let them use the cash for guzzlers funds for the down payment! Who needs savings anyhow. Hyperinflation is just around the corner.

Indiana Pensioners Using Goverment's Argument Against It

A greater irony would be if (when) Chrysler is liquidated. The Indiana pensioners would realize a greater loss in their investment and perhaps state goverment job losses due to decreased economic activity resulting from the domino effect on Chrysler's supply chain.

Principles sometimes cost you principal.

The Myth of Deleveraging

Tom,

Was it really necessary to use such a vulgar comparison to make your point about China?

And - shame on you Seeking Alpha editors for publishing this article as written.

To Be a Ford Dealer

Ford is lucky - that's all. Mullaly needed cash and plenty of it to restructure and mortgaged the company to get 25 billion. Ford and its CEO were lucky because the lenders were willing at the time to cough up the funds. We all know what happened after that.

Don't get me wrong. I want Ford to succeed and so do its secured bondholders. Auto sales need to get back to 12+ MM and soon.

Chrysler's Future

What is it that realtors always say?
Location, location, location.

What's important in the auto business?
Product, product, product.

Chrysler ran out of it - it's that simple. They started to run out of "gotta have cars/trucks" when Daimler bought them. This freshly bankrupt company is still (or was until today) building cars that were once hot sellers (like the 300 and the really dated PT Cruiser) that have no matching buyers.

I was amazed (shocked) to see what a local Chrysler dealer has in its new inventory - there were about forty 300's equipped with 3.5L V6's on the lot priced over $30K . And - the dealer said Chrysler "forced" them to buy them. Too bad the dealer doesn't have the ability to "force" a customer into buying one. Perhaps the US govemment can help with that.

Bankruptcy was the best thing that could have happened to Chrysler. And in less than a few years from now - poof! gone! good riddance!

Chrysler: Looking for a Miracle to Survive

Yeah, sure, a miracle (LOL!).

That miracle would be called the U.S. taxpayer.

Even if the Fiat deal falls through, it's unlikely that Obama will pull the plug immediately.

As Michael Scott said on the next to most recent episode of "The Office" - 'Everyone deserves a second second-chance.'

Bank on it.

Why Isn't McDonald's Targeting the Fish Crowd During Lent?

Don't think the marketing gurus at McD haven't looked at all the Easter angles. Why the fast food joints haven't capitalized on religious action figures in Happy Meals yet, it's just..... mind bottling (from 'Blades of Glory' to those not in the know).

You have your Old and New Testament celebs, you've got Mohammad, Buddha, the list goes on and on. Collect them all. It could start a new Beanie Babies craze.

And no - I'm not an atheist. I don't believe God doesn't exist.

Bear Market Over? Not So Fast

I decided to sell all my stock in my 401K today after a slight gain from the Nov 08 low. It's not much, but I work in the auto industry in metro Detroit and I cannot risk losing any money I might need soon. Can't get any equity out of my home - never did so or wanted to before and sure can't now. The Detroit area Case-Shiller real estate price index just hit 77.8 - January 2000 = 100. Prices are back to what they were when Slick Willy was finishing up his first term.

I agree with the prediction of 450-550 S&P. There's just too much uncertainty with commercial real estate, Alt A and option ARMs, consumer and government debt and the "managed" bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler. It won't take much bad news to make the market plummet again.

Once the S&P does hit 500, I'll get the chance to ride the next bear rally. When will the S&P hit its next new high? Oh, 2015 or thereabouts.

The Administration Doesn't Like What GM and Chrysler Have to Sell

GM hasn't been a car company for at least 20 years. SUV's and trucks were its profit makers and like Ford, they were very good at producing them. Many, many people bought these vehicles too because they were durable and safe. Gasoline cost only became an issue recently. And then Depression set in, but that's another story.

Sure, the upper management of GM should have seen this coming and made the necessary changes (beginning in 1973). But, there's a lot of blame to share in the USA.

Our wasteful ways with energy have brought these once great auto corporations to their knees. Forget about global warming, it's the competition for dwindling resources from emerging competitor nations - and we're going to lose. Fuel conservation will be forced on us. When the dollar devaluation really hits - sometime in the next five years, gasoline will hit $8 to $10 per gallon. The US will be much like Great Britain, a former powerhouse fighting a perpetual recession.

We will be the ones riding the bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles. Who knows - maybe our citizens will lose some weight and our health care costs will decrease.

Target's Folly

What Target stores do you shop at? The Target stores in the Midwest do have groceries in the back of the store. When you walk in there are women's clothes and the jewelry department, then health and beauty,and last of all grocery. Only Super Targets have groceries at one of the main entrances - just like Meijer and Walmart Supercenters do.

Are you shorting Target's stock?

The Question of GM's Future

My last comment shows what happens when you don't post for a while. Anywho...

GM is a multinational corporation with more of its sales outside its home market now than within it. Same as Toyota, Honda and VW.

GM sold the most cars world wide for the past 77 years only to be overtaken by Toyota in 2008. To imply that this manufacturer can be liquidated without serious disruption to the world economy is simplistic to say the least.

In fact, it is somewhat perplexing how GM could continue to be the top seller while shrinking as much as it has in the past 25 years. True, its competitor's have grown while it hasn't so its world share has dropped nevertheless it's still in the top two (for now).

To allow GM to fail now would be a huge mistake. Sure, it will need to borrow large sums but GM won't just sit on the money like the banks have done - will it? That money will be used to pay its employees, suppliers, its local governments, and most importantly - the bondholders of GM debt who have had the misfortune of either holding on it for too long or made the mistake of buying it the past few years. It will keep one important segment of the economy on life support until the Great Deleveraging ends.

And - It would be nice if they could sell more 'gotta have' vehicles at a decent profit too but maybe that's wishing too much.

The Question of GM's Future

sdoghanga

The Fed Funds Target Rate Is an Exercise in Futility

Seems as if the Fed is deliberately trying to debase the dollar so that the general price level increases. The fear in D.C. and at major banks is the continuing problem with depressed home values, which will create havoc in 2010 and 2011 when the Alt-A's and Option ARM's reset. If the Fed is successful and its inflation strategy artificially increases home values enough to allow the mortgage holders to refinance, then the Great Recession can be finally put to rest.

The danger in this strategy is that interest rates are liable to be in the 7 to 8% range in 2011 making the mortgages unaffordable for those with high loan to value ratios or inadequate incomes to cover the higher payments.

Although inflation is never desirable, it might be the medicine needed at this moment in time no matter how bad it tastes.

Saudis Try to Re-Invent the Internal Combustion Engine

The ICE will continue as the predominant propulsion force for the next 30 years. The price and type of its fuel will be the question.

ICE's can run on gasoline, diesel, ethanol, natural gas, and other less easy to store fuels such as hydrogen or wood chips - just kidding. Some even run on plain water (LOL!!!!).

CO2 emissions decrease as fuel economy increases (If I may be allowed to state the obvious and I will). However, achieving 50+ mpg currently requires certain sacrifices that many consumers aren't going to be willing to make (driving slower is one) - especially now that gasoline has become "affordable" once again (at least until early April 2009 anyway).

High fuel economy can only be achieved in the following progressively more expensive ways - small light vehicles with small gasoline or diesel ICEs, vehicles with turbo or supercharged gasoline or diesel ICEs, hybrid ICE vehicles (Prius), plug in hybrid with auxiliary ICE (Volt) or fully electric (Tesla).

The first on the list is the most likely choice for consumers in the progressively poorer first world industrialized nations and those in the up and coming emerging Asian powerhouses. The rich can buy whatever they want and will continue to do so no matter where they live.

So generally speaking, it will be tiny econoboxes or Ferrari's for everyone.