Hope and Change Obama Style

[dude1394]

Transparency...thy name is barry..

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is refusing to quickly release government records on its "cash-for-clunkers" rebate program that would substantiate — or undercut — White House claims of the program's success, even as the president presses the Senate for a quick vote for $2 billion to boost car sales.
The Transportation Department said it will provide the data as soon as possible but did not specify a time frame or promise release of the data before the Senate votes whether to spend $2 billion more on the program.

[Mavdog]

Originally Posted by dude1394

Transparency...thy name is barry..

geez, it's amazing at the extent some people will go to bitch. the cash for clunkers program is proving to be not just a success, but a huge success, and yet here's a post griping about some perceived lack of "transparency".

here's some "transparency" for ya....
---------------------------------------------------
Trade-In Program Tunes Up Economic Engine
By JUSTIN LAHART
Of the nearly $800 billion of stimulus funds, the $1 billion "Cash for Clunkers" program may offer the most bang for the buck in terms of jump-starting the economy.

The program comes as auto dealers' inventories are running lower, after the bankruptcy-related shutdowns at General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC.

Car companies may need to raise production as a result, and to do that, they will have to boost their own depleted stockpiles of raw materials and parts.

The prospect has some economists scrambling to raise their forecasts for growth in the second half of the year.

"A billion dollars for 'cash for clunkers' looks dramatically more efficient, dollar for dollar, than anything else the Congress has passed yet," Credit Suisse economist Neal Soss wrote in a note last week. The program played a big role in his upward revision of his projection for gross domestic product. Mr. Soss now expects GDP to grow at a 2% rate in the third quarter, up from his previous 1.3%.

"The blowout response to the cash-for-clunkers incentive program has been far stronger than we expected," wrote Morgan Stanley economist Richard Berner in a note Monday. He now thinks GDP will grow 3% to 4%, up from his firm's earlier forecast of 1%.

The longer-term effect of the program remains unclear. Some economists believe cash-for-clunkers merely moves spending on cars that would have occurred at some later date into the current quarter. "The essence of what it's going to do," said Nomura Securities economist Zach Pandl, "is move purchases up in time."

That in itself, coming at a time when the economy appears on the cusp of recovery, is helpful, Mr. Pandl said. By boosting demand in the near term, the program will help bolster growth after a year of contraction, adding to the confidence of businesses and consumers alike. That, in turn, could lead them to increase spending.

Some suppliers are still waiting for the cash to trickle down, and with the clunkers program a little more than a week old, it will take some time before the extent of its ripple effects can be known. About two-thirds of the metal and plastic parts St. Louis-based Bachman Machine Co. sells goes into cars, but so far President William Bachman says he hasn't seen business pick up.

"I would think it would help a little bit," he says of the program. "If nothing else, it will move some inventory."

The clunkers program's "multiplier effects" -- where overall spending in the economy rises by more than the government's own outlay -- is a point of contention.

In a recent paper, economists John Cogan and John Taylor of Stanford University in California and Tobias Cwik and Volker Wieland of Goethe University in Germany theorize that because government spending raises inflation expectations and leads to higher budget deficits, it leads to higher interest rates and expectations of higher taxes that end up lowering spending, leading to small multiplier effects.

Another paper by economists Lawrence Christiano, Martin Eichenbaum and Sergio Rebelo at Northwestern University in Illinois takes a different tack, arguing that when overnight interest rates are near zero, as they are now, the multiplier effects become unusually large, because spending jolts consumers out of extreme caution.

At his eight Boston-area dealerships, Village Automotive Group President Raymond Ciccolo says the sales he has made on the clunkers program are to customers who wouldn't normally buy new cars. At the same time, he has seen an upsurge in traffic from customers whose cars are worth too much to qualify for the program.

"Any time you create traffic, you create the ability to sell a car," he said. "And if we can start selling cars now, they start coming back for oil changes, for body work, for new snow tires."

Meantime, the increase in sales provides an income boost for the nearly 500 people that Mr. Ciccolo employs, giving them more wherewithal to spend. Similarly, if auto companies step up production, their workers will be working more hours, boosting their incomes and ability to spend.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by Mavdog

geez, it's amazing at the extent some people will go to bitch. the cash for clunkers program is proving to be not just a success, but a huge success, and yet here's a post griping about some perceived lack of "transparency".

geez it's amazing the extent obama supporters will go to explain away barry's lack of integrity and lack of doing what he said he was going to do. Most transparent administration yet, secret medical meetings, not providing clunker details, not putting his bills on the web as promised, firing attorney generals for doing their jobs and so on. But hey no problemo.

Since you think the clunker model is so great, where is the rest of the clunker legislation. Sure it's great when the government decides which industries (no surprise here) they will support, by either borrowing from someone. Nice vote buying it sounds to me.

Stupid program...imo..won't do a damn thing but transfer more dollars from the credit card to government motors...except...no one's buying government motors. then to destroy them is even MORE stupid.

[Mavdog]

Originally Posted by dude1394

I think we should have a cash for clunker home program too. We could give 45K to anyone who will tear down their old 1960+ home that isn't energy efficient. Then we could have great new homes and the construction business would do great.

the cost/benefit doesn't add up. what does add up is a tax credit for people who do improve the energy efficiency of their homes by adding new equipment or upgrading their current insulation.

wait, there's already a program like that? amazing....

geez it's amazing the extent obama supporters will go to explain away barry's lack of integrity and lack of doing what he said he was going to do. Most transparent administration yet, secret medical meetings, not providing clunker details, not putting his bills on the web as promised, firing attorney generals for doing their jobs and so on. But hey no problemo.

could you outline just what you want from the white house regarding the cash for clunkers program? could you explain just what "lack of integrity" and/or "lack of what he said he was going to do" as it relates to the cash for clunkers program?

what attorney general was fired?

your hate is getting the better of your reasoning.

Since you think the clunker model is so great, where is the rest of the clunker legislation. Sure it's great when the government decides which industries (no surprise here) they will support, by either borrowing from someone. Nice vote buying it sounds to me.

so it's "vote buying" to use the resources to stimulate the auto industry? apparently your view is they should just sit on their hands and not attempt to help, right?

Stupid program...imo..won't do a damn thing but transfer more dollars from the credit card to government motors...except...no one's buying government motors. then to destroy them is even MORE stupid.

yeah, "won't do a damn thing"....you should call up all those economist who are raising their predictions on the gdp and let them know they are all in error.

not to mention all those heavy polluting vehicles that are being retired and the benefit to our air quality that results, and the increased fuel efficiencies.

again, your hate is getting the better of you.

[dude1394]

I must admit...I never expected to see this in the US. A "pay czar". http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...080802532.html

Kenneth R. Feinberg has the unprecedented task of deciding executive compensation at seven companies that received large government bailouts. His meetings with American International Group, Citigroup, Bank of America, General Motors, Chrysler, Chrysler Financial and GMAC have been conducted in secret, with neither Feinberg nor the companies willing to say much in public.

[dude1394]

Amazing...Funny line.

Obama has publicly excoriated George W. Bush for running up a $455 billion deficit. Apparently, we missed the nuance there. It wasn’t high enough to suit Obama. So he’s going to quadruple it.

CBO now projects a $1.8 trillion deficit by the end of the fiscal year in September. Almost exactly four times the maximum Bush deficit. I’m certainly not going to defend Bush’s spending - or Democrat-controlled Congressional excess in the past three years - but I don’t see how multiplying the deficit by a factor of four will get us out of an economic hole.

[dude1394]

Heh...

THEY CAN’T HANDLE THIS, BUT THEY’LL HANDLE HEALTHCARE? Dealers stiffed as clunkers pile up. “Some New Mexico auto dealers have backed out of the cash-for-clunkers program and more may do so as the federal government takes its time providing cash reimbursements. Dealers across the state are owed more than $3.6 million, according to a dealers’ group which says that so far Uncle Sam has only written three checks totaling about $14,000.”


(Emphasis added). They promised FedEx, but they’re delivering the Post Office. . . .