A real depression would require something like....well, a big drop in GDP, thus a rise in unemployment and I guess some kind of hyperinflation.
If the world just got fed up with the USA and decided to not use the Dollar as the world currency, THAT would have some grave consequences. It's not out of the realm of possibility. especially now where Asia is being handed markets on a silver platter.
...and that GDP drop comes if a big trade war happens because a significant chunk of S&P 500 company revenue comes from overseas business (something like a third on average I believe). The reduced revenue starts layoffs and puts a crimp in capital spending, people can't pay bills and start loan defaults, small businesses loose subcontract business as well and the ball starts rolling down the hill as banks get back in trouble and the financial markets drop big. Your comment on the dollar is pertinent. If you noticed the US Treasuries sales overseas have tapered with the weakening dollar despite some of the higher international interest rates on the US bonds compared to world markets. That should be a warning shot.
Honestly, I think those whole trade tariff stuff to bring back US jobs is kind a political façade. Companies and technology have modernized to the point where any increased US factory production won't bring back near as many jobs as even a decade ago thanks to automation. Won't be the first assumption screw up. Many companies are issuing small one time bonuses instead of employee raises in response to the big tax cut and are now using a lot of the savings to do stock buybacks. Promises were made by politicians that can't really be kept in many cases. Meanwhile our deficit is shooting up on a somewhat rapid curve from the tax revenue reductions. On top of that, there is an irony that the agricultural community who supported a lot of this trade and economics approach will be one of the worst impacted by reciprocal trade responses.
It's a complete facade, it is egoistic posturing. There is no precedent of tariffs or trade wars having a positive outcome. For someone to favor them suggests they haven't studied economic history - given the party suggesting right now, this is probably the case. The nicely irksome part is that tariffs are suggested against allies, yet certain corrupt parties refuse to move forward with sanctions against the reborn USSR. This is really a dangerous game, and the person a broken system has allowed to play it could push things over the edge.
As the U.S., Mexico, and Canada enter into the final day of the seventh round of NAFTA renegotiation talks, President Trump is offering his neighbors an incentive for signing a favorable deal.
“Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum will only come off if new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed,” Trump tweeted on Monday morning.
I've seen the ambient lighting in some late models called "Berlin bordello" or something similar - it is definitely not subtle. MB interiors are getting swoopy, and the outsides maybe more rounded than I prefer.
I was just in a drive through car wash that has both that "Berlin Bordello" as you put it and disco color lights flashing as it washes, waxes and rinses. Where are my Bee Gees cd's!
I am primarily in agreement. I generally like more angular designs in general (but not to the point of flamboyant Lexus predator/cow catcher grilles). I think MBs roughly 5 years ago hit a peak of relatively traditional yet modern design. They are becoming a little too trendy right now, at least for me - but I like old cars.
Hopefully some automaker will hit upon a styling breakthrough, like Audi did in the 1990s with their "roof arc". We are certainly ready for something less tortured than we are getting now with some of the automakers. The swing to CUVs and SUVs doesn't help--I think that body style limits the possibilities.
Just being trendy doesn't mean it's going to "stick". Remember all that rather naive Space Age design and architecture from the 50s? You know, with the jet pontoons and flying saucer shapes and spirally antennae? You hardly see anyone doing that anymore. Now it seems we've gravitated to everything looking like a Star Wars model or Captain Kirk's console.
Not that anyone (including me) would call it beautiful, but when it's clean, I am still very happy with my '17 Cruze. 15.5K miles in 14 1/2 mos., and not a thing to take it back for, other than oil changes and tire rotations. And for fussy me, that's saying something.
Yes, it looks like a HyunKia.
I do think the LT aluminum wheels have some polish, and even my Asian-car-supporter buddy commented on the chrome instrument panel accents and cloth on the right half of the panel. And the back seat space is almost hard-to-believe IMHO.
If the daughter's old PT cashes it out (my wife is driving it and doesn't mind--first car she's driven that I don't care about door nicks, LOL), I could see us buying another Cruze. As noted before, built just 40 miles down the road and there's no bad to that.
Have put two kids through Miami U. with no loans and that has been done in no small part to holding onto cars longer than I normally would've. Younger daughter is interning in D.C. this semester and we just got back from visiting this past weekend. She has met Pelosi, Ryan, Steve Scalise, John Lewis, and a couple reporters from Fox.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
RE.: Trade wars, the economy, etc., my financial guy--in his early seventies and a retired university professor of all things--tells me he doesn't believe we would even ever see the likes of what happened in 2008 again.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
I've enjoyed the market in the past year or so, it's true, but as I approach retirement age in a few years I do worry about a big correction. I cashed in an account six or seven months ago, worrying about that, but now wish I'd have held on a bit longer. Not 'til last month or this one, of course, though.
I remember hearing how the market was going to sink like a stone after the last election--it just didn't happen. A lot of things just don't seem to be conventional wisdom lately, for good or bad.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
Not that anyone (including me) would call it beautiful, but when it's clean, I am still very happy with my '17 Cruze. 15.5K miles in 14 1/2 mos., and not a thing to take it back for, other than oil changes and tire rotations. And for fussy me, that's saying something.
Yes, it looks like a HyunKia.
I do think the LT aluminum wheels have some polish, and even my Asian-car-supporter buddy commented on the chrome instrument panel accents and cloth on the right half of the panel. And the back seat space is almost hard-to-believe IMHO.
If the daughter's old PT cashes it out (my wife is driving it and doesn't mind--first car she's driven that I don't care about door nicks, LOL), I could see us buying another Cruze. As noted before, built just 40 miles down the road and there's no bad to that.
Have put two kids through Miami U. with no loans and that has been done in no small part to holding onto cars longer than I normally would've. Younger daughter is interning in D.C. this semester and we just got back from visiting this past weekend. She has met Pelosi, Ryan, Steve Scalise, John Lewis, and a couple reporters from Fox.
It's amazing how cheap reliable cars can be to run as compared to unreliable cars.
I often find the Edmunds TCO calculators to have way too much included for repairs (not maintenance) in the first 5 years. There really shouldn't be any repairs in the first 5 years/100,000 miles. Not sure where they get the figures.
Perhaps fuel system cleanings are considered a repair. Maybe alignments too. I consider them maintenance.
I'm glad your Cruze has been reliable and cheap to own. While not good for the dealership (no chargeable warranty work), not good for tow truck companies (no roadside assistance), it is good for the economy, as I imagine you may spend that money elsewhere.
I know my tow truck and auto repair shop funds have been reallocated since I've bought reliable cars.
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
Most people in 2005 couldn't imagine 2008, either. Might be a tough row to hoe in the market soon, especially if fuel prices keep rising.
I remember a real estate agent right around that time, maybe 2004, that said "San Diego home prices would never go down!" They said they might flat-line, but they wouldn't go down.
Funny! Another agent pointed to San Francisco as an example of why San Diego had room to go up.
Salesman (or saleswoman!)
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
They say the same things here now, too. But this time they might not be far off - with so many transplants from SF here in the past decade, along with the offshore money laundering/residency purchasing (no vetting!) component, there seems to be plenty of demand, and prices continue to be insane.
In terms of selling cars, it is probably a good time to be in Seattle.
Economies built on the FIRE sector can fail in an instant.
I remember a real estate agent right around that time, maybe 2004, that said "San Diego home prices would never go down!" They said they might flat-line, but they wouldn't go down.
Funny! Another agent pointed to San Francisco as an example of why San Diego had room to go up.
I don't think any credible analysts expected more than a blip - when a new regime is about trickle down fantasy and gifts to corporations, the markets will love it. Well, lately they have lost much of their post-election gains as markets don't love instability and looming trade wars.
Instability also creates oil price spikes, which might not bode well for US makers addicted to trucks and SUVs/
I've enjoyed the market in the past year or so, it's true, but as I approach retirement age in a few years I do worry about a big correction. I cashed in an account six or seven months ago, worrying about that, but now wish I'd have held on a bit longer. Not 'til last month or this one, of course, though.
I remember hearing how the market was going to sink like a stone after the last election--it just didn't happen. A lot of things just don't seem to be conventional wisdom lately, for good or bad.
The market is still well above pre-Nov. '16 levels, even with the recent fluctuations. GDP and unemployment numbers are strong. I'm a 'jobs' guy. With that said, I surely wish the name-calling by you-know-who would stop.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
Still, down nearly 10% as of late, GDP, tax, and wage gains favor a very small subset of the population. During the prior regime, the sore set claimed unemployment numbers and other indicators were manipulated, funny how all of a sudden they are gospel. If a real trade war gets going, it won't be so pretty. We might be in 1928 right now. With financing terms already at record lengths, I suspect it wouldn't take much to throw domestic makers into a tailspin.
Twitter should ban certain people, keeps their feet out of their gaping maw.
The market is still well above pre-Nov. '16 levels, even with the recent fluctuations. GDP and unemployment numbers are strong. I'm a 'jobs' guy. With that said, I surely wish the name-calling by you-know-who would stop.
These numbers are all fictional. The GDP is debt-driven, not productivity-driven, and the unemployment numbers are extremely misleading. For one thing, if you answer in the survey that you are no longer looking for work (that is, you gave up) you are NOT counted as unemployed. Also, if you have a job that is even 1 hour a week, you are counted as "employed".
Put those two variables in the mix and you can see how the "unemployment rate" is a chimera. It's probably more like 8-9%, and in some areas, easily 15%.
Most Americans are broke. The government certainly is.
Have put two kids through Miami U. with no loans and that has been done in no small part to holding onto cars longer than I normally would've.
We did the same thing Uplander, except a different university. Funny thing, I learned cars do last longer than they used to and now don't buy as often. Of course that is also made easier by the fact I don't like all this touch screen and tiny knob crap on many new vehicles.
These numbers are all fictional. The politically correct term is assumption driven shifty The whole economic data business should have to be footnoted like a corporate 10-K report. Inflation factors are adjusted and applied to suit the need. Basically, it is not unusual that entitlement inflation factors are lower (to reduce payments) than those applied to GDP growth. There are literally a multitude of different inflation numbers used in different scenarios. Same goes with economy money flow. Also, inflation calculations disregard any impact from lower cost Chinese crap lasting half as long as stuff used to. In my book, that's inflation since from a cash flow perspective you need to look at cost change over usage time to realistically depict it. GDP is tinkered with all the time. Then there is the trade deficit. But wait, it is essentially a simplistic them vs. us subtraction. Seems it would be much more meaningful if it was adjusted by trading partners GDP and/or population compared to ours. I think the simplistic calculation exaggerates the net imbalance, but it is great for politics. I could go on, but we're not looking for a term paper...
Well, I would only say that the way those numbers are measured hasn't changed from Nov. 2016 to now although your points are well-taken. A shuttered steel mill about 40 miles west of here is hiring over 1,000 guys, and soon. That's per Cleveland's NBC affiliate. That's not retail; those are good-paying jobs. No bad in that. Will hog farmers be negatively affected somewhere else? Perhaps, even probably, but this is good news in our general area.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
I had mistakenly posted this in the old car forum here a couple weeks ago, but I really intended it here. I saw it in the Chevy owner's magazine I received a few weeks back. I searched and found the video below.
A sixty-year Chevy salesman in Wisconsin, who met General George Patton after his tank was hit and all his other tankmates were killed, sold a new Equinox recently to Patton's grandson. The two had met in Europe a few years back. Patton's grandson is from the Carolinas but bought the car in Wisconsin.
I love stories like this, being a longtime Chevy owner who spent much of his teenage years hanging around my hometown Chevy-Cadillac dealer, and also being a twentieth-century U.S. history buff.
I wonder why a WWII vet continues to work, but with sixty years of selling only Chevys, he remembers those golden years of selling Chevys, I'm sure! What a Rolodex he probably has.
My friend's Dad went from selling Studebakers, Packards, Willys, and Nashes in the mid-fifties at his own dealership, to selling Pontiacs for someone else. He said he couldn't believe the difference--"people come in in a trance, asking 'where do I sign?'", LOL.
I was never a fan of the last Equinox (although bought one for my daughter after her Cruze was totalled last year), but I like the looks of the current Equinox--especially the wheels like Patton's grandson chose. I hear the luggage space is less than the previous Equinox though.
We did the same thing Uplander, except a different university. Funny thing, I learned cars do last longer than they used to and now don't buy as often. Of course that is also made easier by the fact I don't like all this touch screen and tiny knob crap on many new vehicles
Same here. Even on a Cruze, there are features I'll never learn and never use.
For me, a big part of it all, too, is I just don't find new cars nearly as interesting as I did even 33 or 34 years ago.
You know, I made the comment that I hold onto cars longer, and that's true, but I realized that in 2017 I bought five cars! My new Cruze in Jan.; Studebaker in March; a 2015 Cruze to replace my younger daughter's totalled Cobalt in June; another 2015 Cruze since my older daughter was getting leery of driving the PT everywhere and she was over a couple hours away; the older daughter's Cruze was totalled in September in an accident and replaced with the '15 Equinox which she is contributing to. I don't want another year like that!
The first total still has not been settled yet--the other guy hit and took off but was followed by a witness who brought him back! The second total involved a woman hitting my daughter and her boyfriend (he was driving her car) after they were stopped at a red light and the light turned green and they went into the intersection and were hit by a woman. No charges of any kind there since no witnesses could corroborate, grrr.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
These numbers are all fictional. The politically correct term is assumption driven shifty The whole economic data business should have to be footnoted like a corporate 10-K report. Inflation factors are adjusted and applied to suit the need. Basically, it is not unusual that entitlement inflation factors are lower (to reduce payments) than those applied to GDP growth. There are literally a multitude of different inflation numbers used in different scenarios. Same goes with economy money flow. Also, inflation calculations disregard any impact from lower cost Chinese crap lasting half as long as stuff used to. In my book, that's inflation since from a cash flow perspective you need to look at cost change over usage time to realistically depict it. GDP is tinkered with all the time. Then there is the trade deficit. But wait, it is essentially a simplistic them vs. us subtraction. Seems it would be much more meaningful if it was adjusted by trading partners GDP and/or population compared to ours. I think the simplistic calculation exaggerates the net imbalance, but it is great for politics. I could go on, but we're not looking for a term paper...
Okay, fair enough. Mea Culpa. My higher unemployment numbers are reality-biased.
I'm kind of worried that when (not if) interest rates start to go up, that they might go up TOO far (essentially out of control) and punch through to 4 or 5% within a year's time. Now THAT I think would hurt the automobile business.
I'd fear a correction even if the current gang of swamp-fillers are allowed another term. Maybe even especially if. This regime makes Nixon's gang look like the Eisenhower years.
The Federal Reserve has a track record of bad timing. They get in alright, but often seem to miscalculate getting out. Goes back to at least Volcker. But in all fairness, it may be like stocks. Not so hard to buy smart, but selling smart if often a different story I suppose.
Shifty, besides interest rates, a continued and significant weakening of the dollar will jack up oil prices and may also impact the automotive business.
UP - hard to say what the 2020 presidential election may bring. I think it could cut either way if a new president is elected. OTOH, some seem to wonder if there won't be a new president before that. Personally, I don't think I'd buy/sell investments on any of these speculations. I suspect any impact from it will be short lived.
I don't see a change of POTUS affecting things very much. The relationship between the office of POTUS and the economy is very tenuous at best. Mostly history shows that it's mostly just plain dumb luck if a particular POTUS has a good economy to deal with or a bad one. He really cannot have a longterm effect upon it--he can spike it or dull it for a few days but the office of POTUS is most certainly not in control of the economy or what it wants to do.
A remember a poll done some years ago, asking economists, academics and stock traders what would happen to the U.S. economy if the office of POTUS suddenly disappeared one day.
The answer? Nothing. The economy basically does not do what a POTUS wants it to do.
I do believe that pundits did not see the market doing what it did almost immediately on Nov. 8, 2016 and afterwards. I've been able to compartmentalize a lot of the other stuff due to, really, every economic indicator doing what it has done since then. But I'm a conservative sort with money, so a correction obviously scares me. What has happened recently really hasn't, as the market is still so much higher than a year-and-a-half ago. Time will tell of course, despite what all us armchair experts think.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
RE.: Sixty-year Chevy salesman Reuben Schaetzel--there's something to be said about staying in a job that long I think. I bought a used car last year from a fellow named Dee Shannon who has worked at the Chevy dealer in Stow, OH for 34 years. A calmer, nicer fellow you'd never meet. I saw people coming in and asking for him by name. When I go there for service early on a Sat. morning, he's the only salesman in the showroom at that time. Geez, when I've bought cars over the years here and there, it's a miracle if the sales-boy is there six weeks from the purchase date, LOL.
The dealership where Dee works will have their 100th anniversary in 2019. They sold more new Chevys than any dealer in Summit County in 2008, but amazingly, had their franchise pulled in 2009 during the car-czar/bankruptcy thing. The owner was a Republican contributor, which had people wondering (including me). After about four months his franchise was reinstated by GM...after he had lost some longtime employees and customers, sadly. He has since built a big new facility and they are busy. I do miss the small family Chevy dealerships though, where it seems I could get in and out quicker than at the large dealers. Where I live now, lost its small Chevy dealership. I used to enjoy being able to walk home from there on a service visit.
That whole era reminds me of "cash for clunkers". I remember seeing a row of them at a local dealer and hearing how slow it was getting paid by the government for them.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
Pundits can say what they want, but I doubt anyone with a real background or education (not entry into a big name school purchased by daddy's dirty money) in economics thought a pro-business (pro-debt, pro-trickle down fantasy) regime would send things into the crapper initially. That's the cool thing about being a pundit, just like having a cabinet position in this new swamp, you don't need actual knowledge or credentials. Note I said "initially" - the brewing trade war, combined with a slowly declining USD and slowly rising interest rates, could really combine to impact the average consumer - you know, the one who has received very little of the economic gains of the past 40 or so years. I see no reason to trust these people, just by looking at their CVs and examining their words. The markets were also much higher in November 16 than November 08, but we were told that was all manipulated fake news. Can't have it both ways, folks.
Cash for clunkers was indeed a poor use of resources, and I haven't seen any analysis claiming it had a net benefit.
Last thing I'll say about it, but I saw nobody saying that the market in 2008 was fake news. It was hard reality. After that cliff, it had no place to go but up. The large improvements since Nov. '16 were on top of a decent market.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
I've seen claims that the gains in markets since late 08 are fake/manipulated numbers, just like screechers were claiming employment gains during the prior regime weren't real. IMO those markets could have indeed been worse - it was the worst incident since the depression, and it could have declined more before it got better. The minds that slowed the bleeding were in large part the same ones who allowed the wounds to be inflicted to begin with. Economies based on housing and longterm consumer debt are not built on sustainability. Now we are in it again, with many housing bubbles and housing-dependent local economies, and relevant to the auto industry, longer average financing terms than ever. With people stretching more than ever to consume, rising rates and less purchasing power do not bode well.
I'm not generally one for legislating innovation but have to say that without CAFE we might still be stuck with 8-15MPG sedans. Fuel economy mandates force the manufacturers to invest in their drivetrain tech and consumers benefit with lower operating costs and reduced emissions. So far it's been done without sacrificing our desire for power & speed; if anything power & speed have been getting better.
Last thing I'll say about it, but I saw nobody saying that the market in 2008 was fake news. It was hard reality. After that cliff, it had no place to go but up. The large improvements since Nov. '16 were on top of a decent market.
The largest percentage gain in stock prices after a presidential election, in U.S. history, happened in Nov. 1928 to Oct. 1929.
Comments
If the world just got fed up with the USA and decided to not use the Dollar as the world currency, THAT would have some grave consequences. It's not out of the realm of possibility. especially now where Asia is being handed markets on a silver platter.
Prediction: No trade war.
As the U.S., Mexico, and Canada enter into the final day of the seventh round of NAFTA renegotiation talks, President Trump is offering his neighbors an incentive for signing a favorable deal.
“Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum will only come off if new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed,” Trump tweeted on Monday morning.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/03/steel-aluminum-tariffs-might-not-happen-trump-says/
BMW and MB borrow from each other more. A 6er Gran Coupe is a CLS, 2er Active Tourer is a B-Class, GLC/GLE "coupes" are X4/X6 etc.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Just being trendy doesn't mean it's going to "stick". Remember all that rather naive Space Age design and architecture from the 50s? You know, with the jet pontoons and flying saucer shapes and spirally antennae? You hardly see anyone doing that anymore. Now it seems we've gravitated to everything looking like a Star Wars model or Captain Kirk's console.
Yes, it looks like a HyunKia.
I do think the LT aluminum wheels have some polish, and even my Asian-car-supporter buddy commented on the chrome instrument panel accents and cloth on the right half of the panel. And the back seat space is almost hard-to-believe IMHO.
If the daughter's old PT cashes it out (my wife is driving it and doesn't mind--first car she's driven that I don't care about door nicks, LOL), I could see us buying another Cruze. As noted before, built just 40 miles down the road and there's no bad to that.
Have put two kids through Miami U. with no loans and that has been done in no small part to holding onto cars longer than I normally would've. Younger daughter is interning in D.C. this semester and we just got back from visiting this past weekend. She has met Pelosi, Ryan, Steve Scalise, John Lewis, and a couple reporters from Fox.
'24 Chevy Blazer EV 2LT
I remember hearing how the market was going to sink like a stone after the last election--it just didn't happen. A lot of things just don't seem to be conventional wisdom lately, for good or bad.
I often find the Edmunds TCO calculators to have way too much included for repairs (not maintenance) in the first 5 years. There really shouldn't be any repairs in the first 5 years/100,000 miles. Not sure where they get the figures.
Perhaps fuel system cleanings are considered a repair. Maybe alignments too. I consider them maintenance.
I'm glad your Cruze has been reliable and cheap to own. While not good for the dealership (no chargeable warranty work), not good for tow truck companies (no roadside assistance), it is good for the economy, as I imagine you may spend that money elsewhere.
I know my tow truck and auto repair shop funds have been reallocated since I've bought reliable cars.
Funny! Another agent pointed to San Francisco as an example of why San Diego had room to go up.
Salesman
In terms of selling cars, it is probably a good time to be in Seattle.
Economies built on the FIRE sector can fail in an instant.
Instability also creates oil price spikes, which might not bode well for US makers addicted to trucks and SUVs/
Twitter should ban certain people, keeps their feet out of their gaping maw.
Put those two variables in the mix and you can see how the "unemployment rate" is a chimera. It's probably more like 8-9%, and in some areas, easily 15%.
Most Americans are broke. The government certainly is.
Have put two kids through Miami U. with no loans and that has been done in no small part to holding onto cars longer than I normally would've.
We did the same thing Uplander, except a different university. Funny thing, I learned cars do last longer than they used to and now don't buy as often. Of course that is also made easier by the fact I don't like all this touch screen and tiny knob crap on many new vehicles.
The politically correct term is assumption driven shifty
A sixty-year Chevy salesman in Wisconsin, who met General George Patton after his tank was hit and all his other tankmates were killed, sold a new Equinox recently to Patton's grandson. The two had met in Europe a few years back. Patton's grandson is from the Carolinas but bought the car in Wisconsin.
I love stories like this, being a longtime Chevy owner who spent much of his teenage years hanging around my hometown Chevy-Cadillac dealer, and also being a twentieth-century U.S. history buff.
I wonder why a WWII vet continues to work, but with sixty years of selling only Chevys, he remembers those golden years of selling Chevys, I'm sure! What a Rolodex he probably has.
My friend's Dad went from selling Studebakers, Packards, Willys, and Nashes in the mid-fifties at his own dealership, to selling Pontiacs for someone else. He said he couldn't believe the difference--"people come in in a trance, asking 'where do I sign?'", LOL.
I was never a fan of the last Equinox (although bought one for my daughter after her Cruze was totalled last year), but I like the looks of the current Equinox--especially the wheels like Patton's grandson chose. I hear the luggage space is less than the previous Equinox though.
http://fox11online.com/news/local/world-war-ii-veteran-sells-car-to-general-george-s-pattons-grandson
We did the same thing Uplander, except a different university. Funny thing, I learned cars do last longer than they used to and now don't buy as often. Of course that is also made easier by the fact I don't like all this touch screen and tiny knob crap on many new vehicles
Same here. Even on a Cruze, there are features I'll never learn and never use.
For me, a big part of it all, too, is I just don't find new cars nearly as interesting as I did even 33 or 34 years ago.
You know, I made the comment that I hold onto cars longer, and that's true, but I realized that in 2017 I bought five cars! My new Cruze in Jan.; Studebaker in March; a 2015 Cruze to replace my younger daughter's totalled Cobalt in June; another 2015 Cruze since my older daughter was getting leery of driving the PT everywhere and she was over a couple hours away; the older daughter's Cruze was totalled in September in an accident and replaced with the '15 Equinox which she is contributing to. I don't want another year like that!
The first total still has not been settled yet--the other guy hit and took off but was followed by a witness who brought him back! The second total involved a woman hitting my daughter and her boyfriend (he was driving her car) after they were stopped at a red light and the light turned green and they went into the intersection and were hit by a woman. No charges of any kind there since no witnesses could corroborate, grrr.
Shifty, besides interest rates, a continued and significant weakening of the dollar will jack up oil prices and may also impact the automotive business.
UP - hard to say what the 2020 presidential election may bring. I think it could cut either way if a new president is elected. OTOH, some seem to wonder if there won't be a new president before that. Personally, I don't think I'd buy/sell investments on any of these speculations. I suspect any impact from it will be short lived.
A remember a poll done some years ago, asking economists, academics and stock traders what would happen to the U.S. economy if the office of POTUS suddenly disappeared one day.
The answer? Nothing. The economy basically does not do what a POTUS wants it to do.
The dealership where Dee works will have their 100th anniversary in 2019. They sold more new Chevys than any dealer in Summit County in 2008, but amazingly, had their franchise pulled in 2009 during the car-czar/bankruptcy thing. The owner was a Republican contributor, which had people wondering (including me). After about four months his franchise was reinstated by GM...after he had lost some longtime employees and customers, sadly. He has since built a big new facility and they are busy. I do miss the small family Chevy dealerships though, where it seems I could get in and out quicker than at the large dealers. Where I live now, lost its small Chevy dealership. I used to enjoy being able to walk home from there on a service visit.
That whole era reminds me of "cash for clunkers". I remember seeing a row of them at a local dealer and hearing how slow it was getting paid by the government for them.
Cash for clunkers was indeed a poor use of resources, and I haven't seen any analysis claiming it had a net benefit.
Looks like another fun day on the market so far.
But maybe not so much for the next few years. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/02/trump-epa-will-revise-obama-fuel-efficiency-rules-for-autos.html. I looked at Edmunds but haven't seen mention of this so far.
The largest percentage gain in stock prices after a presidential election, in U.S. history, happened in Nov. 1928 to Oct. 1929.