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That's a tough question and one that countless parents have to wrestle with. I'm sure that some parents have no choice while others do it for the nice toys. I would have preferred that my wife work but she choose to stay home. We were poor but maybe it had some benefit to our kids. Who can say.
One thing I do know is that most of the wild kids on my school bus get dropped off at day care...er...child care centers.
To stay on topic: many of the parents pick their kids up from child care in nice cars.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
You may re-evaluate your decision once you realize who that "lazy rotten [non-permissible content removed]" she keeps muttering about really is. :surprise:
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Sounds from a guy thats been sand-bagged. They always have time to get things done. Those kids take naps you know. :confuse:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Since I don't need 4 cars, I'll take the 25% off deal instead, since it's the same thing. I learned that trick right here from an old tire salesman that's now a car salesman so it must be true. In fact, it should be easier to get my deal since no one likes to give product away. :surprise:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
This will certainly hurt used car values, but the consumers who will be hurt by this are those who trade frequently. The more prudent among us, who drive our cars until the wheels fall off, won't be affected by this.
No I don't think they will have "fire sales" because of the answer you just said... resale values, and if they were able to do it every other dealer in the nation would be able to do it.... It is a huge mess for everyone involved...
GP
Just think of the after affect to all the Mom and Pop used car places along the road. These places live off of Chrsyler products because they can buy them cheap at auction. If Crysler cuts prices it will take business away form the small guys. Why would you buy a used Sebring when you could buy a brand new one for less?
GP
You may be able to get a slightly better deal, but once the price gets much lower than $500 below cost, then the surviving dealer down the street will be happy to take the cars off their hands... (plus, the owner won't be paying commissions...) After that, there is always the auctions.
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Actually, that award probably goes to Fiat.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Wouldn't it be ironical if Ford is the last American car company left - the one that started the whole thing!
They say if the other D2 go, Ford will have trouble getting parts - you really need at least 2 around to make it worthwhile for parts manufacturers. It isn't necessarily a good thing for Ford if Chrysler doesn't make it.
I am off to tennis. One of the guys who plays has a GM dealership, it's in the 3rd generation, started in 1936. When he shows up we tell him he should be back at work trying to sell some cars. He seems to be in very good spirits, but I am sure it isn't easy to own any car dealership these days, especially a D3 one.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
To stay on topic: many of the parents pick their kids up from child care in nice cars.
Nice kids are worth infinitely more than nice cars.
Well, I wouldn't call GM's lineup the best in the industry just now. I think that we are about to see the real test of customer loyalty in this country. I did my part and I don't regret it.
Richard
It's unfortunate that all parents don't share that opinion. Some throw money at their children, just as they throw money at their cars. Some think that they can purchase the respect and love that they desire. Some children never learn that you don't get paid for taking out the trash.
Richard
Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
I cannot tell you how many times I have forwarded this to someone.
Richard
While checking the etymology of those words allegedly by Gates, I found this anecdotal listing of money Gates earns:
1. Bill Gates earn US$250 every SECOND, that's about US$20 Million a DAY and US$7.8 Billion a YEAR!
2. If he drop a thousand dollar, he won't even bother to pick it up coz by
the 4 second he pick it, he already earn it back.
3. US's national debt is about 5.62 trillion, if Bill Gates will pay the
debt by himself; he will finish it in less then 10 years.
4. He can donate US$15 to everyone on earth but still left US$5 Million for
his pocket money.
5. Michael Jordan is the highest paid athlete in US. If he don't drink and
eat, and keep his annual income US$30 Million up, he'll have to wait for 277
years to become as rich as Bill Gates now.
6. If Bill Gates is a country, he is the 37th richest country on earth, or
US 13th biggest company, even bigger then IBM.
7. If exchange all Bill Gate's money to US$1, you can make a road from earth
to moon, 14 times back and forth. But you have to make that road non-stop
for 1,400 years, and use a total of 713 BOEING 747 plane to transport all
the money.
8. Bill Gates is 40 this year. If we assume that he still can live for 35
years, he has to spend US$6.78 Million per day to finish his money before go
to heaven.
9. BUT!!! If Microsoft Windows' users can claim US$1 for every time their
computers hang because of Microsoft Windows, Bill Gates will bankrupt in 3 years!
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
"Analysis: Whether the above strikes you as a clever, much-needed dose of realism for today's youth or an unnecessarily vituperative browbeating, one thing you ought to be aware of is that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates neither wrote the words nor delivered them in a speech to high school students or anyone else. As happens with alarming frequency online, a text written by one person came to be falsely attributed to another and due to endless repetition the attribution stuck and became accepted as fact.
"The text itself a pared-down version of an op-ed piece that appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune on September 19, 1996. It was written by Charles J. Sykes, best known as the author of "Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good about Themselves, but Can't Read, Write, or Add." Drastically edited by person(s) unknown, it began making the email rounds under Bill Gates' name in February 2000 and is still, as of this writing in 2005, far more often attributed to Gates than to Sykes - which is unfortunate, but, like the man said: Life isn't fair; get used to it."
--as printed by
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_bill_gates_speech.htm
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Richard
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
But it was much more impressive when it was attributed to Bill Gates. Some people like to ruin all the fun. Like Richard Lewis once said (and it was him), his family was always so depressed, he even had an uncle that would make family videos, and then edit out all the joyous moments.
2. If he drop a thousand dollar, he won't even bother to pick it up coz by
the 4 second he pick it, he already earn it back.
Heck with working, I am just going to follow Bill Gates around all day.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I'm sorry.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I read this article in a trade jounal on the book industry and it is talking about the use of coupons to get sales. His point is that if you constantly give a big discount people will get used to those low prices, but coupons are tempoary, and you have to use them right away - there is some urgency;
Resourceful Marketing Needed in Every Downturn!
One day back in the early 1990s, (if you recall we were in a recession then as well)! I was on an airplane sitting next to an ad executive from a very high end company. We were talking about some of the marketing ideas that had worked for his organization at a time when customers were reluctant to spend money. I was shocked when he told me coupons were among the things they had tried with considerable success! A high end organization using coupons successfully?
What do you think of a coupon for a new Chysler 300? $3000 off, offer good until May 31st.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
That part won't matter. People remember the words but don't care who said them. :P In fact, the people probably won't remember the words. Over 40 years, I attended hundreds of banquets. I can't recall one thing said by an after dinner speaker. Actually, I'm going to suggest that they take an after dinner nap until my twenty minute remarks conclude.
Richard
DETROIT (Reuters) - After 100 years in business and 10 months of frenzied but failed restructuring, General Motors Corp is weeks from the bankruptcy filing experts say will be required to complete the Obama administration's bid to reshape a fallen icon of American industry.
Facing a government-imposed June 1 deadline to restructure, GM is scrambling to slash some $27 billion of bond debt, win sweeping cost concessions from the United Auto Workers union and eliminate almost 1,600 U.S. dealers.
But with the clock ticking, experts see it as all but certain GM will follow its smaller rival Chrysler into federal bankruptcy court.
"I almost think it is inevitable," independent auto industry analyst Erich Merkle said. "I don't know how they are going to escape it."
Also, hope no one bought GM shares yet;
GM has warned that its shares could be worth nothing in a bankruptcy filing or less than two cents on the dollar if it presses ahead with an out of court restructuring that would include the issuance of 60 billion new shares.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I do remember one speaker I heard and his story was so incredible and made such a big impression on me I think I will always remember it. He gave his talk at a course on starting your own business.
He was a down and out alcholic but he had a friend and they leased a little store in a mall that sold coffee beans. He didn't even know what he was doing. One day a lady asked for Brazilian coffee. He took it out of one of those bags that said Brazil across it. The cashier told him after the words on the bag didn't really mean much, the coffee he just sold could come from anywhere.
He and his partner were getting depressed, business was terrible. So they went for a walk in the mall to see if they could come up with any ideas. They stopped for a Baskin Robbins ice cream so they could feel better and he noticed that they would give you a little sample with a little spoon - if you weren't sure about the flavors. This gave him the idea of actually making the coffee, and serving free samples the next day. His location was in a giant office building. The line-up went around the block, which he never expected.
So, instead of selling coffee beans they sold complete coffee. I think this was even before Starbucks came on the scene. He even said his coffee wasn't that much better, but they put a premium price on it so people would think it was better. His business became the Second Cup and though not the largest chain in Canada), it was highly successful.
The point of the speech was that you have to go in another direction if the opportunity arises (be flexible in your plans), and even more important, never give up.
When my business had a rough time in those early years, I often thought about that speech, and it had a huge impact on my life. Richard, your talk might just make a difference to someone.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
There is a reason for that. The speakers might have had content but didn’t know how to deliver their message.
Do this:
Relate the subject to cars and how to buy cars (like not being clubbed like a baby seal). You’ll have people wide awake and they’ll thank you afterwards for not having a sore chest from where their chins kept hitting them during your presentation.
Actually, I'm going to suggest that they take an after dinner nap until my twenty minute remarks conclude.
Nah, take my advice and you’ll have them wanting more.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
And that goes a long way toward explaining why the U.S. auto industry is in such a bad way: much, if not most, of what it makes simply doesn't appeal to a large number of us.
My wife & I have purchased a grand total of one American car since we were married 35 years ago. It - a Ford Taurus - wasn't a bad car, but it was crude & unrefined compared to the imports that we had owned previously. Its replacement was another import.
In my part of the country - the NYC metro area - I see many American-made trucks & SUVs but few domestic passenger cars. Most of those belong either to a government agency or to a member of the "Greatest Generation". I don't know anyone born after WWII who drives a domestic coupe or sedan.
In a remarkable feat of reverse marketing, the domestic manufacturers managed to lose an entire generation of buyers. B-school students will be studying this for the next couple of hundred years.
Hahahaha. :P
You don't get out much do you?
Richard
Richard
Richard
What would really be ironic if Ford could snatch up Cadillac as GM falls apart.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Those are priceless....I have to admit my ears would perk up with that start.
OR
When you graduate remember life is like a car company. You can cut back and plan for the future like Ford did, or run out of money like GM and Chrysler did.
OR
Always remember, starting out in life is like buying a car...try not to get clubbed like a baby seal.
OR
As you drive on the highway of life, always remember the Jip Method, don't quit until the other guy just gives in.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
No, no... I'm seeing a guy in a convertible and an Explorer but nothing like, say, a black Grand Marquis....
Of course there are. But you're much more likely to find them in the Midwest or the Sunbelt states than in the BosWash corridor or on the West Coast. As I said earlier, I live in the greater NY metro area & I don't know anyone born after the 2nd World War who drives a domestic coupe or sedan. Would I make the same assertion if I lived in, say, Birmingham, Alabama or Cleveland, Ohio? Probably not. It depends on where you live.
The domestics, sad to say, long ago fell out of favor on the coasts, which tend to be wealthier than the interior states. As far back as the early 1980s, imports accounted for a majority of new car registrations in California, which is the largest market in the U.S. & also something of a trend-setter. That alone should tell you that the domestic auto industry has been in trouble for a long, long time.
There are a lot of Fusions around. Focii as well.
Sounds good...don't go with the crowd, be an individual.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
lots of people enjoy them.
I know I have. I’m sure you don’t want to resort to what I did a handful of times when I gave a presentation.
I would wait a few minutes past the starting time to make sure the room was full then I’d come in with a couple boxes of golf balls (with the company logo on them. You didn’t think I was going to pay for those things with my own money did ya?) then I’d set them to the side of the podium where everybody could see them. It never failed; there would always be a comedian in the group that would say something like, “are you going to pass those out to the people who ask the best questions at the end of your speech? I would say, “First off, I’m not here to give a SPEECH. I’m giving a very informative technical presentation that you’re going to appreciate if you don’t fall asleep. But if you do fall asleep, I ping the golf balls off the sleepers heads and I ain’t all that good sometimes, so if anybody notices their neighbor falling asleep, I’d suggest you wake them up so I don’t hit any innocent attentive listeners”.
It worked every time but once.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Richard
There's more to a car than the name on the trunk. There's all the small parts carefully built in plants nearby and assembled. The quality may be in the car or may not be. --I'm sure you can handle the symbolism from thereon.
Passed a professional educator on I75 the other day. Their US brand SUV was pulling a moderate size sailboat. How did I know it was an educator? The name of the boat was "Recess." Educators need recess too; it's not just the kids who need it.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
How do you know it wasn't a judge?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
It was a small boat. Educators are poor; judges are rich.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
They don't call them red states for nothing. The county-by-county (not just state-by-state) color chart is truly interesting. Large cities, university towns & Indian reservations are unfailingly blue. The part of the country where people depend upon themselves and their neighbors, red.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there isn't a statistically solid relationship between red areas and higher percentages of domestic vehicles, including cars.
Richard