It’s going to be very interesting to see how Washington, Inc. copes with a challenge to one of its newest acquisitions. The WSJ reported today that both Volkswagen and BMW are eyeing the U.S. auto market for growth and increased market share. Sensing opportunity in Detroit’s weakness, Volkswagen AG and BMW AG of Germany are […]
Archive for January 5th, 2009
German Automakers Decide To Take On Washington’s Auto Companies
Fiscal Stimulus-Does The Ghost Of Smoot-Hawley Linger?
Despite my praise for President-elect Obabm in the post below, the statements from an Obama spokesman that fiscal stimulus language may include a “buy American” provision are deeply troubling. One element of the plan could be “buy American” language benefiting U.S. industry. “We are reviewing the buy American proposal and we are committed to a […]
Obama Opts For Big Tax Cuts
So President-elect Obama’s team is now sending out signals that it intends to make tax cuts liberally in its fiscal stimulus plan. The ostensible reason is to get Republicans on board and make the eventual deal “bipartisan”. I’ll guess that there are a couple of other more realistic reasons. First, I think that team Obama […]
December Auto Sales Were Gruesome
It came as no surprise to anyone that December car sales were awful. Here are the numbers. GM Down 23% for the year Ford Down 21% for the year Chrysler Down 30% for the year Toyota Down 16% for the year Honda Down 8.2% for the year Daimler AG Down 1.5% for the year Volkswagen Down […]