Posted on 08/02/2012 10:08:00 AM PDT by jazusamo
General Motors announced an increase in government purchases of 115% in July. This follows June's jump in government fleet sales of 79%. Just what's going on? GM has claimed that it is localities (mostly for police vehicles) and not federal purchases driving the increases, but aren't localities struggling with their budgets? Why do the nation's police forces all of a sudden need new vehicles? A little research uncovers that the Obama Administration is once again being generous with federal grants to localities to purchase new cars, with one of the primary end recipients of taxpayer money being GM.
It seems dubiously orchestrated that GM would make sure that they attributed the unusual increase in government fleet sales to localities rather than federal purchases. It's almost like money laundering where taxpayer money gets filtered though grants to localities and then gets back to GM via purchases of police vehicles and such (this is also a trick that has been used to promote the Chevy Volt). Any large increase in federal purchases of GM vehicles would be criticized, but giving taxpayer money to local police forces to buy the cars is defensible.
Of course, the grants for law enforcement will be defended as a noble spending of taxpayer money to fight crime. But why did localities all of a sudden need to buy about double the amount of vehicles that they did last year? Hold on to your hats as you hear how Jersey City bought $12 million worth of new vehicles with federal grant money and then said the vehicles would not be used on a regular basis.
NJ.com reports that "Jersey City officials hosted a show-and-tell Wednesday of roughly $12 million in new fire trucks, police vehicles and other emergency-management equipment it has procured over the past three years by using federal grant money." Commenting on the vehicles not being used on a regular basis, Fire Director Armando Roman said, "It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." Sure, especially when the federal government is providing the taxpayer money to pay for it.
Like cockroaches, where there is one federal grant, there is sure to be many more. Nine NJ towns received over $9.4 million from a federal program that pays for hiring law enforcement but seems to also allow for the purchase of new police vehicles according toGallowayPatch.com. Click here foranother; andanother; and another; and another. I would not doubt that there are stipulations for the grant money as to what type of vehicles are purchased. How many new Toyota Camry (made in America) police cars are out there?
So, by hook or by crook, GM will be selling vehicles and proclaiming how successful they are as Obama continues to campaign on that same "success." With $50 billion of taxpayer money handed to them and such "success", you have to wonder why GM's share price has gone from a $33 IPO price down to the current $20 range. More importantly, you have to wonder how America can continue to afford to throw money away to help give the perception that GM is an Obama success story.
Mark Modica is an NLPC Associate Fellow.
Working link:
http://nlpc.org/stories/2012/08/02/what%E2%80%99s-behind-115-rise-gm-government-fleet-sales
See? Central Planning works!
More vote buying with my money.
Yep, the Marxist is pulling out all the stops for his reelection.
Is this a coin operated money laundering operation because I am hoping for some change come November.
I wonder if Ford has legal grounds for lawsuit over this style of cronny capitalism?
There better not be any.
500 Caprice patrol cars sold in July is not very many in the scheme of things.
What do you mean there better not be any????
This is how it works:
So much easier than doing actual law enforcement work. And so much more profitable.
What's not to like about it? Most of the people paying the taxesfines can afford to drive, so they can afford to pay. And who's going to travel back to fight a $150 ticket?
You get Hertz or Avis or Budget to buy one of these cars and they can maybe make $20 a day on it after expenses and assuming they are even able to rent it. Mere peanuts compared to what you can make pulling a couple of these legalized highway robbery scams every hour.
This is how it works:
So much easier than doing actual law enforcement work. And so much more profitable.
What's not to like about it? Most of the people paying the taxesfines can afford to drive, so they can afford to pay. And who's going to travel back to fight a $150 ticket?
You get Hertz or Avis or Budget to buy one of these cars and they can maybe make $20 a day on it after expenses and assuming they are even able to rent it. Mere peanuts compared to what you can make pulling a couple of these legalized highway robbery scams every hour.
And in other news...
GM profits slip 41% as European struggles take their toll
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/aug/02/gm-profits-slip-european-struggles
The only correct spelling of the acronym GMC is Government Motors Corporation. When I can afford another vehicle it will not be a GMC product in spite of 7 of 8 vehicles over the last 40 years coming from that product line.
As the election approaches, there will a jump of at least 200% in sales to government by Government Motors....financed by the struggling U.S. taxpayers.
This is shameful. Someone needs to be investigated and prosecuted for such a scam.
I know this type of transaction does not pass the smell test and to honest folk it is crossing the line, but it seems like organized crime. There must be some law i.e. the RICO Act that this violates. that someone with greater knowledge than I can confirm. Of course our Congress eunichs. will not mention this because they are all in agreement on this type of criminal activity.
As Modica pointed out on their stock, the price is down over a third since the IPO and they're not making any money on the Volt that they were relying on as the car of their future.
It remains to be seen as to how profitable their venture with SAIC (China) will be but even though GM swore they wouldn't divulge the Volt technology to them, if they build EVs over there the Chinese will get it.
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