Bridge-Loan Madness

The Detroit News has found (not surprisingly) that most of the government's "Presidential Task Force on the Automotive Industry" a) either drive foreign cars, or don't own a car at all...

Geithner owns a 2008 Acura TSX, registered in New York. He once owned a 1999 Honda Accord and a 2002 Acura MDX, according to public records

...

His maternal grandfather, Charles Moore, was a vice president at Ford Motor Co. from 1952-63, according to Peter Geithner, the secretary's father. But Geithner wasn't very interested in cars growing up -- in part because he graduated from high school in Asia, his father said.

Summers owns a 1995 Mazda Protege that's registered in Massachusetts. He previously owned a 1996 Ford Taurus GL.

What other task force members drive:

• Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag owns a 2008 Honda Odyssey and a 2004 Volvo S60. He previously owned a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 1982 Datsun.

• Carol Browner, the White House climate czar, said earlier this month at the Washington Auto Show that she doesn't own an automobile. Public records show she once owned a 1999 Saab 9-5 SE.

• Energy Secretary Steven Chu doesn't own a car, his wife, Jean Fetter, said in a telephone interview on Sunday. Cabinet officials are typically transported to and from work by security officials in government vehicles.

• Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson owns a 2008 Toyota Prius and a Honda Odyssey minivan, she said Sunday. "It's great," she said of her Prius.

...

Here's what task force policy aides drive:

• Austan Goolsbee, staff director and chief economist for the White House Economic Recovery Advisory Board, owns a 2004 Toyota Highlander.

• Joan DeBoer, the chief of staff to LaHood, said in an interview Sunday she drives a 2008 Lexus RX 350. She doesn't consider herself "a car buff" and views her car as a way to get around town.

• Heather Zichal, deputy director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change, owns a Volvo C30, according to public records and officials.

• Gene Sperling, counsel to the Treasury Secretary, owns a 2003 Lincoln LS, and previously owned a 1993 Saturn SL2.

• Edward B. Montgomery, senior adviser to the Labor Department, owns a 1991 Harley-Davidson and previously owned a 1990 Ford Taurus L station wagon, public records show.

• Lisa Heinzerling, senior climate policy counsel to the head of the EPA, owns a 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback station wagon, according to her husband.

• Diana Farrell, the deputy National Economic Council director, doesn't own a vehicle. Her husband, Scott Pearson, owns a 1985 Peugeot 505 S.

• Dan Utech, senior adviser to the Energy Secretary, owns a 2003 Mini Cooper S two-door hatchback.

• Rick Wade, a senior adviser at the Commerce Department, owns a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier and previously owned a 1998 Toyota Corolla.

• Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden's chief economist, owns a 2005 Honda Odyssey.

President Barack Obama traded in his Chrysler 300C for a more fuel-efficient Ford Escape hybrid during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Joe Biden, the son of a car dealer, owns a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette -- a wedding present from his dad. He primarily commuted from Delaware to the Senate on Amtrak.

Ron Bloom, a special adviser to the Treasury Department who is also advising the task force, owns an aging Ford Taurus.

What this mostly shows, is that with the exception of V.P. Biden, Dan Utech, Gene Sperling, and Heather Zichal and on the chance that Diane Pearson's husband's Peugeot 505 S is the Peugeot 505 Turbo S (a gear head can hope), and not the basic Peugeot 505 S gas/Diesel..(in which case...he's just holding onto an old car)....the taskforce has terrible taste in cars.

Also, EPA lady, are you f***ing kidding me, a Prius, are you f***ing serious, not only could you not get anymore stereotypical, It shows you don't really understand the situation, The Prius as a system is more toxic than regular car, the resources to make the batteries in the Prius and the batteries themselves in the Prius (which might I add won't really last that long) are far more toxic, if you really cared about the environment you wouldn't drive a hybrid, its just a fashion statement, and i'm inclined to think you're just a shallow b***. I'm sorry but in get incensed about this sort of mis-information and general stupidity. If you really want to be kind to the envirmonment, keep an old car running.

Also, the fact that basically around half of these fucktwats don't even own a car, makes me think that they don't really understand what the Big Three need, actually, strike that, I know they don't know what the Big-Three needs. I'm sorry, reliability has caught up, and fuel economy meets or exceeds the Japanese. And Oye, Liberals, your great corporate saviour Toyota with its Prius as the magic salve to fix all the worlds problems? Yeah, that Toyota, that Toyota has a lower fleet average than GM, and sells more big 'gas-guzzlers' and SUV's than GM, so keep on smoking your crack pipe.

Brings me to another rant, people should be able to buy whatever the fuck they want, get rid of CAFE, if people want to pay for 'shitty' fuel economy, than let them. The simple fact of the matter is that the American people have proved time and time again that they simply do not REALLY want incredibly fuel-efficient cars. We don't need 35 mpg fleet, thats ridiculous, and we certainly do not need to be "matching" Europe in fleet fuel economy...because lets see, they drive on smaller roads, at collectively lower speeds for the most part, their cars are smaller, because they use them differently, they don't tow stuff etc. And their emissions regulations aren't nearly as stringent, neither are their safety regulations. Oh, probably at least half of the European fleet is diesel. Yeah, but diesel is a dirty word here isn't it? You guys want your safety standards, your emissions standards, and 'fuel economy'.
I'd like to after collectively bitch slapping Congress and Government as a whole, with the exceptions of a few select people, tell them that they can't have thier cake and eat it too, you want good fuel economy? cut out weight, you can't have cars that weigh 5 tons get the fuel economy you want, and trust me the way safety standards are moving thats where we'll be at. After doing this I'd like to collectively bitch-slap them again, and then I'd like to single out most of the Republican Senators from the South, as well as Barney Frank and the rest of those characters that grilled the auto-industry and acted like they knew every thing about the auto-industry and didn't grill the Banks at all and just gave them loads and loads of money for perpetual bitch-slapping. Chuck Hagel, Thaddeus McCotter, and John Dingell I would excuse from the bitch-slapping. Well Chuck isn't in congress any more but I wish he still were.

HOWEVER, back to my main point, the car companies just need money, they don't need to be told what to make, they are perfectly on track with that, or were until the government started interfering whch I definitely think is the reason for the shutting down of GM HPD, the shuttering of Pontiac as a brand (after they invested SO much money into Zeta), the reason we're not getting anymore Zeta platform cars. YOU FUCKING KILLED A WORLD-CLASS BMW BEATING RWD MID-LARGE SIZE SCALABLE PLATFORM, WTF CONGRESS, WTF. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, YOU KILLED WORLD CLASS PRODUCT, b/c American's need small cars, and then when american's don't buy small cars you'll pat yourself on the back congratulating yourself for "forcing" The Big 3 (2.8 really but whatever it'll always be the Big 3 to me), to bring small cars over, and then watch the american car companies fail, and blame them for the failure, while you piss away loads and loads of our tax payers money. Nice, Congress you are all real geniuses.