Car Guy
Killing Off Performance Cars
By next week, we’ll learn more about GM’s hideous bankruptcy “restructuring” plan.
By next week, we’ll learn more about GM’s hideous bankruptcy “restructuring” plan — which the government expects to have in its lap by early June.
One thing, though, is pretty clear: Performance cars are on the “euthanize” list. No rumor — a sad fact. GM has confirmed that there will be no more SS Impala over at Chevrolet — and the supercharged Cobalt SS will be gradually faded out, beginning with the sedan version later this year followed by total extinction (coupes too) the next. Cobalt will return to being exclusively an econo-box and GM will quit trying to compete in the import sport-compact segment entirely. The SS version of the HHR is also history — and of course, Pontiac (and all its performance-themed cars like the G8, GXP and Solstice) is finis.
GM has even confirmed that there will be no high-performance “V” iteration of the Cadillac STS sedan — and the rumor is that other Cadillac “V” models, like the CTS-V and XLR-V, could be dropped as well.
The biggest potential bombshell, of course, is the prospect that GM will have to cancel the Chevy Camaro, too. Its presence in the lineup is hugely impolitic right now, with GM shaking the proverbial tin cup and hoping taxpayers will dig deep. Selling a completely frivolous steroidal muscle coupe works just fine when, you know, the cars actually sell. But right now such cars are as popular as Dick Cheney and GM management will fold at the first hint of a public thrashing by some posturing pol in D.C., let alone the full weight of Congress (or some back-room arm twisting by President Obama; remember what happened to Wagoner).
Things do not look swell. Ford’s much more established Mustang — a car similar to Camaro but which has deeper roots in the marketplace as well as continuity going for it —isn’t selling. The Dodge Challenger — another reanimated '70s-era muscle car — is the 2009 equivalent of the Studebaker Avanti of the '60s: The final defiant salvo of a doomed and sinking battleship just before it rolls over and disappears forever.
One wonders, though — what exactly will GM sell once it no longer sells anything with muscle (besides Corvette)? Economy cars and hybrids? The Japanese dominate those segments, with new entrants from Korea (and soon, India and China) coming in strong seconds and thirds.
Why has GM chosen to go after the segments and markets where it has been least successful rather than fine-tune what it has historically excelled at?
Yes, I mean larger cars (and trucks) as well as performance-oriented stuff.
Answer? Because GM is still sucking the pipe — and has come to believe the BS emanating out all corners that its woes are due to the lack of frugal and efficient little transportation models and its parallel fixation on severing all ties with rude gas hogs.
Bunk.
Those kind of cars (the gas hogs) were hot commodities — and earned GM big time profits. Toyota and Honda, et al., desperately wanted in on this action, too. What did the Jim Jones on it all was almost overnight $4 gas followed by the sudden collapse of the debt-finance driven economy. The American consumer is tapped out and terrified. He is broke and cannot afford a new car — any car. (Even Toyota, much-touted purveyor of “efficient” cars, experienced its first yearly net loss in decades and in some cases sales are off 30 percent or more.)
None of the jabbering jabberwockies out there want to touch the third rail — the real issue, the Thing Behind it All. And that is the fact that millions of people no longer have inflated home equity lines to tap, but do have a pocket full of maxed out credit cards, 40 percent less in their 401ks — and are scared white that their job (if the still have a job) will be outsourced or right-sized or otherwise disappeared in the very near future — probably funded by their own tax dollars.
So, signing up for a $30k car loan is not high on most people’s agendas right now.
Which means that no matter how they re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, until the buying power (that is, the actual wealth) of the average American recovers, neither will GM — nor anyone else. Those fancy all-electric Volts that GM has on deck for next year? They’re going to sit unsold on dealership lots (the few remaining), right alongside the piled up inventories of unsold Tahoes and Camaros. Wait and see.
About the Author
Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.
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Mike| 5.29.09 @ 6:27AM
The only thing GM had going for them was the large truck/SUV/muscle car/Americana nostalgia vehicles. Sadly, that gig is up.
With the colossal deficits piling up, the dollar is bound to fall hard at some point. When it does we'll be looking right back at $4.00 gas again.
A cash strapped GM will have little chance to thrive in the hybrid/economy space facing the incumbent, better financed and superior Japanese automakers.
Stick a fork in them.
David Mathews Needs Help| 5.29.09 @ 6:30AM
Stupid...blah, blah, blah.... poor little..... blah, blah, blah.... 21 per cent and declining.... blah, blah, blah... bigot, racist... did I mention stupid? .... mankind is doomed.... blah, blah, blah.... oil.... extinction... old, white male.... please, someone, make the voices stop... blah, blah, blah
Robert Rosencrans| 5.29.09 @ 6:46AM
These types of cars make people feel special and allow people to revel in their individualism. Those types of personal indulgences can't be allowed under autocratic regimes.
Then there is the perception of the environment. In an energy using beast, the individual using that energy becomes more important then the environment. Under environmental Hitlerism, the environment trumps all reason, and no individual is more important then the non sentient environment.
Tim| 5.29.09 @ 8:29AM
Car guy nailed my finances to a T. It'll be a long time before I sign onto a $30, ooo car loan.
I suppose if you have money, it's a good time to snap a few of the last performance machines. They'll kick ass in 2020 when the rest of us are rolling in three wheeled electric tricycles.
Solzenitzen| 5.29.09 @ 8:31AM
Mr. Matthews, until relatively recently (i.e. within the few months), General Motors sold more cars than any automotive manufacturer in the world -- and yet a the same time -- was begging the government for a bailout. Here's a clue -- if you produce a certain type of product, and you sell more of your product than any of your competitors but you STILL can't turn a profit -- THEN THE PROBLEM DOES NOT LIE WITH YOUR PRODUCT.
In other words, GM's product line was basically just fine -- as evidenced by the fact that it was selling. The spike in gas prices and subsequent economic shutdown hit pretty much ALL car makers -- not just GM. Forcibly revamping GM's product line to make it focus on market segments in which it was NOT competitive is just plain dumb. Whether or not cars like the Camaro, or the Impala SS are in GM's lineup should be determined by the manner in which those cars impact GM's bottom line. Not because idiots who wouldn't buy them anyway don't want them there.
It must be so nice to be like you, that is, to live in a fantasy world where you can so readily ignore the application of common sense and thereby convice yourself that you have some modicum of intelligence.
DM didn't go shopping | 5.29.09 @ 9:00AM
Hello David Mathews,
What's the matter this morning, ran out of KY last night?
Indiana Alex| 5.29.09 @ 9:15AM
One thing to remember is the failure of liberalism over the past 70 years when listening to this child's rants.
Also to remember is that Obama ran as a centrist, mostly on tax cuts.
There is no way anyone could run as a liberal and win a national election because most of the entire country recognizes the failures.
There are very few actual liberals and if you read some of the posts here you will know why.
THS| 5.29.09 @ 9:20AM
David Mathews is a well known troll wandering around numerous websites; living in Mom's basement pounding away on her computer and his own........ Ignorance is bliss and to be ignored, if not pitied.
The government cannot force us to buy cars we do not want.
Better buy something new or low mileage ASAP, and the related shop manual, as we will become just like Cuba: ingenious at keeping old cars running FOREVER.
Screw you, Bambi.
Indiana Alex| 5.29.09 @ 9:27AM
He takes absolutely terribly pictures too. One wonders why someone without an artistic bone in their body would post such utterly miserable examples to the public.
I guess I understand the opening rounds of American Idol now.
Mike| 5.29.09 @ 9:53AM
I agree with the other Mike. Although one should not forget that GM will still manufacture the Corvette. For the money, the Vette is arguably the best sports car in the market today.
Unfortunately for the American auto industry, the "ultimate driving machine" is still manufactured by BMW. I get 29 mpg from mine.
Solzenitzen| 5.29.09 @ 10:00AM
Matthews, actually I would have been fine with GM going bankrupt. If it cannot manage its affairs efficiently enough to survive then it should fail, get out of the marketplace, and make room for someone who can. My point is that GM's product was not the problem, it was their management and labor who are to blame. Of course in your world, where politics trump reality, that means that only management gets the blame, since it could NEVER be the fault of labor.
But of course that highlights the difference between you superior, highly intellectual liberals and us poor, stupid conservatives. We deal in reality. You however, have no clue about reality.
For example, I have:
- Hired employees, some good and some bad. I hired one that robbed me blind - literally. Bad hire that, but that's the real world -- sometimes you do your best and still get it wrong.
How many employees have you hired?
- Borrowed money on my own personal credit to pay my obligations to my employees - i.e. their wages, benefits and taxes.
How many times have you had to put your own ass on the line for those who worked their's off for you?
- Fired or otherwise lost employees -- including some good ones I really didn't want to lose, but could not afford to keep. Letting someone go because of economics is a tough thing to do, especially in a small business. But I had to choose between my employees or my family.
How many people have you fired?
How many times have had to let an employee go simply because economics would not allow you to keep them on?
How many times have you had to make tough decisions that you knew would have a serious and adverse impact the lives of people who count on you?
John Navratil| 5.29.09 @ 10:46AM
Please do not feed the DeMented troll.
Raoul Bloodworth| 5.29.09 @ 10:47AM
It takes years to get a new car to market. The cars in GM's product mix had their keels laid 5 years ago. GM sales were hit hard by the housing crisis (no more "equity" financing) and high gas prices.
The mistake they made was figuring the recession would be over in at most a year, and they sought and accepted a government loan to help them through the rough times. What they didn't figure on was how deeply and how long the housing crisis would dampen sales, and how badly the government would screw the economy - lengthening the recession and deepening the credit crunch. They also didn't count on the intransigence of the UAW and the audacity of a President arrogant enough to think his community organizing and lawyer training qualified him to run a car company.
Perfect Storm.
They're toast.
Doorgunner| 5.29.09 @ 10:54AM
DM,
When did you progress from simple religous whack-job (http://www.geocities.com/dmathew1/introwk.html) to All Knowing Smiter of Mortals?
And who's billy mathews?
...sorry, John
Stan Redmond| 5.29.09 @ 11:22AM
What a pathetic mockery of American manufacturing GM has become. GM should have been thrown in the automotive ash heap for the stupid decisions they've made and their failure to compete effectively with the Japanese. Now, after 10s of billions have been funneled in to keep the unions afloat, and now 70% of the company is owned by the feds, they won't be allowed to produce the only automobiles they may have been able to sell (that is if anyone in their right minds would by a car from this company). The GM company WILL fail again.
Cars for FAT FOOLS| 5.29.09 @ 11:43AM
American manufacturing GM has become. GM should have been thrown in the automotive ash heap for the stupid years ago.
Cars for the FAT and stupid, should be abolished.
They should walk and get excercise. Or better still shoot the MONSTERS.
wasp| 5.29.09 @ 12:16PM
An open epistle to those who don't get it:
I'm going to buy either a Challenger or a Camaro. I'm going to drive it on weekends to dinner or the golf course or both or maybe over to Mom's house. I'm going to pull up next to hybrids and econoboxes at red lights and gun the engine and spin the tires when the light turns green. I'm going to use my radar detector to avoid the police when I feel like hauling ass on a deserted straight highway. I've loved muscle cars since I first saw a Pontiac GTO convertible as a small boy in the late '60's. I'm not ashamed of my lust for these types of vehicles. If gas were cheap, I would drive her everyday. I'm an American male. I like NASCAR, good wine, cigars and women and golf not necessarily in that order. I've worked my whole life to create my world with nobody's help. The sound of a powerful engine is no less exciting to me than a Sierra Foundation dinner is for a bleeder. As soon as I have the money, I'm going to buy one of those kooky Teslas that haul ass using electricity (but I will miss the roar). And my wife is way hotter than yours. If you don't like my vehicular choices: tough darts.
High Output V8| 5.29.09 @ 12:43PM
wasp,
Like you, I'm a child of the '60's, and therefore missed participating in the golden era of the muscle car; so I made up for it several years ago, when I picked up an '03 Mercury Marauder with less than 1k miles on it.
I drive it sparingly, but hard, exactly as you describe, and I dig it no less today than when I bought the beast in '05. Oh, yes, I get it, very definitely.
Chas Morgan| 5.29.09 @ 1:00PM
For some insight in the small car issue with GM, do some research regarding the Yellowstone project from around ten years ago. That was an attempt to change the way GM was building small cars, and the UAW nixed it because it was, well, too efficient for their liking.
Bram| 5.29.09 @ 1:20PM
Killing the Camaro would be a shame. The V6 version has 300 hp, gets almost 30 mpg, and will priced in the 20's. That's a winning combination for me - if it wasn't built by a UAW / government owned company.
Government Motors is never, ever going to make a profit or pay back the bilions of taxdollars we are sinkin into it.
Ray| 5.29.09 @ 1:33PM
I don't know where this author lives but the new Mustangs and Challengers are everywhere in the Dallas metroplex. When I bought my F-150 a few months ago Mustangs were flying out of their like bees out of a hive.
Ryan| 5.29.09 @ 1:50PM
I think that we too often lump Ford in with our assumptions with GM and Chrysler and the rest. They started working on their problems several years ago, when they were moving their Mazda and Jag ownership and kept almost everything to their basic models and core strategies. They already have fewer dealerships, and re-negotiated with the UAW before everyone else. They STILL got hammered, but will probably arise with their profitability relatively sooner than some others.
I drive a 2006 Chevy Equinox, a GREAT vehicle. in 5 or so years, I'll probably be hunting for a Ford.
mark| 5.29.09 @ 2:02PM
How come no one ever talks about those fossil- fuel burning jet airplanes? And what gives people the right to tell other people what kind of car to drive? And who the eff is FOR waste and inefficiency? The market will dictate these things. And guess what, folks, it takes petroleum to make plastic. And it takes plastic to build a Prious. So you can demonize big 'ahl all you want, it ain't goin' nowhere. And we all know if someone invented a car that ran on water tomorrow they would get all kinds of tax breaks so they could build more cars and hire more people, etc. Oh wait a minute, that would make them evil capitalist pigs.
David Govett | 5.29.09 @ 2:14PM
Free business tip of the day:
Open a muscle car amusement park, where non-wimps could enjoy driving actual muscle cars.
Big Leo| 5.29.09 @ 2:22PM
The best short expression of GM's problems is that it is a health-care company that makes a few cars on the side. The greed of the unions worked to destroy the industry they relied on. The company became weaker and weaker not because it didn't command a significant market share, but because it was too overburdened with pension and medical liability to survive a downturn. The other causes were significant, but that one central fact was basic to an understanding of its sorry demise. When it can no longer respond to the market, but instead produces Politically Correct cars, it will decline even further.
John Rogers| 5.29.09 @ 2:27PM
Dodge Challenger sales are up each month. The 2009 Mustang suffers from the "new" 2010 being available in two months. Otherwise not a bad article.
James Corrie| 5.29.09 @ 2:47PM
This article is the biggest crock of s**t I have read in a long time. Get out of your fantasy world and get a reality check.
Louis Jenkins| 5.29.09 @ 3:00PM
Car buyers purhcase what they will, but cars priced to satisfy manufacturer's overhead costs will no be competive in a bad economy. Some individuals drive economy, as I have for the last 15 years. An auto can only transport one from one place to another, I don't get there with glammor or glitz, and my pocket book is a greater concern than horsepower. But it is my choice and have no desire to force my frugality on another person! Obama and the greenies will not be satisfied until we are riding around in bubble cars, if we're allowed to own one, with our knees under our chins. Taking over the auto industry is the fastest way to accomplish this goal. There's an agenda. Will Obama and his cronies downsize to an amoured Cobalt?
rick| 5.29.09 @ 3:14PM
#1 GM is not, I repeat not canceling the Camaro, how can you cancel a car that has 18,000 pre orders and over 30,000 inquiries about it since last October. What makes you think they will cancel the car, when just this week GM announced The Camaro convertible is going to be produced in 2011. Where are you getting your facts from? a crystal ball? a fortune teller? a palm reader? the V6 camaro gets 29 mpg highway, thats better then most V6 foreign cars get. just a suggestion, but you should actually check your facts before you write an article
Howard| 5.29.09 @ 3:15PM
One reason people are holding on to their money for dear life is that the genius at 1600 PA Ave. is not exactly helping restore confidence. Sure, if you are a rich Hollywood liberal, or if you are poor you may be jumping for joy. But Hollywood liberals buy fancy German cars, and the poor buy used cars. So the middle schmoes are holding tight onto their wallets.
baluc/ka| 5.29.09 @ 3:25PM
I am for cheap gas, and muscle/ big time guzzling vehicles. The sooner we run out of oil, the sooner we can get out of petro-geopolitics and come up with a replacement.
Perhaps a nuclear powered car?
Taxing it more, or extending its efficiency with hybrids isn't the solution. It only buys time. I say: don't delay the inevitable.
It will do us no good trying to deal with what oil reserves are left in the world when so many emerging entrants like China and India, and ultimately Africa, are consuming it and wanting more of it. These countries have as much right to pursue a middle class existence / lifestyle as we here. It's just a matter of time that they will.
Dependable access to oil will only mean more of a presence in the Middle East, Central Asia and perhaps Russia (they aren't exactly making babies to protect themselves, their population decreases each year).
Let's not kid ourselves, we're not going to drill off the coast of California nor do shale oil processing in the mountain west.
Do you honestly think India and China are going to send troops to the those countries to protect access to the supply for their markets? As usual, it will be us.
So do the world a favor and buy that Camaro/Challenger/Mustang/Pick-Up/SUV, Hummer. Deplete the oil supply, and have Manhattan Project 2.0
(makes me wonder what a nuclear car bomb would look like?)
Pingback| 5.29.09 @ 4:01PM
The American Spectator : Killing Off Performance Cars | AUTOSTOMPER.COM links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 5.29.09 @ 4:01PM
The American Spectator : Killing Off Performance Cars | AUTOSTOMPER.COM links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Clayton Spann| 5.29.09 @ 4:37PM
Why is anyone bothering to reply to Dave Mathews?
Sounds like good news for Ford| 5.29.09 @ 4:40PM
Don't ya think?
Pingback| 5.29.09 @ 4:50PM
Quick scan of the net - gm sts at Who cares? links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Marc Jeric| 5.29.09 @ 5:48PM
The marxist rantings by this ACORN brownshirt Mathews do not bother me; I just want to know whether he gets paid from the Abu Hussein's "stimulus" money to do his "observations" here. There are $9 billion there for them.
As for the new Government&UAW;-owned GM I propose the following executives:
1) CEO - Joe Biden;
2) Design boss for new green motors - Waxman;
3) Chassis design boss - Barney Frank;
4) Carrosserie design - Chric Dodd;
5) Chief salesman - Markey.
Good luck guys - don't count on me to buy!
Bobsledd| 5.29.09 @ 10:01PM
GM (and Chrysler) are both cooked.
The US Govt has heavy handed these American icons over to the very unions that drove them into an hole in the 1st place.
They buried the bondholders, violating a basic tenet of America, called a legal contract.
It will be a cold day in hell before investors will provide funds to a company that is heavily unionized, because they can expect the same treatment from the Obama administration. Rule changs on the fly, and at the whim of an administration that cares NOT for the rule of Law, but rather, for special interest groups..
This will also happen to states and municipalities when they finally are forced to address pension deficits. The Bondholders will likely get the same sorry treatment, and be trampled, and teachers and Federal and State union members will be rewarded at the expense of legal bondholders.
This fever will take awhile to run it's course..Hopefully, the patient (American business, shareholders, bondholders and taxpayers) will survive this onslaught.
Stan Redmond| 5.30.09 @ 12:08AM
Re: Cars for FAT FOOLS,
It's not up to smug elite powerhungry marxists to tell me or anyone else what to drive. Go pound sand.
hapageek| 5.30.09 @ 12:30AM
When I get my bonus in January I am going to drive as fast as I can at snap up the CTS-V that I have had my eye on for 6 months. I live 3 miles from my office and usually drive around in the mini-van with the family on weekends. the V is the fastest car in the world at a bargain price and just plain angry and fun. You can sit on your soap box and try to make me feel guilty and scared and like I am supposed to cower with my money in a mattress but life is just too short. I have water and food in storage, I have emergency savings and now I want to drive a fun car that 99% of people have no idea how amazing it is. Tell me again why I or anybody else shouldn't buy this car?
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Pingback| 5.30.09 @ 1:59AM
cars » Blog Archive » The American Spectator : Killing Off Performance Cars links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Jeff | 5.30.09 @ 5:08AM
Hmm another great example of TAS seeing what it wants to see. When gas 4.00 a gallon smaller more fuel efficient cars were actually quite popular with the American public. It is only the recession and subsequent drop in gas prices which has shifted demand back to bigger cars and trucks. When the economy recovers and the price of gas once again heads towards 5.00 dollars a gallon GM will be prepared to meet the demand for smaller cars. Because of the highly cyclical nature of car buying (people hold onto cars during recessions and then rapidly commence buying when the economy recovers) GM, with about 50 billion dollars in government loans should be in a superb position to recapture a competitive in the American auto market. Whatever though, TAS can think otherwise and I'll just come back in 5 years to gloat. Maybe I'll save this article and comment....
Pat| 5.30.09 @ 12:09PM
Eric Peters typifies what went wrong at GM and Chrysler. Instead of hiring business experts, the automakers hired and promoted grown-up teenagers still carrying on a summer love affair with their 1968 GTO. Yeah, it's great to hang out with your buddies and brag about the size of your engine or swap tips on boosting your compression but what does that have to do with running a business? The Feminists saw right through these car guys and their own seething resentment toward everything male has prompted them to take their revenge - "little boys", they say, "we're taking your fast cars away and you'll drive what we tell you, or take the bus as we'd prefer."
Californians like Pelosi, Boxer and Feinstein have long hated Detroit, not only for its faux macho car culture, but for thumbing its nose at gas mileage efficiency and kicking sand in the faces of their wimpy envirnomentalist friends.
So, the battle is over, the losers like Peters are leaving the field - it was nice while it lasted, lots of chrome, huge gas sucking carbuerators , spinning tires, flame decals - all gone with the wind. And we won't see its like again. The young men will retreat further into car chase video games and sulk at home; while the women sadly wonder why these men aren't out and about trying to sweep them off their feet.
The Feminist coalition will try for a complete political victory, total destruction of Detroit and its muscle car fixation - another area where they were once unfairly excluded by men - Detroit will pay for that past insullt. And, in Obama, they have the perfect metrosexual to do the job on Detroit. Doesn't he brag about his hybrid, no ridiculous muscle cars in the White House garage and no Mustang GT for Michele. So, Car Guys, try to be men for a change and salute, or at least acknowledge, the Feminists' latest victory - as usual, they were busy outsmarting the men while you and your friends hoisted a Bud and painted your Camaro's quarter panels with those killer green flames.
William| 5.30.09 @ 7:30PM
I for one will be boycotting as far as I am able any union goods or services.
Silas| 5.30.09 @ 7:39PM
Dave M.
You are right
'Our civilization' is dying right now--
due to pin heads such as your self--and everyone seems to grasp that, with the exception of pinnheads such as your self--and those with a like mindset-----
bobby smyth| 5.30.09 @ 8:43PM
Gee and I aways liked the David Mathews band, go figger?!
: -)))
Rich| 5.31.09 @ 1:03PM
OK the government just gave me another investment idea. First guns (which are gaining value rapidly) and now large gas guzzling cars suvs, and pickups. Stock up on them now, they will be worth a lot in a few years. I am going to have to rent a hanger at the airport to my investments in.
Paul from SA| 5.31.09 @ 3:04PM
Plus, people instinctively know not to buy something built by disgruntled union workers. They made major concessions in these deals. They could have held out for many more billions of tax-payer dollars into their pension and health funds.
From what I understand, GM and Chrysler are now relieved of those union legacy costs, thanks to Obama.
We should expect more and more questionable executive decisions. After all, a politician is now in charge.
ds80| 5.31.09 @ 4:18PM
Suppose GM emerges from bankruptcy, unshackles itself from BIG GOVERNMENT, and makes puny "green" cars that people might want to buy.
Who will be able to afford them? How much do you think YOUR dollars will be worth? In his first 4 months in office, Community-Organizer-Man has increased the national debt MORE than ALL the preceding presidents COMBINED.
Throughout history, the only way governments have repudiated debt was to (1) default, or (2) debase the currency. Which will it be, for us?
$12 trillion national debt (to date)
$64 trillion in unfunded obligations (to date): Social Security, Medicare, military & civil service pensions (you *really* think you're gonna get any of that Thrift Savings Plan??)
You may not have liked George Bush.
You may not like Barack Obama.
But it might be safe to say we can all agree: the banking cabal (since, oh, about 1913 when the Federal Reserve was created) has fooled us all.
I am more and more convinced: the actions of the Treasury and the Fed in this "financial crisis" are only to prevent bond losses of the bankers, at the expense of the American public.
Heads need to roll in 2010. Maybe it's time to start a pitchfork business.
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