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Help auto industry–buy a car locally

08. Dec, 2008 0 Comments

Dear Editor: I want to thank Ross and Alice Johnson for their guest column
(Are American automakers worthy of help? Dec. 2-3, Highland Lakes
Newspapers). They did a fabulous job of summarizing many of my feelings and
gave me a new appreciation for them, their family and their business.
Likewise, I am appalled at the treatment of the automobile companies by the
Washington politicians and the national press. It is truly amazing to me
that Hank Paulson and others in Washington D.C. can hand out tens of
billions of dollars to Wall Street investment banks without any legitimate
commitments of how the money will be utilized or benefit the U.S. taxpayers.
Based on what I have observed, I believe that most of us would concur that
the Treasury-Secretary has certainly taken real good care of his Wall Street
buddies. Plus, in the case of Wall Street, much of the tens of billions
has gone to the very people that created and widely marketed Credit Default
Swaps that got us into much of the current credit crisis or securitized
variable rate mortgages pushed on homeowners that were told the prices of
their houses would only go up. In other words, rewarding bad and/or formerly
criminal behavior to people that basically make nothing and create little
long-term value. Furthermore, the credit crisis Wall Street and the
Washington politicians created is what caused most of the current troubles
for the auto companies. Yet, when the automobile companies and their
hundreds of thousands of employees, thousands of suppliers and tens of
thousands of dealers and ask for bridge loans (not a bailout like Wall
Street), they are laughed at and insulted by politicians and the press.
However, in the case of employees of auto companies, suppliers and
dealerships, we actually have American workers that actually build great
products and offer service to the driving public. In other words,
autoworkers actually build something we all need and use and get their hands
dirty doing it. To me, that seems like the Washington politicians are using
our tax dollars for the wrong industry. What can you do? My answer was to
go out last week and purchase a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu with a wonderful V6
engine and 6-speed transmission that is the most car I have every purchased
for the money. It is easy for me to see why the new Chevy Malibu was named
Car of the Year. By the way, just for comparison purposes, I also drove a
2009 V6 Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, and in my opinion, the Malibu was the
best of the three. Furthermore, I purchased my new Malibu in the Highland
Lakes area at Ratliff Chevrolet in Llano. I really believe now is the time
for Americans to strongly consider buying a new vehicle from Chrysler, Ford
or GM and to support our local dealers. Of course, as the Johnson’s point
out, a letter, e-mail or call to our U.S. senators and representative in
Washington is also needed. Maybe it’s time for Americans to support real
American manufacturers.