Five at 8 - 6/8/09

The lack of transparency in the decisionmaking (sic) process is angering the dealers almost as much as the decisions themselves. Owners are struggling to understand why the businesses they've spent lifetimes building are being targeted during a recession in which profitable small businesses should be celebrated.

The Boston Globe, however, reveals the strategy today, however. Fewer dealers creates less competition. Less competition creates a bigger demand. A bigger demand creates higher car prices.

Remaining dealerships will be able to charge more for cars, analysts say, because fewer dealerships make it harder for buyers to spark bidding wars. And as auto companies scale back factory production, heavy discounts and dealer incentives will dry up.

Consumers will pay $2,000-$6,000 more for cars under the plan. That's the thanks you'll get for bailing them out, apparently.

Meanwhile, opponents of the Chrysler bankruptcy plan have been filing documents challenging the bankruptcy. SCOTUSblog is doing a great job following them.

On the subject, Rae Kruger of the Marshall Independent has a piece in today's paper about the rodeo circuit in these parts.

WHAT WE'RE DOING

I'm in a traveling mood this week. What's happening in your community? Rodeos? Tornadoes? Let me know and I'll go take a look.

Midmorning - First hour: Efforts to reform mortgage-lending practices. Second hour: Author Jane Hamilton.

Midday - First hour: Jobs and the Minnesota economy. Second hour: Former Minnesota GOP Congressman Vin Weber, speaking last week at the U of M Humphrey Institute about President Obama's domestic and national security strategies.

Talk of the Nation - First hour: California is an economic disaster. What does that portend -- if anything -- for the rest of us? Second hour: As HIV is increasingly criminalized, who's really to blame?

All Things Considered - NPR will profile Charles Springle, the Navy commander who was one of five people killed by a U.S. soldier in Baghdad. He'd devoted his career to helping soldiers with mental health issues. Pam Fessler profiles Eric Sheptock, who blogs about the homeless in Washington.

Comments (1)

Hello, and THANK YOU for posting this video of "Buckets and Tap Shoes"!

Pictured in ths video are brothers Andy and Rick Ausland from Minneapolis.

Please check out our other videos on Youtube by searching "Buckets and Tap Shoes". We have high quality HD videos from shows we did last March at the Music Box Theatre in Minneapolis.

JOIN US on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter!!!

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAX1FoD1A7w
MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/bucketsandtapshoes
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/bucketstapshoes
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Buckets-and-Tap-Shoes/54010284736

Posted by Rick Ausland | June 8, 2009 11:49 AM