The Holger Spotlight: The Incompetence of the U.S. Federal Government Is Showcased In March's Auto Sales Figures

Cross posted from Holger Awakens

Okay, I'm embarking on some articles here at Holger Awakens that are intended to shine the light on some of the incompetence, corruption and plain old sinister actions of our American federal government - the series will be known as "The Holger Spotlight" and this article represents the first of that series.

The nation's automakers along with the import companies revealed March 2010 auto sales figures today and I wanted to put the Holger spotlight on that news - in order to point out the continuing and seemingly neverending incompetence of the Federal Government of the United States of America.

First, I am going straight to the horse's mouth on this (or perhaps you would view it as the horse's ass) by using the article from MSNBC. Here are the automaker sales figures represented by the MSNBC article:

Toyota + 41%
Ford + 40%
Honda + 23%
General Motors + 21%
Chrysler - 08%


Okay, look at that for a moment and understand that the U.S. government is intimately involved with two of those companies...GM and Chrysler and it's easy to see that those two automakers FAILED in comparison to the others. Last place and second to last place are our Federal government's entry into the auto business. Great job, huh?

Now, the number one performer was Toyota - at a time when Toyota is suffering through its most devastating recall mess in its history, and yet, they outperformed the U.S. Government who is in charge of degrading Toyota's situation at every opportunity. Let me restate that: The Federal government is actively handicapping the Toyota brand, yet Toyota kicked the Federal government's ass in auto sales this past month.

Now, our spin masters at MSNBC are quick to point out that the reason Toyota accomplished this is because of the huge incentives that Toyota offered customers. Here's how MSNBC describes it:

Toyota's unprecedented incentives, including low-interest financing, cheap leases and free maintenance for return customers, pushed up its U.S. sales 41 percent in March and helped it recover from a dismal February.

But wait a minute. I read a bit deeper into the article and wanted to compare the incentives that Toyota offered versus what say, General Motors offered. Let's look:

Industry analysis firms TrueCar and Edmunds.com predicted that GM's March incentive spending would lead major automakers at more than $3,500 per vehicle, well above the industry average of roughly $2,800.

Hmmm. Let me get this straight. General Motors offered the most aggressive buyer incentives in March yet they garnered only a 21% increase in auto sales. Toyota and Ford offered smaller incentives but grew their sales by 41% and 40%, respectively? But hey, didn't MSNBC want to spin that Toyota must be out-incentivising GM?

Ladies and gentlemen, what MSNBC isn't willing to tell you is this: the Federal government of the United States of America screws up everything it touches (save the U.S. military). That's the bottom line. This is why America has thrived under free market capitalism - the less government is involved, the better the results. General Motors and Chrysler enjoy every advantage right now in the auto arena in America - the government's ownership of them ensures that they benefit on the regulations side, the funding side and the labor pool side. Yet they have blown it...March is the proof that our bureaucrats are simply incompetent.

I don't want to give away the whole upcoming series but consider this, America...your representatives in Washington, D.C. just decided to ensure the success of your healthcare insurance, you know, the basic health of your family, to the Federal government. Those Congressmen and Senators decided that the Federal government could run healthcare insurance better than Blue Cross-Blue Shield, UHC, and Aetna. Think about it. Chrysler's sales for March 2010 (government run) FELL 8 percent, Ford's sales for March 2010 (private sector run) ROSE 40 percent.

America has put the very lives of its citizens in the hands of incompetents.