The Obama administration is giving slumping domestic auto sales a small shot in the arm.
The administration announced Thursday it is buying 17,600 fuel-efficient vehicles from Detroit’s Big Three by June 1, using $285 million from the $787 billion stimulus bill.
Read the rest of this entry »
The New York Times has written a column on the whole Automotive saga that is making it’s way into the headlines day in and day out. The article singles out the possibility of the Chrysler GM merger and the inability of the U.S. government to provide support.
In the opinion of the newspaper, the Big Three employ too many people to be put into jeopardy in case either one of the companies fail. It has also brought up a very valid point, that the funding that has been made available to the companies in the form of re-tooling costs in the sum of $25 billion, will not be available to them for some time to come. This is due to the slow moving banking system and it’s legal teams to work out the details of the plan. In the meantime all three manufacturers are losing money every month.
Ford Motor Company is suing the Federal Government and the Internal Revenue Service for interest on overpaid taxes to the tune of almost half a Billion dollars ($445 million to be exact).
The claim substantiates that FoMoCo overpaid taxes from 1983 to 1989 and from 1992 to 1994.
Ford claims that the IRS has refunded the overpayment, but has not paid any interest on the money.
This comes amidst a corporate restructuring plan that is supposed to be drawn up by the end of the month.
