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As U.S. readies auto loans, dealer says consumers need help

No one else wants to lend to the Big 3 carmakers in Detroit, so the U.S. government's ready to do the job. Dodge dealer Larry Weathers Jr. says it's consumers, even more than automakers, who need "reasonable" credit.

At a time when so many smaller and more efficient automakers are struggling to get into the difficult global market, no bank or investor wants to lend to the Big 3 carmakers in Detroit, so the U.S. government's ready to do the job -- with strings attached, including massive political oversight (interference). See the draft House bill agreed to early this morning here.

"The auto industry is in a 10 million (autos-per-year sales) mode. We dealers have inventory for 17 million," writes Larry Weathers Jr., of Weathers Dodge, Lima. "And we are hounded, daily, by the factory to order more inventory to help them. They try to sweeten the deal by offering incentives, rebates, special financing. But the fact remains we have enough inventory at old prices, along with a used inventory at (high) values, to last a year.

"Bridge loans to the manufacturer are fine, but the keystone is for consumer confidence to soar, and for reasonable money to be made available for consumers to make reasonable loans."

Meanwhile, "we struggle to remain afloat, agonizing over the cuts we must make."