Comments on: U.S. Automakers Spend $70 Million on Lobbying

By: tankd0g

tankd0g — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:45:21 +0000

That’s why the CAFE number is 35mpg and not 45, but if they had spent a little more, they could have gotten it to go down to 25mpg. Oh well, there’s always next year.

By: william442

william442 — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:50:15 +0000

When I worked at Packard Electric Division, managers were required to give to the republican party. So the actual amount the pols. get is probably greater.

By: shaker

shaker — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:43:06 +0000

Only 4 Million to date? Wow, GM must be in trouble!

They’re going to have to spend a lot more than that to get US government funding for the proposed Hydrogen pipeline from the Sun…

By: driving course

driving course — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:36:45 +0000

An interesting statistic would be to compare US and Japanese automakers and the ratio of spend: R&D to Lobbying…
Maybe automaker is an out of date term for some US companies… autoschmoozers might be more appropriate!

By: blowfish

blowfish — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:20:07 +0000

Successful lobbying s one thng, unless lobby Uncle Sam to buy a bunch of cars to give away. Otherwise it wont go anywhere in the end. Very simple need customer satisfacton, & repeat buyers/ suckers.
Uncle Sam did bought a bunch of Chebbys for Iraq back in the 80’s. But some how it never materialised or part order had to be sold to public. Also they have very tall rear end

By: ljw

ljw — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:36:52 +0000

I’ve always thought the U.S. Senate is the best Senate money can buy…

By: Mj0lnir

Mj0lnir — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:17:03 +0000

windswords :
May 1st, 2008 at 3:57 pm

Sometimes I think politicians are just legal prostitutes.

That’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen all day.

By: Johnster

Johnster — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:11:03 +0000

$70M? Really not enough to design any decent new products. Might as well flush it down the politcal rat hole.

By: carguy

carguy — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:20:34 +0000

Only $70M? Amateurs! HMOs, military contractors and pharmaceutical and oil companies are way in front.

By: quasimondo

quasimondo — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:03:54 +0000

$70 million seems like a lot, until you realize that altogether, lobbyists from other idustries (such as health care) have spent nearly $2.8B trying to woo congress.

By: windswords

windswords — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:57:25 +0000

This has been going on for years. Sometimes I think politicians are just legal prostitutes. And while the domestic 3 pay out the most, Toyota has been at this game a long time, contributing to state and federal politicians since the 80’s.