Time to play Washington Journal Call in!

[acmejack]

[acmejack]

1. Ford restructuring

People are not happy today about the job situation at all.

[Broken_Hero]

2. watching it now

I do love some of the calls...some insightful...some, are cause for some good guffaws...:)

[acmejack]

3. Wallet issues.

These get some people's attention that otherwise think they are good republicans. "Dollars and sense" issues make people realize who are on their side!

[thepurpose]

4. I'm Rick James Bitch!! Anyone hear that?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. Funny that.... don't get the message but what a surprise for

the host.

[thepurpose]

11. obvious Dave Chappell fan calling in.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

13. Oh... I need to pay more attention to Dave... I could use the

endorphins.

[Broken_Hero]

5. oh boy...dude

just told a woman who makes 10 bucks an hour to go buy a 30,000 dollar hybrid...:( And he tried making it seem like our gas problem is over...gas is around 2.10-2.49!!!! I'm still upset its over two bucks! I hope the voters dont' forget this fall either...

[thepurpose]

6. I hope the voters don't forget too, because its going to go back up after

the election. Gas is going down specifically to help Repubs.

[acmejack]

7. I loved that!

Oh $25,000-30,000! Steve, wake up call! These beltway people really are out of it! Wow...

[thepurpose]

9. I thought they were going for 35 to 40 any way.

[Broken_Hero]

12. I remember this past May

via NBC news, that a used hybrid was around 30,000, and a new one was closer to 35,000..but with the demand, and low output of vehicles, the prices went up, because so many wanted them, and in effect, the prices went higher.

[salin]

23. psst.... depending on the hybrid - your numbers more than a tad off...

in December I bought a brand new Prius with some bells and whistles for under $25,000. Saw a used one (2004) for $18,000.

That said still too expensive for when I was living on $10 an hour - the response to the caller sounds quite absurd.

[Broken_Hero]

10. yeah, I was really surprised he went there...like

she could just drop a dime and get one...damn, with my wife and I's good credit, we got a 9000 dollar car, and all we could get was a three year payment plan, our payments a month are 320. I cannot imagine what a car payment based on 30,000 would be...but I have a gut feeling, it would be closer to 500 a month.

on edit:depending on payment plan that is, I know that in most cases, a new car can be put in a 6-7year plan, but I still know those car payments would be pretty high, especially on a 10$ an hour job.

[thepurpose]

14. That lady couldn't even do a 9K car with your payment plan. She is only

bring in net about 16k right?

[Broken_Hero]

16. damn, I'm not sure

doing math in the early morning isn't my strong suit...:rofl: Just a guess, every two weeks...at ten bucks, you gross 800 bucks, so each month is 1600....times ten...is 16,000....plus another 3,200...so its 19,200 at ten bucks an hour I believe...take out about 3-4 thousand on taxes...and that brings you down to 16,000 or less a year for bills/living...

If my math is wrong, please forgive me, I have been up for a while.

[Maine-ah]

18. no, if she's working 40 hours per week it's

more like 20k (not like that's a whole lot more) it's what I make per hr/year.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

15. The payments would resemble a house note.... on the other

hand, if gas remained at 3 dollars a gallon, and you went from 20 miles a gallon to 70 miles a gallon (Honda Insight) AND if you had to drive perhaps 40 miles one way to work....

You could save around 10 dollars a day... or perhaps 200 dollars a month...

[Broken_Hero]

17. essentially, thats what pushed my wife and I

to get the Dodge Intrepid, and trade in our worthless ford windstar. With getting a better mileage sedan, saving us gas money...it offset some of the 320 car payment...not much, but enough to make us go for it...plus, the Ford Windstar sucks, damn thing was draining us financially...I almost did an "Office Space" on the damn thing.

[acmejack]

19. We need to get away from the auto-centric society.

When medical conditions forced me to quit driving I was crushed. I had to move, sell my house. But I found out how much I spent on my car, insurance, fuel, maintenance & here's a biggie-the aggravation of driving anymore. It used to be fun, it isn't any longer it is a huge aggravation. It takes longer to use public transportation but it is a bigger sense of community and it is definitely more relaxing.

[Maine-ah]

20. nice thought, but that option of public transportation

isn't available to many of us. I think up here there may be 3 cities/towns that have public transportation, and living in any of them our cost of living would sky-rocket.

[acmejack]

22. Understood.

You notice the first sentence regarding relocation. I surely understand the availability issue vis a vis the rural life. So while not an option for many, it is a tremendously underused resource. When he gasoline prices where at their peak recently, bus ridership here was up almost 20%.

[Broken_Hero]

21. Yep...the cost of having a car

is a bit more than at first glance. With the things you listed...320 for car, 120 for insurance...with the intrepid at current prices....160 bucks a month rougly for gas...and all the maintence...which I have started doing all by my lonesome to save $...having a car is a bigger investment than some realize.

In my hometown, I could walk anywhere in town in 45 minutes, or pay a buck to ride the bus...a car was non-essential for most of my hometown...and now I'm car dependant, and at times I catch myself wishing for the old days...:)

[cornermouse]

25. diesel is 2.90.

Don't get too excited.

[Wilber_Stool]

24. Say what you will about Washington Journal.

it is refreshing to hear someone who is asked a question actually answer that question. It seldon happens anywhere else.