Dear Readers,

We, at the Pomona Swap Meet want to thank all of our visitors and all of our wonderful vendors for a year that could have been a disaster and yet, because of you, was a success. Of course like all other small businesses ours was down from previous years, but with your help, we managed.

The management and employees of the Pomona Swap Meet wish all of you a;

“Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!”

Events from 2009 will have a major effect on our business in the future. The major occurrence was the bail out of GM and Chrysler and the “Cash for Clunkers disaster”. What these tax-paid government programs did was create a small bubble in the automotive economy. In an article written last year I stated;

“As this article is being written many of the details of the bankruptcy have yet to be ironed out. I realize that GM management has stated that they are now out of bankruptcy, but I assure you there are many shoes left to drop. Not the least of which is what do they do with the old GM. That is, all the odds and ends that were left when the new, leaner GM was formed. Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, all are up in the air, as well as many manufacturing plants, distribution operations and spare employees”.

Well, reality has begun to set in and facts that most of the taxpayers knew are now coming to light. The American Taxpayer will never, ever, ever, be paid back the money the government and GM and Chrysler management were promised. Gene Sperling, the senior counsel to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner recently admitted that the bailout will result in a $30 billion loss to the American Taxpayer.

The result is a $30 billion dollar welfare program for the United Auto Workers Union.

In my opinion the management of both GM and Chrysler will struggle to pay some of this debt resulting in cuts in warranties, quality, support, and representation.

If you are planning to buy a new car, be very selective and very careful. The winds of failure are blowing for both of these once great companies.

As I stated in my earlier article, hang on to older automobiles, keep them repaired, updated and serviced with pieces, parts, fluids, etc., from the great vendors at the Pomona Swap Meet, your acres of one stop shopping.

Citizen Wayne