Re: 1470 WLAM to become 3rd spoke in WMTW NewsTalk Wheel

["Dan Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>]

Thank you, thank you! I'm 66. Last month I bought a new car. I bought my
previous new car in 1985 and have been driving the 85 car the whole time, so
it had been a long time between car purchases. But it was a major purchase,
and you can bet that I've bought _a lot_ of automotive repair services in
the 16-plus years I've had the old car. I still have the '85, by the way.
The car I "traded" was an 81 ;>).

Now, Bob Bittner would say that my new car purchase doesn't count because I
paid cash and took the $1500 discount for doing so in lieu of the 36-month
0.0% APR finance deal. He says that the car dealers don't make any money off
the cars; they make it off the financing. However, when I look at my bank
balance, the purchase _does_ count--at least to me!

As I see it though, I have $1500 in my bank account earning some paltry rate
(around 2%). If I had taken the 0.0% finance deal, the dealer (and General
Motors and NUMMI, which built the car) would have had to borrow the entire
cost of the vehicle at a rate that is still somewhat higher than 2% and I
would have a larger (but gradually dwindling--as I made the car payments
over 36 months) bank balance earning the 2% rate. So I think GM et al have
received profits they can pump back into the economy--and maybe profits that
are greater than those they would have received if I had financed the car
(at least if you consider the time value of money). In other words, I don't
follow Bob's argument.
--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
617-558-4205, eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Billings <dib9@gwi.net>
To: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>; Larry Weil <kc1ih@mediaone.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 11:58 PM
Subject: Re: 1470 WLAM to become 3rd spoke in WMTW NewsTalk Wheel


> When I place political ads
> for candidates, I always buy the standards stations because older folks
> vote.  I bet they buy things too.
>