GM: Government Motors Selling Sub-Prime Auto Loans

David Horberg - President Obama has touted General Motors (GM) as a successful example of his administration's policies. Yet GM's recovery is built, at least in part, on the increasing use of subprime loans.
The Obama administration in 2009 bailed out GM to the tune of $50 billion as it went into a managed bankruptcy.
Near the end of 2010, GM acquired a new captive lending arm, subprime specialist AmeriCredit. Renamed GM Financial, it has played a significant role in GM's growth .

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The automaker is relying increasingly on subprime loans, 10-Q financial reports shows.
Potential borrowers of car loans are rated on FICO scores that range from 300 to 850. Anything under 660 is generally deemed subprime.
Subprime Key Driver
GM Financial auto loans to customers with FICO scores below 660 rose from 87% of total loans in Q4 2010 to 93% in Q1 2012.
The worse the FICO score, the bigger the increase. From Q4 2010 to Q1 2012, GM Financial loans to customers with the worst FICO scores — below 540 — shot up 79% to more than $2.3 billion. The second worst category, 540-599, rose 28% from about $3.4 billion to $4.3 billion.
Prime loans, those above 660, dropped 42% to $676 million.
GM Financial provides just over 8% of GM's financing. Prior to 2006, GM's captive lending arm was GMAC, but GM sold a controlling stake in 2006. GMAC later renamed itself Ally Financial and continues to provide the bulk of GM's financing.
At the peak of the credit crisis and recession in late 2008, Ally announced that it would move away from subprime lending.
By spring 2010 GM's new management, led by North American executive Mark Reuss, wanted to move back into subprime, fearing that GM couldn't compete.
Subprime lending in cars is not as risky as in housing. Car loans are cheaper, so customers have an easier time making payments. When they do go into default, the cars can be repossessed and sold to recover some of the loss.
"The subprime market grew as a result of the recession," said GM spokesman Jim Cain. "Our experience, however, is that with proper management they are very good risks."
He points to GM's credit losses which have not risen above 5.5% since late 2010.
Nevertheless, since it acquired GM Financial, GM has seen its subprime loans grow from about 4.8% of sales in Q4 2010 to 8.2% in Q1 2012. The industry average is about 6%.

Conservatives Angry Over Chick-fil-A Criticism

Jim Myers - Prominent conservatives have come out in support of fast-food chain Chick-fil-A after it drew criticism for President Dan Cathy’s statements in opposition to gay marriage.

But ordinary Americans are speaking up as well, flooding Newsmax with a barrage of emails voicing support for the Atlanta-based chain.

One Wisconsin reader told Newsmax he will drive 80 miles next week to the nearest Chick-fil-A to back the chain the best way he knows how — with his wallet.

And a Florida man told Newsmax: “I never ate at CFA until recently. Now it is the only fast food I eat. I drove 10 miles out of my way today to eat lunch there. I support Mr. Cathy. Tell him not to back down.”

The controversy began when Cathy told the Baptist Press that the company, which puts faith ahead of profits by closing on Sundays, was “guilty as charged” for backing the “biblical definition of a family.”

He later ratcheted up the rhetoric in a radio interview, saying: “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.”

Gay rights groups responded by calling for a boycott of the family-owned business. The Jim Henson Co. pulled its Muppet toys from kids’ meals.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told the chain it is not welcome in their cities and vowed to stop further expansion of the restaurants there.

San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee added his voice on Thursday, saying the closest Chick-fil-A to his city is 40 miles away and “I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer.”

But on the other side of the debate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee declared that next Wednesday would be “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” to support a business “whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values.”

Rev. Billy Graham said in statement: “I plan to ‘eat Mor Chikin’ and show my support by visiting Chick-fil-A next Wednesday.”

And Rev. Roger Oldham, spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention, said Christians “will come out of the woodwork when a theologically based position is being politicized by individuals for their own purposes.”

Newsmax readers are among those who have “come out of the woodwork” to support Cathy and his company.

A reader in Texas stated: “I am infuriated that Boston and Chicago politicians are persecuting Chick-fil-A for exercising their First Amendment rights. They need to know that reasonable people (not just evangelical Christians) will boycott their cities over this.”

A California woman said: “A large group of my friends are planning to support our local Chick-fil-A next Wednesday including many who are buying gift certificates and giving them to their church pastor to hand out. Americans have had enough with the assault on religion!”

Another California reader said: “We need more people like Mr. Cathy in this country especially during these trying times.”

A Colorado man told Newsmax that when wildfires forced him and his neighbors to leave their homes, Chick-fil-A fed the evacuees that night, adding “please let people know what kind of company Chick-fil-A is.”

And a reader in New York said: “Thank God for Billy Graham and the Cathy family for sticking to the Word of God. God bless Chick-fil-A.”

Foregin Troops Will Confiscate American Guns Under U.N. Arms Treaty

Aaron Dykes - “Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order … tomorrow they will be grateful.” -Attributed to Henry Kissinger during the 1991 Bilderberg meeting

For those who’ve been wondering how the domestic gun grabbers or the United Nations think they’re going to get away with gun control here at home, one need look no further than Article 15 of the UN’s Arms Trade Treaty.
Many American troops are patriots who understand their oaths to uphold the Constitution, so they can’t be counted upon to confiscate guns. But foreign troops are another story.
Article 15 of the UN Arms Trade Treaty, if ratified, provides for foreign “assistance to implement the Treaty,” and mandates that nations who can provide requested support must do so if requested by member nations. That includes legal, financial, technical as well as “material” assistance to enforce a treaty that declares “recreational, cultural, historical and sporting activities” to be the “exclusively” recognized reasons for lawful private ownership, and which further recognizes the “inherent rights” of the State (i.e. nations under the treaty) to self-defense, but makes no mention of the rights of the individual.
Read the language of Article 15 for yourself:

Article 15
International Assistance In fulfilling the obligation of this Treaty, States Parties may seek, inter alia, legal assistance, legislative assistance, technical assistance, institutional capacity building, material assistance or financial assistance. States, in a position to do so, shall provide such assistance. States Parties may contribute resources to a voluntary trust fund to assist requesting States Parties requiring such assistance to implement the Treaty.
States Parties shall afford one another the widest measure of assistance, consistent with their respective legal and administrative systems, in investigations, prosecutions and judicial proceedings in relation to the violations of the national measures implemented to comply with obligations under of the provisions of this Treaty.
Each State Party may offer or receive assistance, inter alia, through the United Nations international, regional, subregional or national organizations, non-governmental organizations or on a bi-lateral basis. Such assistance may include technical, financial, material and other forms of assistance as needed, upon request.

Will foreign troops be going door-to-door to ensure compliance with new gun registry policies, imposed limits on ammunition and magazines, or in enforcing outright confiscation? Joint training exercises conducted between U.S. armed forces and various foreign armies have trained to do just that.
In 2010, the Infowars crew covered Operation Vigilant Guard, a joint training exercise in Chicago, in which U.S. troops drilled with Eastern bloc troops to partner in stopping terrorism, dealing with meth dealers and WMDs, as well as in gun confiscation. Countless other exercises have taken place on U.S. soil involving similar joint operations for a martial law occupation with the participation of foreign troops:
Foreign Troops Training To Confiscate Guns of Americans

American troops were ordered to conduct door-to-door gun confiscation sweeps after Hurricane Katrina, and while it has emerged that at least one unit stood down and refused the order, many more carried out the unconstitutional mission. That precedent has been followed by other exercises training American soldiers for gun seizures, along with other martial law measures.
Infowars Nightly News co-host Rob Dew underscored the history of training to take American guns in his recent viral report:
Troops Ordered To Kill All Americans Who Do Not Turn In Guns

Meanwhile, the United Nations itself has forcibly disarmed numerous African nations using foreign troops, and the vacuum of power has led in several cases to genocidal atrocities as a direct result of taking away arms. The genocide in Rwanda was enabled by forcible disarmament. As Republic Magazine writes, the mass murder was “carried out by government-aligned Hutu tribal militias against a targeted ethnic population – the Tutsis – who had been disarmed with the help of UN “peacekeeping” forces under the supervision of future UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.” The Darfur crisis in Sudan also has its roots in UN-led population disarmament, as does the Burma (Myanmar) massacre, again the result of disarmament. Armed troops representing international interests including the World Bank burned down homes and killed children in effort to forcibly evict some 40,000 Ugandans on the basis of conserving lands to combat climate change.
Indeed, genocide and disarmed populations go hand-in-hand through history– just look at the history of Democide (death by government). R.J. Rummel at the University of Hawaii is the leading academic on the subject, and has estimated that more than 262 million unnatural deaths in the 20th Century alone were caused by government, and most were at the hands of despots preying upon their helpless peoples. From Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, to Turkey, Armenia and beyond, gun bans have created a shift in the balance of power towards the state, creating an atmosphere of victim disarmament.
Blue helmets or foreign uniforms have no place on foreign soil, yet the UN Arms Trade Treaty text reveals a mechanism to impose just that type of control– even in America.
Read the treaty text for yourself and see our report from yesterday: Bombshell: Leaked UN Treaty Does Ban Guns