MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

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SCHULTZ: Joining me now is Congressman Gary Peters of Michigan.

We‘ve finally got a positive story for the sales folks in the car business, but, ,you know, they are saying that this is going to be $1 billion.

Now, how fast is this money going to go? The way it looks right now, it‘s going to go pretty fast. But why wouldn‘t the government put more to it if it‘s going to work, Gary?

REP. GARY PETERS (D), MICHIGAN: Well, we may. We‘ll take a look at this.

As you know, Ed, when we originally had this bill, it had a much larger number. We settled eventually for the $1 billion mark, which is about 250,000 vehicles.

But you‘re right, I‘ve been hearing that from my auto dealers as well. In fact, I just talked to an auto dealer before I came on the air here tonight, and he said his showroom has been packed. I mean, they are ecstatic with the type of volume that‘s coming into auto dealers, and this is what we need. This is the way to get our economy going.

As I‘ve said on this program many times, and you‘ve said, Ed, the best way to get the American economy moving is to start selling automobiles. It just permeates through the whole economy.

SCHULTZ: Well, it‘s amazing what cheap money will do. They ought to do that for small businesses.

But here‘s the thing—why wouldn‘t they extend it to a full year if you‘ve got a quick response on this? Because they‘ve got a lot of units that have got to go out there and this could be a job creator.

PETERS: Yes, it is definitely a job creator by getting these cars sold, moving it forward, not only for the auto manufacturers, but all the auto suppliers, all the parts that go into it. So far it is a big success, so we‘ll see how it continues to move forward.

But we know now, especially with both Chrysler and General Motors, have gone through the bankruptcy, they‘ve dealt with the cost side of the equation. Now it‘s all about revenue. It‘s revenue for Ford Motor, GM, Chrysler. And this is a way to really jump-start the economy.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

PETERS: And we‘ll revisit it, but I would say to your listeners—or your viewers right now, there‘s only 250,000 cars for this deal. If you‘ve got a clunker that qualifies, you better get out to your auto dealer right now.

SCHULTZ: Well, the other thing is, is that it‘s going to have us driving fuel-efficient vehicles, and that‘s where the country wants to move.

PETERS: Right.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, good work on this. Thanks for joining us on this tonight.

PETERS: Thank you, Ed.

SCHULTZ: You bet.

Congressman Gary Peters of Michigan with us.

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