Well, perhaps the turmoil of the last year is over for at least one of GM's orphaned brands, Saab.

For 20 years GM has had control of Saab but it now has reportedly struck a deal with Spyker Cars NV, a Dutch sports car builder, for sale of the trouble Swedish Saab brand. Spyker sought, and apparently obtained government loans to back the deal, reportedly in excess of half a billion dollars.

The new company will be called Saab Spyker Automobiles NV and will be owned in small, toe-hold part by GM.

The $74 million price tag will be paid for in two lump sums, if the deal goes through. $326 million worth of preferred shares in the merged company also goes to GM but those shares represent less than 1 percent of Saab Spyker's voting rights, Spyker said.

While some Saab dealers have already cut back or closed, it's good news for the struggling brand and its remaining dealers.

Around Washington DC right now there are some politicians floating the idea of sending all those left over FEMA trailers to Haiti for the devastated homeless Haitian families to live in. That would be disasterous.

As US Rep. Bennie Thompason (D-Miss) correctly pointed out [here at Homeland Security Insight website: http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/11845/128/] the formaldehyde levels in those trailers is "unhealthy" to put it mildly and foisting them on anyone else would be stupid and politically dangerous.

The US is generously helping out in every way possible right now. The last thing the US needs is for the health effects those unsold trailers pose to arise from the rubble of Haiti several years from now.

"However, given the potential for adverse health affects when used as more than short-term shelter, I would be gravely concerned about distributing these units to the people of Haiti for use as housing. This country's immediate response to help in this humanitarian crisis should not be blemished by later concerns over adverse health consequences precipitated by our efforts," Thompson warned in the HSToday article online.

While Thompson and others have asked FEMA to stop auctioning off the unhealthy and dangerous trailers, FEMA has not done so yet, even those both FEMA and the Center for Disease Control released a study completed in February 2008 that declared the units to contain unhealthy levels of formaldehyde.

Those trailers shouldn't even be given away. They look good, sure, and they might even make you feel comfortable for the time being. But, like cigarettes, the harm comes in the long term that they don't tell you about.

There's been a lot in the news lately about debt collectors who call and harass consumers and lie about being police officers, court officers, threatening garnishments and a lot worse. Most people just don't know what their rights really are. Here's a short video that tells you what your rights are when it comes to dealing with debt collectors who harrass you. If they violate the law, just remember that you've got rights and we can help you enforce them. It's part of what we do. Everyday.




Burdge Law Office
http://www.daytonbankruptcylaw.com/
Helping consumers start over with credit. Since 1978.
http://www.cintibanktruptcylaw.com/

The North American International Auto Show in Detroit opens next week with "press days" slated for Monday and Tuesday and it promises to be a major "electric" event.