There have been nine new publications added to the Forum. The first four can be found posted under the GM, Ford and Chrysler tab. The first article comes from the Detroit News reporting that Chrysler Group LLC executives, including CEO Sergio Marchionne, flipped burgers for about 9,000 employees at a picnic Wednesday to thank workers for their efforts in the first year as a new company, following bankruptcy and the tie-up with Fiat SpA. The second article comes from a Free Press Business Writer. It states that with Chrysler unveiling pictures of its new Dodge Charger police car, available for ordering in September, the police car wars are on. The competitors are the Dodge Charger Pursuit, the Ford Interceptor, (based on Ford Taurus), the Chevy Caprice PPV, (Police Pursuit Vehicle), and in 2013 the Carbon Motors E7 police car. The first three will all be on the highways within the next 18 months. I would like to see all of the new police cars go head-to-head at Michigan International Speedway, just to see who the Top Cop really is. The third article is a release from the Associated Press telling that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty met Wednesday with Ford Motor Co. executives to talk about the future of the company’s St. Paul truck plant. The fourth article, also from the Detroit News, gives more information on the NHTSA’s probe of more than 3 million Jeep Grand Cherokee fuel tanks.

Two new posts have been entered into the Open Discussion section. The first article comes from the Detroit News Washington Bureau giving more details on the NHTSA’s engineering analysis of more than 1,100 complaints of Toyota Corolla and Matrix vehicles stalling at any speed and not restarting. The probe will cover 1.2M Toyota vehicle’s engines, model years 2005-07. With Toyota engines accelerating unintentionally and now stalling at any speed, I still find it hard to believe that the electronics of the Toyota engines are not the root cause, and I don’t see any way possible for Toyota to blame the stalling engines on driver error. The second article comes from the DRIVEON section of USA TODAY. It asks the question; as sales fall, is the hybrid car fad over?

Well, it’s Wednesday and that means that it is time for this week’s edition of bcb monitor money matters. We post these articles hoping that there will be some tidbit of information that will help give you better financial health and thus make your retirement years less stressful. Three new posts have been placed in the Personal Finance category. The first article comes from AARP and it gives 5 money management tips that can help you make your own decisions whether you are working or are retired.  Our philosophy on money management at Blue Collar Benefit Monitor is that all the decisions should be made by you and if you need help, go with a proven reputable firm that has low maintenance fees, while offering a vast amount of options for you to make decisions on. The second post comes from us, going into a little more detail on our money management philosophy. I personally have to thank GM for hooking up with Fidelity to manage workers 401k plans. Had it not been for them, I wouldn’t have invested any money at all and after retiring, I trusted Fidelity enough to roll over my 401k into an IRA with them. The third article is a release from the Associated Press stating that Fidelity has had a record number of workers making hardship withdrawals from their retirement accounts in the second quarter of 2010. This is not usually a recommended practice, but sometimes things happen that are out of our control that require drastic measures.