The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released its unemployment numbers for August, revealing that joblessness has hit a five-year high at 6.1 percent. And rather than raising some of the many legitimate concerns over the accuracy of BLS statistics, the Detroit Free Press jumped right in to throwing fuel on the presidential campaign fire. Noting that automakers and parts suppliers shed 38,000 jobs in the past 30 days, and that the industry has lost 127,800 jobs over the past year, the Freep frames these losses in the context of Detroit’s proposed $50b bailout. The industry job losses combined with 14,000 jobs cut from car dealers and auto parts vendors “could add pressure” for Congress to back the Detroit bailout, reckons the Freep, and with swing-state Michigan’s unemployment levels topping out at 8.5 percent, the news is certainly putting pressure on the presidential candidates. And as McCain and Obama trade jabs on the economy, momentum simply builds for the government to do something. Since the only proposal on the table amounts to a blank-check bailout for three firms which have conclusively proven their lack of competitiveness, isn’t it time for one of our would-be leaders to show some y’know, leadership, and propose a different option? Otherwise, the bad news will keep coming, and Washington (and its aspirants) will have no choice but to offer more bailout money than the next guy.
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Couldn’t it be the other way around? Jobless people means less money for luxuries like new cars. Duh? Also, state tuitions for colleges have gone up, so has the price of gas, food, etc. etc.
Also, people’s homes losing value makes them spend less, apparently. That’s what my Econ teacher said.
I think that should read: “Global Capitalism blamed for rise in Unemployment”.
The auto industry is but a small speck on an ugly ass.
I would only support a bailout if they’d put in rules to do a bankruptcy style house cleaning – put off UAW strangleholds and hire non union employees to replace them if they strike, get an exception to the franchise laws to allow them to cut brands and dealers, then clear house and get rid of this band of incompetent selfish and ignorant morons with the exception of Mulally who seems to be an actually leading and taking responsibility but cut out the Ford family’s influence and vote capacity. If they won’t allow this housecleaning then no bailout funds (oops I mean loan reshuffling to build cars they should have been building 5 years ago).
If they want to hang the hat on funding technology rather than bailing out the hometown incompetents then the funds should also be available to non US owned firms but with significant manufacturing base (such as Toyondissan).
What!The loss of the domestic car industry is impacting the economy.Gee and I was under the impression that the tranplants were picking up the slack.Don’t tell me that all those profits are going back to Japan Germany and Korea.
Whoa! 127,800 well paid jobs in 30 days gone?
Buying imports?No way that ain’t hurting us at all.
Remember the old bumper sticker”hungry out of work? Eat your import!
More accurately, the failure to buy american cars is to blame for rising unemployment.
For years, we’ve been fed this globalist nonsense that if a car is assembled here, it’s “american made”.
Assembly means nothing. Monkeys can assemble. To create sustainable american jobs, a car must be designed, engineered, created, cast, molded, and assembled in america. That is true “production.”
mikey :
38,000 in the last 30 days
127,800 over the last 12 months
It sucks to be out of work but if your company is run poorly, and you’re working to produce things people don’t want then I can’t see how that can be sustained.
To create sustainable american jobs, a car must be designed, engineered, created, cast, molded, and assembled in america.
So, when do “we” repatriate the Impala, 300C, Charger, Equinox, HHR, Silverado, Town Car, Fusion, etc. ?
limmin- now we are talkin! turns out all these years my talking about the essence of domestic engineering and added value complex industries hasn`t been bull! Engineering feeds a lot of tied industries to it, like suppliers, catering, transportation, utilities, education etc. How many affiliates you have to a sales lot? How many jobs does it support? And how many jobs does a factory support? And engineering?
Assembly means nothing, you can really teach monkeys to push buttons on those japaneseFanuc or Fujitsu robots. The real issue is can you manufacture those robots that are operated by monkeys? Can you actually engineer a car that is assembled on those robots?
Let`s forget about me, just move on with teaching student centered learning approaches , pushing arts and daisies and philosophy, while japanese take over your country and eat all your annual budget just on interest alone for servicing debt!Who is to blame that americans assemble cars with gaps? Who is to blame that your Ford Mustangs don`t have trunk lid upholstery while hondas have, and 250 buyers just simply veer away from buying your ford. Exactly the amount of actual engineering and stamping of the due part.Who is to blame ,that you can`t keep up with japanese and germans? Wanna save your detroit by stamping vanity visors and splash guards while the rest of the engineering is ordered and bought from japan, korea and germany with your logo stamped on. Think they are doing the tough job for free for you?
@ mikey:
It sucks that the 2.8 have run their companies to the brink of bankruptcy, but please, if GM built the Accord and Ford built the 328i and Chrysler built the Altima, we’d buy ’em.
Instead, for decades these companies built cars that were clearly inferior to their foreign competitors, and still are in many respects.
Blaming consumers for buying a better product is like blaming fire and not the arsonist for a building that’s burning down.
@ jurisb:
Corporate greed from the big 2.8 are to blame. I know it’s easy to blame the entire staff (as you have) for Detroit’s ineptitude, but like many engineers at Toyota who are being pressed to cut costs, that’s what happens at big companies.
BTW, that trick stereo in Lexus cars is Mark Levinson. Wonder why Lexus didn’t use Sony, Pioneer, Denon, etc?
Between bleeding losses at a major middle-class employer and a credit crunch, consumer spending’s really in the toilet, isn’t it?
Now, say it with me again: ten percent unemployment.
That’s like what we’d be looking at if one or more of the major automakers goes down. Even operating under C11, they’ll still be shedding jobs, in addition to knifing suppliers, who will, in turn, shed jobs.
How dependent is your source of income? Are you sure that the economic aftershocks of unemployment at that level aren’t going to affect you? Heck, if you are going to get laid off, how sure are you that you’ll make it day to day? The American social safety net is the worst in the developed world. Unlike, say, Western Europe, which can weather near-double-digit unemployment because they have the programs in place, Americans down on their luck are thoroughly screwed.
Oh yes, all hail Capitalism. The all-knowing hand of the free market will provide.
And yes, I support a bailout–with serious strings attached, mind you. The alternative is potentially so ugly I’d rather hedge my bets.
@jkross22
No I don’t blame the consumers for buying what is perceived to be a superior product.The management at the domestics are fully responsible for the mess they find themselves in.
However there is a school of thought,that believes that buying an import will not effect the economy.What about the trickle down effect of those jobless numbers eh?
So why is it a Mark Levinson? BTW how many parts does a speaker consist of, versus, say` a car radio cd player?
Mikey, blame the last two decades for why people rightfully defected to imports. The Superiority was not perceived, it was real. I won’t argue that these past five years the big 2.8 have really stepped up their game. The damage was already done though, and it’s going to take at least another decade for them to get back on their feet, so long as they don’t get caught up with another SUV-esque debacle.
While you UAW and CAW guys are getting offered payouts and plant closings, those workers building Hondas, Nissans, Toyotas, etc are able to put food on their table. You can’t blame imports for your loss of jobs. They did what any other company in a global capitalist world would do: take advantage of our alienation.
America is now essentially a post-modern industrial nation. Again, you can thank global capitalism for that.
Mark Levinson Automotive line does not seem to exist anywhere…
(I already know the answers on this, just had to make the statement)
So who engineers those speakers?What country origin is it? Doesn`t it belong to Recoton Audio? Anyway they are a simplistic manufacturing practice,far from complex mechanisms.
Jurisb,
you are talking nonsense because you don’t understand musical technology. Speakers seem relatively simple. But if so why haven’t the Japanese been able to built any top-of-the line speakers or any top hi-fi componentry for that matter, cds, dvds, amplifiers?
You can have speakers that cost more than a top-of-the-line Lexus. Good set of speakers, not extravagant, just good costs more then a midsize top-of-line Japanese full home theater including 50 inch plasma/LCD TV and top of the line sound system.
All top electronic components are build primarily in England, US, Canada and a few other European countries.
Japanese electronics don’t go higher than excellent mediocrity; that’s BTW their industrial modus operandi in my mind.
But if so why haven’t the Japanese been able to built any top-of-the line speakers or any top hi-fi componentry for that matter, cds, dvds, amplifiers?
Possibly because they don’t want to?
The luxury audio market is saturated and full of brand snobs. A company like Sony or Matsushita would have its hands full trying to a) justify the cost of competing in a low-movement market (after all, when you’ve bought one McIntosh**, you’re not buying another for a long time) and b) somehow overcoming the marketing hurdles even if they get the money and make a product.
Toyota/Lexus’ cracking Mercedes’ grip is cakewalk by comparison.
** (yes, I know that McIntosh was bought by Clarion, which is Japanese company. Guess why.)