Thursday, November 20, 2008

Storm clouds

So Detroit is going into the shitter and the management of those companies seem to be living on another planet. But is the GLOBAL auto industry on the verge of collapse? How many weeks or months can these companies endure with slow sales...or no sales? When the Grim Reaper comes knocking for Toyota or Nissan will the Japanese Government step in?

We only have ourselves to blame for this. The UAW has brow beat the American automakers for the last two decades, they didn't care if they pushed until the situation was untenable. The management of those companies must also share the blame, they gave the UAW enough rope to hang everyone.

The unions decided long ago that all that mattered was the short term and in the process they've bankrupted their own future.

Problem is that the effects of even one of the Detroit Three failing are nearly incalculable. Most estimates are that GM's failure could result in at least 2.5 million lost jobs but it could be double or triple that number when the parts distributors start failing. All the other car makers rely on those parts... so what then? You can't sell a car that's one part short....all told it could mean another 5-8 million unemployed workers.

No comments:

Blog Widget by LinkWithin