Posted on 12/30/2008 5:29:13 PM PST by BenLurkin
...
There will be plenty of pain in 2009, as employers cut more jobs, the unemployment rate rises toward 8 percent or higher, and shellshocked consumers curtail spending even more. But beneath the dismal headlines will be some hopeful trends. Here are some of them:
1) More saving. If you haven't heard by now, the savings rate in America is alarmingly low - barely above zero. ...
For once, anxious Americans appear to be putting more of their paycheck in the bank. ...
2) Smarter spending. Most middle-class Americans could find ways to cut their spending by 10 percent without downgrading their lifestyles all that much. That kind of cutback would be a disaster for stores, but it ultimately benefits consumers because frugal spending forces retailers to offer the best possible products and add as much value as possible.
...
3) Great buying opportunities. Nearly everything is cheaper than it was a year or two ago - electronics, gasoline, cars, homes, and especially stocks. That's no excuse for impulse shopping. But it's a great chance to buy things you might need eventually, like a new computer server for your business, or a minivan for your family. Talk about "deflation" might leave the impression that we can now take low prices for granted. Don't count on it.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
All of the transplant Autos in the Southern states are subsidized both by their states and by their countries.
I would be angrier that your tax dollars were given to Toyota and other foreign auto companies personally; At least GM must repay the loan. Toyota won’t even give Mississippi (and us) their money back for the plant they will not open there....remember enterprise zones among other fed tax breaks? Yep, Federal tax money was used to lure Auto transplants to various southern states. They actually received the first er..bailout.
America wouldn’t no longer have an auto industry. Ford is barely profitable and would be more profitable with the market boost of GM or Chrysler failing, and the Nip 3 have as many factories in America as the Detroit 3, and there’s other smaller auto companies in America like the guys in Atlanta that recently introduced a ground up designed cop car. GM and Chrysler could cease to exist tomorrow and we’d still have an auto industry, it would be a temporarily smaller auto industry, but other companies would grow to fill the hole.
Nobody is saying to destroy the companies. We’re saying to let things run their course. Capitalism is red in tooth and claw. Companies fail, those failures provide opportunities for other companies. That’s the natural business cycle.
Absolutely. Investors are investing elsewhere now because the business climate here is bad. We’ve got an interference happy government twiddling with the natural business process which they clearly do not understand and threatening an increase in already confiscatory taxes. The smart thing to do in this environment is to get your money out of America, to somewhere where the businesses have a better chance to succeed, to someplace where the government isn’t lusting after your wallet. If we drop the taxes and stop #$%^ing with things this will restore our business environment and make America a safer place to invest.
Investors are pro-money. At least the smart ones that will stay rich enough to be investors are. Patriotism doesn’t help the balance sheet, they invest in America when America is a good place to invest in.
Ford could not withstand a GM or even Chrysler failure. Why do you suppose they went to Congress? Given the Supplier situation, a failure of GM would take down Ford, Chrysler and most likely the foreign transplants as well. If the President had not acted, we would not have an auto industry today in this country in my opinion. Don’t kid yourself. Many have opined that well we would have the transplants...not American my friend. They would soon leave just as they did after destroying the electronics industry. New industry would emerge-how many companies have emerged that make anything in this country? Not only do we need to save the Autos, we need to bring back manufacturing in a big way.
State and local governments like to lure companies. Lured companies bring jobs and money. It’s smart. The Detroit 3 have gotten similar offers, and used some of them.
They received bribes to go to these states...my tax money in fact. Sorry, it’s a bailout and should not be allowed.
They lured foreign companies and used federal money...sorry it’s wrong. They sold out their country. At best the Southern Senators are hypocrites...or maybe there should be an investigation into their dealings with Toyota.
My tax dollars weren’t given to Toyota, and more importantly if they were they weren’t to prop Toyota up. GM says they’re losing 2 billion dollars a month, the money given to them only delays the inevitable.
And truthfully even if all you’re saying is true (which it isn’t) that doesn’t change anything. Two wrongs don’t make a right. All bailouts, all welfare of any type, are wrong. Period. American company, Japanese company, private individuals, it’s ALL WRONG.
Well, I guess I don’t want to lower their taxes if they don’t think America is a good place to invest...my opinion. Let them live in some of the third world hell holes they love so much.
Yes federal money was used to lure Toyota to the Southern states. You pay federal taxes I assume.
Toyota will lose more than this in the fourth quarter...all car companies are losing money in this economic environment. There country is helping them out...they understand the importance of having a manufacturing based economy as opposed to a service economy which creates crappy retail jobs mostly.
Ford could handle it. Some of the shared suppliers would have problems but most would survive and others would rise to the occasion.
Don’t kid yourself. There has never been nor will there ever be a company this country can’t live without. Your 3-5 million lost jobs represents less than 2% of the population. Bad, but recoverable.
The foreign companies wouldn’t leave. They didn’t leave after winning the electronics wars. Building in America to sell to America is cheaper than building elsewhere.
How many companies. Let’s see there’s that car company in Atlanta, Vizio, Apple computing, Logitech etc etc etc. Many many companies have risen since the Japanese supposedly destroyed us.
Manufacturing is still over 14% of our GDP. That’s higher than prior to WWII. There’s a big lie out there that manufacturing is dead in this country. And it’s 100% BS across the board.
Never waste government money on failing companies. BAILOUTS ARE WRONG. They’re communism, they’re breaking the normal capitalist cycle by saving the dieing and keeping the new and innovative from getting their normal opportunity. Red in tooth and claw. Poorly run companies SHOULD fail, that’s how things work.
If you don’t lower their taxes they won’t think America is a good place to invest. Not opinion FACT. The nation, just like companies, needs to EARN investment capital. Nations earn it by making their business environment conducive to profit. Leave the taxes up and we fail to earn it, we will be the third world hell hole.
Toyota is on pace to lose for the YEAR what GM is losing in a month.
All the car companies are losing NOW. GM has been losing for a couple of years.
Ford would not survive. In fact they will need money by March. I work in the industry. You consider that a 14 % manufacturing number is a good thing? Guess what most of that is cars...take away cars and look at the number. The transplants would soon discover they can manufacture much more cheaply in a foreign country-third world.
I love to hear about how much we manufacture because it is not true...go in any store and try to find American made consumer products...good luck. They don’t exist. We need an auto manufacturer in this country. I will never understand why manufacturing became unimportant to capitalism. It shouldn’t be so. This is not a normal situation. Our economy is wrecked by the globalist Wall Street types who promoted trade agreements which destroyed manufacturing. The chopped up bad mortgages and sent them around the world which is why America is blamed for the economic mess. GM was already restructuring and would have done fine even in this unfair trade environment except for the wall street types crashing the credit markets...it isn’t a bailout. It’s a loan period. I think it was necessary in these crazy economic times.
Actually, they are losing that much in the fourth quarter and expect to lose at least the same amount (maybe more) in the 1st quarter. I have seen the figures.
Also, the suppliers are already in big trouble...they would be bankrupt if any of the big three went under...no debtor financing. Think about it. Also, the piddling operations in the South would not keep enough suppliers in business.
Carter was dealing with inflation not deflation. This is what makes our situation so different...really the only period of deflation I am familiar with is the depression.
Ford says they’ve got the money to make next year.
Given the size of our economy 14% is a very good thing. Our manufacturing sector alone is bigger than most of the economies in the world. Actually most of it isn’t in cars, our manufacturing sector is very diverse.
You might be able to MAKE cars cheaply in 3rd world countries but then you have to move them. Cars are very inconvenient to move long distances. If it was cheaper to do it elsewhere and ship that’s what they’d be doing.
Ahh yes the old “go to any store” one. Actually I see lots of American made goods in the stores. And remember, the plural of anecdote is not fact. The FACT is that over 14% of the largest economy in the world is manufacturing, your anecdotes mean nothing. Oooh and then the ever popular “evil globalists”. The guys on Wall Street have one job: make money. It’s not their fault if they can’t make it here. Our job when we go to the polling place is to put government officials in place that will make it so the Wall Street guys can make money here. We haven’t been doing our job for 40 years, and subsequently they’re doing their job somewhere else.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.