End of an institution? If no bailout comes from Congress, what will happen to the workers at Chrysler & GM and their suppliers? While Ford has money for a while, does it matter? Can they survive? Can the economy recover if that many businesses disappear with hundreds of thousands (millions?) thrown out of work with no chance of coming back?
Chrysler shuts down all production
Chrysler LLC announced late Wednesday that it is stopping all vehicle production in the United States for at least a month.
All 30 of the carmaker’s plants will close after the last shift on Friday, and employees will not be asked to return to work before Jan. 19.
Chrysler blamed the “continued lack of consumer credit for the American car buyer” for the slow-down in sales that forced the move.
The company ordinarily shuts down operations between Dec. 24 and Jan. 5. This closure would add roughly two weeks to that shutdown.
# 6 Matt said, on December 17th
They will all open back up in a few years, but nobody will see anyone go in or out. It will be run by Oompa Loompas.
Oompa, loompa, loopa-dee-dee
If you’re smart, you’ll drop SUV’s…..
😉
J/P=?
i hope they do close! i think as an industry these old fashioned outdated car companies NEED to die so newer younger companies with better ideas can thrive
The problem isn’t lack of credit. I could borrow money with no problems but then I have a modest amount of cash, a decent job, and don’t owe anyone any money.
The people that can’t borrow are bad credit risks.
The UAW would not agree to reduce their pay scale to what the other people in the industry make until their contract ends in 2011. Who needs this?
If your product isn’t selling stop making it. Close the line. Keeping it running when people aren’t buying your product is just throwing good money after a bad investment.
So Michigan basically goes down the tubes. No great loss IMHO. Why someone should get $70/hour for screwing in a bolt in air conditioned comfort, I’ll never understand. Oh, and if you’ve been crewing in that bolt for less than a couple of years, you get the benefit of making $14/hour. Nothing like eating your young to ensure your future…
What I fear is the bunch of ne’r do wells, decide en mass to leave Michigan and move to states which are still financially viable and have good jobs. I can just see the headlines in a few years regarding unions being organized from Texas to South Carolina, by this same bunch, bringing down other industries. And bringing their crime with them.
No, pay them to stay where their at, but drop the salaries and benefits. I suspect this is the White House Plan. Make em sweat, then get them to agree to reductions.
If Obama pays them off, for the election, I expect trouble. Why should the auto industry be paid off, when it didn’t happen for Airlines, textiles and the dozens of other industries. If you’re going to pay someone off, pay off the guys in tech who make advanced products so there is still a tech industry. Let the third world make cars.
#35 – Brock
>>Why someone should get $70/hour for screwing
>>in a bolt in air conditioned comfort,
Nobody gets paid $70/hr for screwing in bolts, you douche bag. Median hourly pay ranges from $18.58 to $31.89. That maxes out at about $65,000 a year, and that’s not for the bolt screwers, it’s for maintenance electricians. (Compare that to $7.29, the coming Federal minimum wage, and 19.58/hr for an automotive service technician/ mechanic doesn’t seem that outrageous.)
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=General_Motors_Corp/Hourly_Rate
The remainder of the inflated figure comes from taxes paid by GM; overtime pay; health, dental, life, and vision insurance; premium for working the midnight shift; payments to the pension fund, and so forth.
Anyone who claims bolt screwers are making $70/hr is either an idiot or has an axe to grind.
What an effen lot of effen idiots we have here. With notable exception.
When the Big Three die, it will kill jobs. Guess what morans, those jobs help buy the houses. They also shop in the stores. They eat in restaurants. They pay taxes to put kids in school. They pay their doctors and dentists.
In a small town I live near, a company is filing for bankruptcy. That is over 300 local jobs that paid $9.00 to 20.00 an hour. The majority got much closer to the bottom end. Of that 300, another 300 jobs depend upon them. The county can’t absorb that kind of loss.
Multiply that over the hundreds of other towns that will feel the pain of the big three. When those counties can’t pay their bills. When all those mortgages fail, When all the support jobs fail. When all those credit cards don’t get paid.
So sure, let them fail. What you effen assholes really want is to finish off Bush’s Administration and kill what remains of America.
Why do the wing nuts hate America?
NOTE TO BROCK,
Your number for union pay is bullshit. Every company has a “labor cost”. That is NOT what the employee earns, but what it costs to employ him. Even if all the union employees took a 50% pay cut, that would shave only $800 from the average new vehicle. even though foreign models sell for an average $2,500 more than comparable American models.
NOTE TO ALL
Japanese manufacturers are experiencing the same problems in Japan. The Japanese government has set aside bailout money there for their own domestic companies. Also the Japanese companies also have similar costs in Japan. The difference is that Japan restricts foreign auto manufacture in Japan and has so much red tape that no American cars can be sold there.
Damn! I almost had the wife convinced that the 2009 Dodge Challenger would be sweet to have. Guess I’m stuck in my 12-year-old Silverado for now…..
Nobody saved American Motors Corp from going under. Not that I care. But where does it say that there must always be a “big three” of something in the USA? Especially where there are also foreign makes being assembled in states, like Toyota. The only reason anyone’s talking bailout for the big domestics, is because of all the lobbying bucks they lavish on Congress. And they’re also part of the Military Industrial Complex. So they have “sacred cow” status, no matter how much they screw up. Where was Congress when Packard and Tucker were in a bind? Apparently it’s only a good idea to save many Americas’ jobs, when a few of them are the billionares at the top of these companies.
Back in the mid 70s, I knew a guy who had a red dodge Charger. And he must have gone thru about six rebuild starter motors, before he got one that didn’t crap out on him. And I remember that they were more expensive that Ford and GM’s. So I vowed I’d never buy a Chrysler after seeing what he went thru. Then Chrysler got bailed out, so they could make the US Army’s new tank. And now they face the skids once more. Surprise! I’m wondering what war the big three will be kept around for, this time? Iran?
#39, Glenn E.
Nobody saved American Motors Corp from going under. Not that I care.
Obviously you don’t care because you don’t know what the eff you are talking about. AMC never went or was “going under”. They were bought out by Chrysler. Before that, Renault had a large stake in them.
Where was Congress when Packard and Tucker were in a bind?
Again, more stupidity and less research.
Packard was bought out by Studebaker in 1955. They never were a large company and thus suffered from a lack of technological advancements.
Tucker was more a dream than an actual company. It simply could not get the line of credit or financing to get started. All shenanigans aside.
WE are not bailing out the auto companys. WE are bailing out the UAW.
Back in the 50s our town was a one company town. Chrysler was the main employer. When they got a better deal from St Lewis. they picked up and left. Nobody bailed our town out.But we never let another company take over again. Jump ahead forty years and another car company builds a manufacturing plant here. Toyota. Non-union but they pay better then 80% of the other jobs in our town. One thing I noticed when their production is down they do not lay people off. Theyn keep them working . they do every thing from take classes at the plant to sweeping the floors. In a union plant this would not be allowed. I know this because I have been forced to belong to a union since 1969. I am currantly sitting in a filthy work area I am not allowed to clean because I do not have the janitor position.
#36
The figures are an average total of worker salaries plus all compensation and it comes out to about $76 for Big Three workers, vs. $48 for Toyota. That’s not an axe to grind, that’s fiscal reality. Ford, GM and Chrysler pay an average of $30 an hour MORE per worker than their competition, it’s no wonder they can’t compete in a free market.
Cephus,
ANd the CEO and TOP persons in the company…
get HOW MUCH???
compared to Toyota OR’ Japan??
we are talking about 1000+ persons on top…
And 10+ TIMES as much in wages+benefits+ MORE…
NOW lets talk about OBSOLETE TECH and DESIGN or factories..
#44–ECA==Good point. If an employee should be making 50K/yr and the CEO makes $16MM in Salary alone before benefits and expense account, that is the wage of 320 employees. 10x employee salary is for the very first lowest rung of executive management.
Interesting though how the powers that be have us arguing about car unions and management over 17 Billion when the Banks are run more incompetently and the pay unbalance is many times worse and the bailout is 750 Billion or 1.8 Trillion depending on what you throw in and the whole banking system is going to go bankrupt anyway when the rest of the loans reset.
What part of Bush Repuglicans raped America does anyone not understand?