Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Cars
The death of an industry - this time the slamming of the coffin door. I live in Michigan which at one time was the automobile capital of the world - and not that long ago either. Now, it's the rust-bucket capital of the world. It has the USofA's highest unemployment and more people are moving out than ever before. A lot of the U-Haul rental type places can't even keep enough trucks on hand to handle the exodus.
GM and Chrysler are dumping so many workers so fast they had to take the doors off the exits to handle the bodies flying out the door. Here in Saginaw - as in most of Michigan - empty lots and abandoned buildings are about all that's left of the once mighty Mo-Town namesake. Chrysler is up for sale after dragging down Mercedes - Dr. Z not-withstanding. And it's not like people are standing in line to buy it. So far I've heard that VW, Renault and even Hyundai have passed - even Hyundai. Remember when Hyundai cars were only good for late-night comic fodder? I heard that some Chinese company might be interesting in buying. How bad are things when the Chinese might buy up a USofA automobile company. I'm trying to imagine being back in 1970 sitting in my Chevy Nova with my other hi-po Detroit iron driving friends and talking about how the Chinese will eventually buy Chrysler!
And oh, yeah - Toyota is building a new factory in Mississippi to build SUVs!! Talk about a nail in the coffin. The "Big Three's" last ace has just been trumped.
