I am personally experiencing some anxiety and fear I have never known before. As a retired Chrysler worker - October 2001, the idea of the company not existing in 30 days is scary. And my check did not arrive today. At age 57, I just might have to get that ski mask out, kept in the trunk of the car. When the financial spokesperson of Ford announced, back in 2001/2 that we had entered an era of "profitless prosperity" - increasingly valueless production, he might have known what he was talking about. His speech was reported on Pen-L back when it was presented. The equity boyz run the show in auto and government. The industrial capitalist is dead . . . . long dead, and so am I. Chrysler had been reduced below 20,000 workers. When I hired in back in 1971, we stood at roughly 125,000 UAW members. The technology that is going to be embedded in the new generation of factories, producing a new generation of vehicles, will probably enable 30,000 to do what 125,000 once did, and this includes parts. Should have followed my dad to Ford. Didn’t want to work under my father, so my older brother and I went to Chrysler. He retired last May, with 40 years seniority and a union pension. Might have to move in with him. Should have stayed on the farm and listened to my old man. Goodbye yellow bri ck road. Pardon, while I wash off the old ski mask.
WL. _http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/03/obama-pushing-quick-surgical-big-auto. html_ (http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/03/obama-pushing-quick-surgical-big-auto.html) --------------------------------------------snip What is Team Obama smoking? It isn't to their advantage to have an unrealistic view of the process, yet the pronouncements strongly suggest they haven't done sufficient due diligence on what this entails. And consider this comment from a reader: The "Chapter 11" reorganization idea is an assumption. There is little contemporary evidence that a Chapter 11 reorganization of GM can succeed under the current system. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation is more likely. And there is no evidence Chrysler will do anything other than liquidate. It would be better if we were wrong, but this looks like Lehman redux. The powers that be are getting bailout pushback, and aren't willing to take any financial perps out, so by default it's Big Auto. And if they miscalculated, the consequences will be catastrophic. It won't simply be GM and Chrysler, but the parts makers, and the transplants will take hits due to the loss of suppliers. GM and Chrysler are not isolated players, but major components in a large ecosystem. There are no good answeres here, but the Administration does not appear to have thought this out (how many balls does Geithner have in the air, including the G20?). A miscalculation here would have major repercussions. But Andrew Mellon would be pleased. -raghu. (http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm) **************Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or less. (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001)
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