[sgarnett]

The Senate, UAW, et al, just gave up (ie failed) on reaching a compromise a few minutes ago.

I don't know how GM will come out after bankruptcy (they just hired the bankruptcy lawyer), but the stock market futures are looking ugly tonight. It actually held up well through some dismal recent employment numbers, but I suspect tomorrow is gonna be ugly. Rebuilding my retirement is going to mean austerity and no new cars for a very long time, and I suspect that will be true for many others. That can't be good for any automaker.

I'll admit I wasn't convinced that bridge loans to March could solve the problems for GM, so I don't claim to know what the right answer was. Nevertheless, this is going to be a big kick in the teeth for the economy.

This post has been edited by sgarnett: Dec 12 2008, 04:07 AM

[94bird]

Mitch, I was referring to this:

Besides, who knows where cars are made? My Trans Am was assembled in Canada, with a gazillion Mexican parts. But, it's an American car. My G8GT is made in Australia, with who-knows-where parts. But it's an American car. Whereas my neighbor's Toyota is made in America, with who-knows-where parts, but it's foreign?

It's not just that comment though. I see or hear this almost every day, and just wanted to put my opinion out there.

Regarding high tech jobs going overseas, yes, that's true, but manufacturing jobs usually lead the way. It's the low tech jobs that generally go first and are less valued because of the pay scale and resulting standard of living. Think, textile manufacturing. Once we start losing most of our higher paying jobs, we're in a lot more trouble.