I am sorry to report that I was correct on August 8, 2007 when I predicted American Auto Manufacturing Is Coming To An End! The AP reported Chrysler’s U.S. sales are down 25 percent through September of this year, the worst decline of any major automaker. Both Ford and General Motors are barely surviving and have seriously reduced their needed R&D.
But wait, America’s auto manufacturers and their suppliers employ more than 2 million people. Whether the next president is Barack Obama or John McCain the U.S. government will not allow a failure of companies that will significantly impact the employment of millions of people.
How will the government save GM, Ford and Chrysler? The U.S. government will take an ownership position similar to the ownership of banks and Wall Street investment houses that was just recently approved by Congress.
The pain of divesting U.S. government ownership of these failed companies is going to take years. Our capitalist philosophy is that non-competitive business cease will force the auto manufacturers to either perform or close. Then again the federal government has threatened to withhold aid to Amtrak but has never followed through with the plan. It’s all about jobs.
Barack Obama’s idea of creating new jobs in a new greener America may be the avenue to a more robust economy. He says his proposals will create 5 million jobs. A good place to start is replacing the lost jobs in auto manufacturing.
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