If Detroit scales back it operations by 50%, 2.5 million jobs will be lost. GM October sales were down 45%. We call that the writing on the wall. The cheerleaders who wrote this report can talk all they want about the terrible consequences of scaling back, but at least that is less idiotic than producing cars just to let them sit in the lot. Consumer demand is plunging throughout the entire economy, not just for automobiles. Are we going to let everyone keep their jobs at the expense of everyone else? How absurd would you like it? I haven’t seen any recent claims about making a profit on the AIG bail-out, but that’s about the level of emptiness we’re talking here.
TORONTO — A leading think-tank has drawn a doomsday picture for the North American auto industry showing that if Detroit’s automakers shrink further or even fail, the U.S. economy will suffer a crushing blow.
In a report released Wednesday, the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., outlined what would happen in two separate scenarios if General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC were forced to scale back or shut entirely.
