The U.S. car industry is a train wreck (pardon the pun).  In order for the U.S. companies to survive with plants in the U.S. something drastic has to happen soon.  My suppliers have nearly all but two plants moved out of the country and the two that remain recieved huge concessions from the unions and enormous tax incentives from the local communities in order to get them to remain.  The equipment manufactured in these two plants are some of the most expensive still out of the entire list of machines they make.  Now we get products from plants in Franch, England, Mexico, Italy, Turkey, and a slug of other places.  Just the savings in freight alone can add up to 10% or more of the price of the product.  Shipping on the water is much cheaper than trying to ship something via truck across the U.S.  I think this big layoff is just the beginning.  We will see more of this probably this year and next.

Actually, this is not just the beginning... For folks here in the area, this is just another log on the fire, so to speak...  The economy and the Big Three (and all there suppliers in the region) have been suffering for several years now, and there have been numerous cuts in jobs and plants.  Heavy industry and manufacturing are really suffering in our nation, for a variety of reasons.  If you are not living in an area where those sorts of industries are big, your local situation may not be feeling the impact yet.  The hope

I don't know that is necessarily fair to assume it is a forced humbling, Mahonri.  There are a lot of very good people in the area.  There are a lot of good people in the area that are in many respects as righteous or more righteous in their sphere of knowledge and accountability than members of the church.  My Bishop, who is one of the most righteous men I know and who was not in the auto industry, lost his job (at least junior executive level sales type guy) 6 months ago and has not secured a new position yet... We've lost many families from our ward (and stake) who have had to move away from the state due to losing jobs or having to accept a position elsewhere in lieu of losing their jobs.  Our Stake President has even had experience in the past of being involuntarily let go by previous employers due to corporate politics / downsizing / rightsizing / etc.

Cost is a big thing to consider in manufacturing.  And here in the US, a lot of the cost is the out of control cost of labor.  Let's just say that in my situation, it is not unreasonable to expect that a blue collar line worker is going to be making as much or more than me in a year or two In the auto manufacturing arena at least, when a plant is idled, if the workforce is union, the manufacturer often still has to pay union members as if they were working.  So, the alternative is to continue to build vehicles and build up a surplus so that they can then scrap them all and show the union that they lost money and force them to renegotiate contracts... and blah blah blah...  And this is where you have the problems exponentially felt with the out of control health care costs, because the higher the get, the less an employer is going to contribute to paying them and the more out of pocket the everday Joe is going to pay.

It is a real vicious circle.  Either the government has to somehow stem the problems or the government and the people will pay for it in the form of higher social costs.  So, it really is not a "too bad, so sad" attitude folks should be taking and saying government should remain laize faire (sic?).  In a lot of these other countries where plants have moved to, part of the reason the prices are so much cheaper than Made In The USA is because of government subsidizing the manufacturing industry.  So add that to the slave labor rates paid, and well, you can't compete if that gets dumped on the open market where your nation is the only one playing on the level playing field.

(Sorry if this is a little disjointed and others have posted lately... Was writing / thinking this between several meetings and the like)

And now the proverbial fecal matter makes contact with the air moving device...

Chrysler Announces 13,000 Job Cuts

http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20070214/D8N9LDT80.html

Worse than anticipated, but at least not all of it is hitting here in Motown.

If Daimler ends up divesting itself of Chrysler (the marriage has never been a happy one), it could actually be a great thing for Chrysler to re-emerge stronger and no longer under the control of a German firm with a completely different mindset and management style.  But, they will have to win out against the unions to prevent the same old same old from happening again.

And the news continues... this could end up being good, if the right buyer is found...

Report: Chrysler May Be Auctioned Off
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,252739,00.html