Carmakers' rebound is driving jobs in U.S.

[ProSense]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Taxpayers bailed out much of the U.S. auto industry. Now the carmakers might be what saves the nation's economy from falling back into recession.

After a massive restructuring and several high-profile bankruptcies, a leaner, more aggressive auto industry is making a comeback, hiring workers and ramping up manufacturing plants. From a trough two years ago, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Chrysler Group and other auto companies have added almost 90,000 manufacturing jobs, a 14% increase, according to federal employment data.

<...>

And it's not just the Big Three American manufacturers that are thriving. Nissan, VW and other foreign-based firms are expanding in the United States, putting billions of dollars into building and refurbishing plants. Start-ups Tesla Motors in Palo Alto, Fisker Automotive in Anaheim and Coda Automotive in L.A. are hiring and spending hundreds of millions of dollars designing and launching electric and hybrid vehicles.

<...>

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that orders for autos and auto parts jumped 11.5% in July, the most in eight years. That followed an earlier government report on industrial production that showed the auto industry was the strongest segment of the manufacturing economy last month.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-autos-economy-20110825,0,4017377.story

[rpannier]

1. Break out the Te Party to tell us how bad the government is and the money was wasted

Thanks for posting
This is the third K&R in one day to something you posted

Again...Thanks

[bhikkhu]

2. Nothing like an all-around success story

I think its important for many people to understand that "government" doesn't always fail (in spite of what they say on the radio), that the US manufacturing is not dead, and that the economy is still making steady progress from the low-points of the recession.

[Amonester]

3. Tesla

http://www.teslamotors.com/

I saw one the other day turning a corner downtown here (Canada).

Wow! Entirely electric! (95%+ Hydro-electric sources here).

Very cool car! Prolly one I'll never have acce$$ to, but still, go Tesla!

(AND a very cool name, a GREAT American man, who amazed everyone.)

[BenzoDia]

4. I've traditionally bought Japanese cars, but I'm thinking I may go American to help out.

...but then my wife reminds me that much of the parts and labor of our Toyota happens here in the U.S.

[Left Coast2020]

5. I would really love to hear more of these success stories.

The MSM is making me sick from constantly saying our economy is crumbling. Many bright spots are needed.:bounce:

[SpartanDem]

6. But where are the engineers located?

and the marketing, accountants, hell the secretaries and clerical staff. I can show you where:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.330155,-83.040719&spn=0.016974,0.058622&t=h&z=15&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=42.330417,-83.040904&panoid=RhDBxFMdax-6iH3ntaN3Ww&cbp=12,147.88,,0,-19.71

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.312608,-83.20899&spn=0.008568,0.029311&t=h&z=16&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=42.31251,-83.209322&panoid=XKWU92YfHZW5P3Y6b-D-bw&cbp=12,346.26,,0,4.68

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.51238,-83.028681&spn=0.008541,0.029311&t=h&z=16&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=42.512043,-83.028672&panoid=vop7_M6944DnsJOiUHKsHA&cbp=12,293.17,,0,1.19

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=42.295231,-83.22047&spn=0.008571,0.029311&t=h&z=16&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=42.295063,-83.220248&panoid=gsLjB95YPdhdul3B8y05Tg&cbp=12,271.57,,0,2.24

[JNelson6563]

8. Where do the profits go?

As someone who grew up in a GM family, I can tell you, it matters. As one who lives in a resort area of MI I have become familiar with even more of the ripple effect these American car company jobs have.

Julie

[Fearless]

7. Imagine how well it would be had they not gutted their union labor.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. This would be a much nicer story if it wasn't based entirely on cracker jack financing

My brothers deadbeat moron girlfriend picked up a MazdaSpeed 3, her credit is terrible and her employment history uninspiring. But she was approved for their sixty month promo rate including no payments for the first three months. We're expecting to see the repoman sometime around thanksgiving.

[TomCADem]

10. Carmakers' rebound is driving jobs in U.S.

Source: LA Times

Taxpayers bailed out much of the U.S. auto industry. Now the carmakers might be what saves the nation's economy from falling back into recession.

After a massive restructuring and several high-profile bankruptcies, a leaner, more aggressive auto industry is making a comeback, hiring workers and ramping up manufacturing plants. From a trough two years ago, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Chrysler Group and other auto companies have added almost 90,000 manufacturing jobs, a 14% increase, according to federal employment data.

Job growth in Michigan, which was devastated by the downturn, is even more robust. That's why Michigan's jobless rate stood at 10.9% in July, well below the 12% rate of California.

* * *

This kind of expansion is important to the economy. Including factories, suppliers and dealers, the U.S. auto industry employs about 1.7 million workers and supports an additional 6.3 million private-sector jobs, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. The center said those positions represent more than $500 billion in annual compensation and more than $70 billion in personal tax revenue.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-autos-economy-20110825,0,4017377.story

---

Some of the things that President Obama did, which were unpopular at the time he did them, are working out. Many Republicans were against the use of any taxpayer money to bailout the auto industry so that they could emerge from bankruptcy in one piece. Likewise, it turns out that TARP did not create the huge liability people thought it would, partly because the Obama administration did not simply buy the worst assets as proposed by Paulson, but instead took equity in the various banks that accepted TARP funds.

[provis99]

11. I was strongly in favor of the auto industry bailout.

But adamantly opposed to the financial sector bailout, for two reasons. One, the auto industry actually produces something, while the financial sector that got into trouble produced nothing: it merely lived off of gambling on mortgage debt. Second, as far as I know, the auto industry was not engaged in massive criminal behavior like the financial sector; they were merely the victims of a temporary setback in the economy.

[Psephos]

12. The US auto industry was not "the victim of a temporary setback in the economy."

I didn't see Toyota, Honda, BMW, etc. (who also manufacture in the US) go anywhere near bankrupt.

Ford, to its credit, stayed off the government teat, but its balance sheet was not and is not a thing of beauty.

GM, meanwhile, is a retirement plan and medical coverage provider, with an ever-dwindling side business making cars. No surprise that when a big wind came along, its house of straw got blown over. A well-run business would not have failed to ensure it could withstand the well-studied ups and downs of a competitive, cyclical industry.

There are ten retirees/beneficiaries for every active worker at GM. At its peak in 1979, GM employed over 500,000. Now it barely breaks 50,000.

[provis99]

13. Toyota, Honda, BMW etc are not American companies. why would we bail them out?

And Ford was badly hurt by the economic downturn, too.

And GM directly or indirectly supports over 900,000 jobs, all of which would have been lost.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_19/b3932001_mz001.htm

[Psephos]

14. ?? I said nothing about bailing them out.

I merely pointed out that they seemed to get through the same bad business downturn without catastrophic failure. Also, I specifically said Ford's balance sheet was bad then and is not great now.

As for your other argument, you seem to think that if GM hadn't been bailed out, those "900,00" jobs would be sucked into the vortex along with GM's entire manufacturing infrastructure.

Wrong. The company would have either re-organized in a way that it could be competitive without free government cash, or its assets would have been bought by someone else (maybe even Ford?) who knows what it takes to run a successful car business, and redeployed to make cars for a better company. Those "900,000" would keep working, supplying an entity who could better insure that they would keep working for years to come.

There is an appetite for domestic product. There is a declining appetite for domestic product that misunderstands what the market wants and what it will pay.

Not a peep from you about the problem of having ten beneficiaries for every active worker? I sure as hell wouldn't buy GM stock - and the UAW is getting increasingly pissed that its payout from the GM BK was largely issued in stock. They - the people that make the cars - see the writing on the wall.

GM stock is down by a third of its value since it was issued just last November.

---

e.t.a. stock comment