Comments on: GM, Ford Stock Tanks; Rising Materials Costs Eat Profits

By: mikey

mikey — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:13:33 +0000

Menno:I hear ya! but come up and visit us anyway.I go to Vegas every year, not that long ago 2000$ USD$=3000 CDN$ ouch!
Of course our truck plant sits idle while the American plants get what little stock is available.
Sometimes your the windshield sometimes your the bug.

By: menno

menno — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:54:30 +0000

I just bought $1000 in Canadian (loonie dollars) and when the bank called to tell me I needed more money in the account, I thought they were joking.

In the time it took to get the money delivered to them, the US dollar had gone down sufficiently so that $1050 was not adequate to cover $1000 CDN. I had to drop more money into their laps.

$1079 (including $10 “gotcha” fee by the bank) to change the money over for a vacation.

It not only is starting to look like the 1970’s, jthorner, it is becoming the 1970’s.

Gee I hope Ford don’t bother bringing back the Pinto, nor GM the Vega.

By: jthorner

jthorner — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:46:35 +0000

The cost of raw materials has got to be killing them. Recently I needed to buy 10 gallons of mineral spirts. It has been several years since I last bought any and my recollection was that the stuff cost $1-$2/gallon. Wow, after shopping all around the best I could do was over $8/gallon. Over $90 including taxes for 10 gallons of mineral spirits. Here I thought I would be spending around $20 and ended up near $100.

This is all starting to feel like the 1970s again. Falling dollar, falling employment, rising inflation, spiraling gas prices. The decades of cheap fuel since that time have lulled the US into a very bad spot.

Any time the Canadian loonie is worth more than a US dollar you know that we are in deep doo.

By: jkross22

jkross22 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:18:51 +0000

Edward,

You’re being too kind to GM, Ford and Cere. Arrogance, greed and bean counting did more to eat into their profits than the cost of steel ever has or ever will. These companies stink and are run by greedy people living in a bubble.

By: Sherman Lin

Sherman Lin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:07:16 +0000

Does GM, Ford or Chrysler have any synpathy for their suppliers? Reap what you sow with your screw em mentality