Pickup Truck Profits Disappear Along With Sales
Truck-heavy Detroit is in a world of hurt. Buyers have abandoned their former cash cow; light truck sales dropped 28.4 percent last month. July's numbers will be worse. August's worserer. And speaking of what's-blacker-than-black, even the remaining formerly bounteous bovines are looking distinctly Mary-Kate and Ashley. The Detroit Free Press takes a break from their barbecue to bring news that the genre's profits have dropped by half. Or more. "Many of the nation's automakers [read: all of the nation's automakers] have been jacking up the deals into territories not seen since the summer 'employee pricing' craze of 2005. Last month, automakers offered an average of $6,580 off pickups and $5,850 off midsize SUVs, according to Autodata Corp. of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., a private firm that estimates incentive spending. Automakers do not report that number publicly." Why would they? Six-plus-grand is the average. Of course, there will be a reckoning. Brian Johnson, an analyst with Lehman Brothers: "We believe that GM and the industry will see a large payback in the coming months." Ya think?
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windswords: The total amount of broad money is greater than GDP. I can have a mortgage that is 115% of my income.
mel23: OK So you mean that Derivatives (contracts) are almost 10 times greater than the world GDP. I get it. Thanks.
The economy isn't in bad shape at all. You will know when the economy is in bad shape because the press will start printing good news. In a truly bad economy, no one will buy a paper to read about the bad economy. Of course pick-up sales are down. The construction industry is in the toilet. Gee, that has never happened before. Obbop has the right idea. You prepare for the worst, and then you don't have to worry about it. All this worrying and whining is going to get our so called leaders in the mood to REALLY screw things up. Then we will all wish we had it so good, like back in '08.
The way the economy is headed 2008 is going to be the good old days pretty soon.