Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Drive-by economics

The New York Times tells us how the housing meltdown is "sideswiping" the auto industry and hurting Michigan:

"Auto lenders and banks, closing their wallets, have prevented hundreds of thousands of consumers from obtaining the financing for a car. Home equity loans, which had been used in at least one of every nine deals, when lenders were more generous, are no longer a source of easy money for many prospective buyers. And used-car prices have fallen nearly 6 percent as repossessed cars and gas-guzzling trucks and S.U.V.’s flood auction lots."


2 comments:

  1. Ford is cutting 10-12% of white collar jobs due the economy (gas prices).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Or is it due to Ford's inability to plan for higher gas prices when everyone knew they were coming at some point?

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.