Very bad news for employees of the U.S.'s #2 Automaker. Today, Forbes is reporting that Ford may soon close plants and lay off thousands of workers.
Another reporting agency is stating that the bad news will be officially announced on Monday: 10 plants will close and 25,000 layoffs
So, the next time you hear the talking heads on TV spouting off the typical: "U.S. Job growth figures look great this month, as we've added x-thousands of jobs" You can rest assure the #'s are skewed and the jobs that have been added are low paying service sector jobs--not decent, good paying jobs like the auto industry. Do we expect Wal-mart or McDonalds to absorb these 25,000 Ford job losses?
As I've stated before: The US is quickly moving towards a service-based, consumer nation and we are living far beyond our means--from both a personal and government perspective.
Question: How can the US expect to compete in the global marketplace when foreign entities pay cents on the dollar for wages and rarely care about health care and/or worker benefits?
Answer: WE CAN’T… and the problems, bankruptcies, plant closings, layoffs, etc, will only get worse!
See next link for good articles/discussions concerning the loss of American industries.
2 comments:
We are heading to a flat world. No education - compete with several billion other uneducated workers. College degree, compete with several 10's of millions of other college educated workers. In the next few years, rither wages will drop or inflation will make the wages less able to purchase things from the rest of the world. The worst aspect is that cheap labor makes labor arbitrage more attractive then spending money on automation to reduce labor and improve efficiency.
But, I'm optimistic. In the long term, we will see cheaper medicine, cheaper manufactured goods, etc. However, in the short term, I expect to see a global flight to cheaper labor with ill effects for most workers.
Remember - debts a fixed but assets change in value!
Well said...Couldn't agree more
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