Category Archives: economy

Ford to Build New Edge in Canada with No jobs Added

The announcement comes after the Canadian Auto Workers Union accepted its first two-tier wage contract during the 2012 labor negotiations. For the first time at Ford Canada under a “New Hire Grow-In program” fledgling union workers who replace retiring CAW members will start at C$20.40, equal to 60% of the previous highest member $34 base rate, and then they only get full compensation after ten years. Continue reading

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U.S. Light Vehicle Sales to Soar in 2014 Says NADA

Employment, particularly in the construction, services industries, will improve this year, and a continued moderation in gasoline prices and improvements in the housing market will help to offset stagnation in wages and income in 2014. Continue reading

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Top Auto Stories of 2013

As is our annual predilection, here comes AutoInformed on the Top Auto Stories of 2013. As always, these are presented with our wry awareness that opining columnists conduct their education in public as we most certainly did last year – with both good and bad results – and will continue to do so during 2014. Continue reading

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Treasury No Longer Owns GM Common Stock

Treasury in a statement said it recouped a total of $39 billion from the original GM investment. Taxpayers in 2009 gave GM $49.5 billion in loans ($50 billion including loans for the Supplier and Warranty Programs) in exchange for $2.1 billion in preferred stock and a 60.8% equity stake in the reorganized company. Continue reading

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Treasury Out of General Motors Stock by Year End

During 2009 when the Bush Administration’s Great Recession was in full force and worsening, the U.S. government via taxpayers gave GM $49.5 billion in loans ($50 billion including loans for the Supplier and Warranty Programs) in exchange for $2.1 billion in preferred stock and a 60.8% equity stake in the reorganized company. Treasury has been selling the stock since late last year. A quick back of the envelope calculation at current market rates shows that taxpayers will ultimately lose ~$10 billion. Continue reading

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U.S. Trade Deficit Soars as Washington Pols Do Nothing

This latest economic disaster came as the overfed, overpaid Washington ruling class bickered about how to pay for debts they already incurred. Simply put, even a Tea Party Republican can or at least should understand that once again, U.S. exports decreased and imports increased in yet another setback for the economy and the unemployed and underemployed. Continue reading

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Toyota Motor Posts Huge Gains in Income and Profits

Toyota Motor Corporation today said it had net income of ¥1 trillion for the six-month period ending 30 September 2013. The huge increase from ¥548.2 billion in the same period the year earlier came with flat sales but TMC, the largest automaker in Japan and the world, benefited enormously from the manipulation of the yen by the Japanese government to keep it artificially weak. Continue reading

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Ford Motor October Sales Increase 14%

Ford Motor Company’s October U.S. total sales of 191,985 vehicles increased 14% compared to October 2012 that was severely depressed because of Hurricane Sandy. In an overall market that rose 8%, with extremely weak results for the first two weeks of the Republican-led government shutdown. Continue reading

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Global Vehicle Sales to Stall?

Global light vehicle sales could be slowing down, and if the recent trend continues, tens of millions of car sales would disappear from five-year global forecasts. Continue reading

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Milestones: FDR and the Minimum Wage – Then and Now

On this day – 24 October 1938 – the federal minimum wage became law in the United States. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, aka FLSA, the previous summer that, among other things, created the concept now backed by legal reality that people should get a fair wage for a day’s work. Continue reading

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September Unemployment National Scandal as Hiring Slows

September unemployment numbers finally released two weeks late show that a mere 148,000 jobs were added in September, keeping the unemployment rate officially above 7%. More than 11 million people who want to work are idled in an ongoing economic and social crisis. Continue reading

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Growing Chinese Trade Deficit Costs U.S. $37 Billion in Wages

The trade deficit with China cost the U.S. economy $37 billion in lost wages in 2011, a new Economic Policy Institute report finds. Continue reading

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Chrysler, Ford, GM Post Double Digit August Sales Gains

Chrysler, Ford and GM all recorded double digit gains in U.S. August sales as the market went back to the pre-Great Recession levels of 2007. Robust pickup truck sales, a relatively trouble free changeover to the production of 2014 models, cheap credit and strong retail demand, all were factors in an overall industry that is now running at more than 16 million units annually. Continue reading

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Chrysler Group to Invest $52 Million in Michigan Engine Plants

Chrysler Group today announced that it would invest $52 million in its engine plants in Trenton and Dundee, Michigan, to increase capacity of the four-cylinder Tigershark engine, creating 298 new positions at the Trenton plant. Continue reading

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Economics, Not Disinterest Explains Low Car Sales to Young

Disinterest in new cars by young people is a myth that ignores fundamental economic trends, General Motors Chief Economist Mustafa Mohatarem said at the CAR Management Briefings in Traverse City, Michigan. New car affordability, a crushing student loan debt and higher operating and insurance costs are delaying young people from buying new vehicles. “It’s not a permanent withdraw from the market, it’s more of a delay,” Mohatarem said. Continue reading

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