Saturday, January 24, 2009

Fat, Lazy, unemployed?


It's unfortunate that so many people will lose their jobs because of the current economic downturn, but it will turn around eventually. That gives little solace to anyone going on unemployment, but it will turn around.
The auto industry is not dead and isn't going anywhere. People need to drive and they love to drive. Old cars are always dying off and need to be replaced. You can only keep your car going with duck tape and jumper cables for so long. So ultimately people will need to buy new cars. When this happens, the question will be 'what kind of car to buy'? Hopefully the Big 3 will still be around when that question is asked because selfishly, my livelihood is tied to the domestic auto industry.
I am sick of hearing people in the media reporting that Detroit needs to die because they are producing cars that nobody wants. Really? Are people that stupid? (rhetorical) Of course they are.
Detroit has been building powerhouses and gas guzzlers because that's what their customers wanted. People always want more power in a car. When you ask them why, it's usually some lame excuse like merging into traffic or passing properly. It's because of our instant gratification society that claims like that seem to make sense to others.
It wasn't until the environmentalists joined together with capitalists and convinced people that oil should be expensive. One side because they wanted people to burn less fuel, and the other because they wanted to make more off of selling less. It was the perfect marriage.
Our modern society is obsessed with getting whatever they want, so when oil prices went up and people spent more getting to work, they didn't think that they should cut back on the double lattes and ipods and laptops and cellphones. And once the housing bubble burst in the US and sent a cold shock across the world economic landscape everyone got scared and stopped spending. Now they are all in debt and losing their jobs. So many will find there is no way to climb out of a hole that deep without a job and will suffer.
It doesn't matter if it's the weather or the economy, everything runs in cycles. Noone knows how long it will take for the economy to strengthen again, but be sure that it will. Knowing that is the first step in restoring consumer confidence to get the ball rolling again.