A spoof on the bailout of the Big Three

New Model of the Big Three - The Bailout
Source: http://buffalobeast.com/

The whole new model of the Big Three - The Bailout, coming this January. For many, it's quite a joke(and soon a reality) going to make the "invisible hands" visible. On the one hand, the Big Three and the United Automobile Workers union involve a whole value chain of automobile industry, domestically and internationally. With the rapidly plunging car sales, automakers and their upstream suppliers still account for 2.3% of the U.S. economic output. Approximately 20% of the shrinking manufacturing sector is strongly related to the automobile industry. On the other hand, the crisis would have come out much ealier if the lobbists had not been there making up the industry.

Here are two points of views from NY Times where we can get some insights from. First one is the concern of patriots (If Detroit Falls, Foreign Makers Could Be Buffer). In the article, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Hyundai-Kia are mentioned. We don't know who will take over more and who will step in faster. Talking about the danger of foreign makers' takeover somehow shows ridiculousness to some extent. One thing that is really clear is that the competences from those mentioned foreign car makers have been in the industry for years. In Japan, where the three stongest car makers locate, waves of layoffs with somewhat much slighter scale (hundreds to a thousand) from the auto industry have also come to worsen its own economic recession (closely-related to the states, though). And according Japan Automobile Manufacturer Association, total vehicle production in Japan has dropped 20.4% in November to 854,171 vehciles compared to that of 2007 (See Associated Press: Japan auto production marks worst drop since 1967). Scaremongering and lobbying for self-interests (Clout Has Plunged for Automakers and Union, Too.) might save again the already-weak condition for the time being, but they certainly will not do anything good for the overall health of the car industry of the states in the future.