« 21st century schizoid madame | Main | First they came for the ginger kids... »
Thoughts on the auto-industry crisis, which I could have sworn was some kind of problem with the mortgage market just a few weeks ago (anybody remember this?) but now occupies absolutely all of our attention thanks to the positively witchy PR powers of the auto workers (two words I cannot now hear back-to-back without being possessed by sheer murderousness, and I can't possibly be the only one).
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.colbycosh.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/337
This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on November 21, 2008 7:49 AM.
The previous post in this blog was 21st century schizoid madame.
The next post in this blog is First they came for the ginger kids....
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
Comments (8)
OT, but what's been going on up in Edmonton?
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=e_2aX-784sw
Posted by Patrick | November 21, 2008 11:13 AM
Posted on November 21, 2008 11:13
Yeah, Colby did you see the meteor?
Posted by Ethan | November 21, 2008 1:18 PM
Posted on November 21, 2008 13:18
Auto non-workers.
Posted by Lucy | November 21, 2008 3:33 PM
Posted on November 21, 2008 15:33
Search the fields for Kal-El's rocket!
Posted by Garnet | November 21, 2008 6:12 PM
Posted on November 21, 2008 18:12
CAW claims the Big Three's woes could cost over 500,000 canadian jobs - huh? There are fewer than 150,000 auto assembly and parts workers in Ontario, and most of them are not entirely dependant on the Big Three.
Then there's the claim that there are 6 (sometimes claimed to be 7) dependant jobs for every 1 front line autoworker - huh? They're counting Tim Hortons clerks, warehousing staffers, parts distributers, frikken bus drivers. If an auto worker shops at wal-mart, the greeter is suddenly dependant on the auto industry?
The reality is that the US auto industry alone is important to fewer than 100,000 workers, primarily along the US border in southern Ontario - those are the people who would have to find jobs if the Big Three went completely tits up (a virtual impossibility), and that includes the odd Tim Hortons clerk and possibly the mayors of Windsor and Oshawa.
Realistically, they're looking at maybe 20,000 jobs in the plausible worst case scenario. Frankly, I could give a shit if Windsor goes into a slump.
Posted by nitus | November 21, 2008 7:00 PM
Posted on November 21, 2008 19:00
I didn't see the meteor. If I'd seen the flash I'd probably just have dismissed it as another meth lab fire.
Posted by Colby Cosh | November 21, 2008 7:38 PM
Posted on November 21, 2008 19:38
Or another blowup at the plastics plant.
Posted by FACLC | November 21, 2008 9:50 PM
Posted on November 21, 2008 21:50
Colby, you miss the obvious (but relevant) cheap shot that the delay in the oils sands investment, unlike the problems in the auto sector, are not caused by a couple of decades of horrible mismanagement and a complete inability to deliver products that customers actually want to buy.
Posted by dcardno | November 22, 2008 1:26 PM
Posted on November 22, 2008 13:26