Friday 12 December 2008

I was too quick to announce...

that the bailout of the Big Three was through: It made it through the House of Representatives but, since the US has a bicameral legislative branch, Senate had to pass it too. Which it didn't. No bailout, and they were talking about half the sum the CEOs of Chrysler, Ford and GM wanted, so this would have probably only lasted for a couple of weeks. Some Republicans still insist that this is somehow the fault of trade unions for demanding too much money for the workers.

"Ziel der Gespräche war es, Ergänzungen zu dem schon mit Bush ausgehandelten Entwurf für das Auto-Rettungspaket zu finden und dadurch die Republikaner zur Zustimmung zu bewegen. Nach Reids Angaben ging es unter anderem um Forderungen des republikanischen Senators Bob Corker, der schärfere Auflagen für GM, Ford und Chrysler verlangt hatte. Auch die Führung der Republikaner hatte sich zuletzt gegen den vorliegenden Entwurf für die Autohilfen gestellt. Zugleich weigerten sich die Gewerkschaften, die von den Republikanern geforderten tiefgreifenden Lohnkürzungen zu akzeptieren, welche die Lohnkosten der drei amerikanischen Autohersteller auf das Niveau der japanischen Anbieter in den USA senken sollten."

Die Zeit, 12. Dezember 2008
NY Times: Senate Abandons Automaker Bailout Bid
SZ: "Es ist aus"
FT: Detroit reels as $14bn rescue fails
Standard: Weitere Autojobs in Österreich weg
Standard: Milliardenhilfe für Saab und Volvo

Meanwhile, even NPR is letting people go (or so I heard on my favourite podcast that covers the crisis, "Planet Money") and the shocking number floating around about the crisis on the housing market: In the US, about one in seven houses with a mortgage will be in foreclosure in the next couple of months. I'm not really sure what has to happen to make this crisis real to me, but right now, it still feels like a collection of shocking statistics.

Oh, and Bettie Page died. I'll end the grim post with a movie recommendation: "The Notorious Bettie Page" by Mary Harron (director of "American Psycho").

2 comments:

? said...

Thanks for this!
The pound also seems to be depriciating/losing its value? ...do you know why?

? said...

In terms of the fall in the pound, and the wider financial crisis - I was under the impression that its a reflection of the shape of things to come. For example, that Europe is on its way to rising again. I may be wrong.

Thanks for this blog. Its a shame that although I studied economics at masters level (M.A.), I am struggling to catch up with you. Anyway, as you will come to realise most things you read at university are theoretical but I love your analysis on here. I am learning a lot from you.

Have a great weekend.