We are headed for a major economic collapse as the auto industry winds

[hector459]

down. There are just too many cars on the highways and too many people not buying new ones. I give us about 2 years when the new money coming in is saturated with all the toys, games, cars, furs, jewlry, yachts and fuel they can use. Maybe then someone will address the mass transportion crisis in this nation of wealth where poor working families can hardly afford to get to work.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Warpy]

3. They keep coming up with ways to stall the inevitable

like offering easy unsecured loans through credit cards, home refinancing schemes to pay off those cards, and the ability to go out and charge them up again.

We've now got all the elements together: wealth concentration into very few hands, disappearing jobs, a population drowning in debt, a government so close to bankruptcy it's trying to rob the elderly of their income floor, and a consumer market that's shrinking a little every year due to saturation and increasing poverty.

The Xmas season this year was "disappointing." Check out your local strip malls to see how many of them are sporting "for lease" signs because sales fell too low for them to stay in business. It seems every strip mall in this city has at least one empty storefront.

I have no idea what will finally tip us over the edge. I only know the supply side scam has run its course, and that the present system is simply unsustainable.

[sendero]

7. Hey, logical one..

... just because someone cries wolf 10 times and no wolf appears doesn't mean it won't on the llth.

Look at the evidence, past predictive failures have zero effect on the present.

[bullimiami]

2. if we have another depression it will be caused due to the greed

hubris and stupidity of those in power. just like the last one.

they never learn, i guess because they just dont care.

[Selatius]

6. I agree, greed is a short-term pursuit, not a long-term one

The thing with greed is that it is near-sighted. It always opts for the quickest end to wealth, and once wealth is achieved, who cares about the long-term consequences? While everyone else falls in a fiery mess, the greed-infected individual walks away and locks himself safely behind the high walls and steel gates in his stately mansion. Greed doesn't give a damn about anything else.

Greed is the greatest threat to humanity today.

[gratuitous]

4. And what would it take to revive?

I dunno, maybe cars that got more than a pathetic 22 mpg? Unfortunately, the clowns who run the auto industry in this country are even less imaginative than the clowns who run the movie industry. No one has an original idea, and anything that turns a quick buck is immediately oversaturated in the market. Then theater owners wonder why their lobbies are empty as they contemplate "Return to This No Longer Novel Concept" or "Dumb Idea that Used to be a Good Idea 2." And dealerships look out at a lot overflowing with Hummers, jacked-up 4x4s, and the aforementioned 22 mpg cars, and wonder why nobody's buying their overpriced crap that falls apart three years after purchase.

It's not rocket science, but it IS a business. Honda and Toyota dealers can't keep hybrids in stock, but Detroit doesn't go for them because they're not sexy and vroomish; hybrids just get you where you want to go and average well over 40 mpg.

[disillusioned1]

5. Speaking of hybrids

I was doing my taxes yesterday and noticed you can't deduct expenses for a hybrid if it's 100% for business. No kidding.

What kind of logic is that?