This would be huge boost the state when these checks came it was like having another Christmas.
It's too soon to know for sure, but Detroit's automakers, led by Ford Motor Co., are on track to deliver a welcome jolt to the beleaguered Michigan economy: annual profit-sharing checks for their hourly workers.
Through the first six months of the year, Ford's North American pre-tax operating profit totaled $3.1 billion. Chrysler Group LLC's CEO Sergio Marchionne is predicting another positive quarter. And General Motors Co., desperate to make its case to would-be investors as it hurtles toward an initial public offering, is expected to book a respectable profit when it reports earnings next month.
The net effect would be that Michigan's economy, in recession or nearly so since 2001, could get a badly needed boost early next year, when the automakers dole out bonus checks to salaried employees and profit-sharing payouts to hourly employees, despite historically low sales volumes and slow economic growth.
Sure, the second half of the year could bring profit-killing speed bumps -- plunging consumer confidence, gyrating stock markets or some kind of international incident that throws a tepid global recovery into reverse. Absent those shocks, Detroit's automakers appear poised to start spreading the wealth around, again.
From The Detroit News:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100727/OPINION03/7270360/1336/OPINION0322/Big-Three-on-track-to-give-profit-checks#ixzz0uw52tqnl More good news for auto industry
July car sales head for strongest month since '09 clunkers program
Sales of cars and trucks in July are on track to reach their best pace since last August when vehicle sales were boosted by the federal government’s cash-for-clunkers incentive program.
Dealers and analysts say consumers appear to be returning to dealerships even though overall economic trends remain mixed and manufacturers only modestly increased incentives.
“Business is up,” said Jack Fitzgerald, owner of Fitzgerald Auto Malls in Kensington, Md. Fitzgerald said sales increased at most of his 27 dealerships in July, including both domestic and import brands.
“Good people can only go so long without a car,” he said.
In July, the seasonally adjusted annual rate is estimated to be 11.8 million, according to vehicle pricing Web site TrueCar.com, and 12.2 million according J.D. Power and Associates. Those estimates would make July the strongest selling month since last August when government incentives boosted the selling rate to 14.9 million.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100727/BUSINESS01/100727043/1318/July-car-sales-head-for-strongest-month-since-09-clunkers-program
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