State senator Hagan from the Youngstown area has a bill SB 431(?) that would eliminate the state sales tax on natural gas. Every little bit helps.
Tom
Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> December 1, 2000
>
> Ford to Idle Plants After Sales Fall
>
> By REUTERS
>
> Filed at 3:00 p.m. ET
>
> DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. on Friday reported disappointing
> November sales, issued a grim forecast for North American production
> in the new year, and announced plans to idle some passenger car
> assembly plants later this month to cut excess inventories of unsold
> cars.
>
> The production cuts and plant closings come against a backdrop of
> slowing sales throughout the auto industry and a slowing U.S. economy.
>
> Earlier in the day, DaimlerChrylser AG (DCX.N)said it had cut planned
> fourth-quarter vehicle production for its U.S. brands by 18.5 percent
> because of slumping sales and the need to cut bloated inventories.
>
> Ford (F.N), the nation's No. 2 automaker, said its U.S. vehicle
> sales, including its Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover units, fell 7.2
> percent to 300,665 vehicles in November.
>
> Ford forecast first-quarter production would total 1.157 million cars
> and trucks, down 10 percent from actual production in the 2000 first
> quarter.
>
> The company expects car production to drop by 80,000 vehicles from a
> year earlier, or 20 percent, to 402,000, and truck production to fall
> by 33,000 vehicles, or 4 percent, to 755,000, Ford spokesman George
> Pipas told reporters in a conference call.
>
> Pipas said Ford plans to idle some North American passenger car
> assembly plants for the week beginning Dec. 18 to cut excess
> inventories. He declined to give details.
>
> ``There are a couple of down weeks planned at the end of December,
> right before the holidays. Those are in passenger car plants,'' he
> said.
>
> In November, Ford passenger car sales dropped 16.3 percent from a
> year earlier to 111,086, while sales of light and heavy trucks
> slipped 0.9 percent to 189,579, the automaker said.
>
> U.S. sales of Ford's Explorer sport utility vehicle, hurt by the
> Bridgestone/Firestone (5108.T) tire recall, fell 11.8 percent to
> 33,430.
>
> Ford shares were up $1-1/2, or more than 6 percent, at $24-1/4 in
> afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.