[lbo-talk] auto sales crater

[John Thornton]

Doug Henwood wrote:
> [This is how, to use the cliche, the problems of Wall Street hit Main 
> Street.]
>
> <http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081001/bs_nm/us_usa_autosales_11>
>
> Auto sales plunge as credit crunch hits
> By Kevin Krolicki
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major automakers reported plunging U.S. sales 
> for September -- led by a 34 percent slide at Ford Motor Co -- as an 
> escalating credit crisis hit the slumping industry and raised new 
> doubts about when the world's largest auto market would stabilize.
>
> The 26-percent drop in industry-wide auto sales was sharper than 
> expected and coincided with a crisis on Wall Street that automakers 
> said rocked consumer confidence and made it harder for remaining 
> shoppers to finance vehicles.

A friend who owned the local Lincoln-Mercury dealership just closed his 
doors. Permanently.
He says he cannot borrow enough to allow him to buy the minimum number 
of cars he needs.
Not that he's the sharpest businessperson around but he inherited the 
dealership and so owned the land and building outright. No liens at all.
He would have seemed to have been in a good position to weather a steep 
sales downturn.
He also said credit applicants were being turned down in droves.

My business has, for all intents and purposes, disappeared also but I'm 
well enough positioned not to be looking at dead-rat-on-a-stick for 
dinner any time soon.
Say what you will about home ownership fetishes but if I didn't own my 
home free and clear I'd be worried about how I was going to pay rent or 
make a mortgage payment.
As it is, other than reconsidering another new car purchase that I don't 
really need, I'm not unhappy about having lots of free time now.
My SO has a "real" job however.

John Thornton