On Aug 9, 2011, at 8:53 AM, Chuck Grimes wrote:
>> If retailers issue their own credit cards, they're capturing profits that used to go to their bankers. And they've been doing that for a long time.
>>
>> Doug
>
> Sure, but the main point was that manufacturing giants can shift billions from the making-something division low profit to the finance division higher profit...
As Sam Gindin always points out, this sort of analysis misses the revolution in manufacturing over the last 20-30 years. Since Sam spent many years with the Canadian Autoworkers Union, he knows the industry well, and says that the mechanization and speedup of carmaking has been profound. It's not just about slinging derivatives around.
Doug