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| Originally Posted by mjbayley Having been recently hit with the news at as of next Tuesday (24th) I'm unemployed (again) from the auto industry, I am seeing things first hand as well.
Companies are pulling in their belts with decining sales, stopping investment in new/better products, as their cash flow dries up.
The government says it is going to hep the companies by pouring cash into them, the same way it is propping up the banks, who seem to be vast black holes for 'our' money.
It also says 'we' are going to spend our way out of recession, but how can 'we' if 'we' haven't got any money to spend and the the loans have all dried up?
Instead of pouring more and more into the banks, how about setting up a sort of guaranteed loan scheme to individuals for environmentaly friendly products?
Say if you wanted / needed a new car/van, how about an interest free bank loan over 5 years, guaranteed by the government on identified 'eco' products?
That way, people would have more incentive to buy, companies would get the boost in sales, banks get their cut as they normally do, money filters through the sytem, everyone is working again, and can afford the loans to buy new / better products.
Pouring 'bad money' after 'even worse money' is not helping anyone and making the situation worse!
Or am I missing something here????? |
Not sure you are missing much in what you say Mark, the government in their infinite wisdom have a new plan in the wings to help the car industry by some sort of trading in scheme that allows people to offset the new car price against an artificially high price for their old car. Can you recall last year how the housing industry was "helped" by rumours of a change in stamp duty? Virtually brought the market to a standstill while people waited on the rate cut decision. I think the same will apply here.
You've hit it spot on IMHO: how can we "spend our way out of recession" when nobody has any money irrespective of how much credit they can get hold of. I've got a great idea.......why don't we get the banks to lend zillions of pounds to people who can never pay it back then encourage them to buy a load of old **** they don't really need and can't afford. Wouldn't that work? Well at least until the banks had to pull the money back in. Didn't something like that happen recently ?
Hope you do find another job Mark, not sure what your background is within the industry but I think anybody who can be flexible will be in with the best chances.