U.S. automakers are doing catastrophically worse than their competitors in the currently down across the board U.S. auto sales market for another month. Chrysler sales are down a third from a year ago for August, Ford down a quarter, GM down a fifth, foreign companies each down by less than a tenth or up.
The race to be the first of the Big Three to go out of business seems to be moving foward at a break neck pace. GM moreover, is only achieving its sales improvements relative to the other two American automakers by cutting prices with its employee discount program that at the same time cuts dramatically into GM's profit per car.
Are bookies taking odds on which will fail first? Or is that bookie simply called the stock market?
Meanwhile, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges, and will have to resign from his office within two weeks, serve 120 days in jail, and pay $1,000,000 in restitution. The six year Mayor admitted to lying about an affair with a staff member during a deposition and at trial in a whistleblower suit brought against the City. He used city lawyers to cover up this fact. While this may be good news in the long term for Detroit, which is a city in a never ending crisis, it also means a lack of leadership as the president of the city council serves as interim mayor until a replacement can be elected.
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