buffalo Loc: Texas

As an editorial in the Weekly Standard put it:

"Still, the irony is worth noting. The policies of a populist and protectionist administration have created higher prices for American consumers, bigger profits for foreign and multinational corporations, and financial disruptions for some U.S. manufacturers and for American farmers. Remind us again: Who’s putting America first, and who’s in cahoots with the globalists?"

http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-editors/editorial-meet-the-winners-of-the-trade-war

As I said earlier--The trade war good for big multinational corporations.

PeterS

It's fake news unless you are one of the ones getting laid off...then it's all too real.

PeterS

No argument from me...

Louie27 Loc: Peoria, AZ

I see that once again you must not have read the full article. They are now producing fewer cars then GM, per employee. That leads me to believe they have been top heavy for years and are now realizing their problem at this time. That is why they seem to have a monetary loss. They received a bonus during the Obama years. Obama and his lackey's pushed many GM dealers out of the market to help FMC to a greater share of the auto business..

steve metter

Hey, durwood all the car manufacturers are in the same boat , people are not buying, leasing , car prices out of hand, 72 , 84 month financing .when was the last time you saw a ad for lie car prices. Plus trump is playing the FED , SOON OFF PETRO DOLLAR, 71% of vehicle market trucks, SUV'S.

jack sequim wa Loc: Blanchard, Idaho

Hey Peter, I pick carefully which post to argue. Being an expert in the automotive field and a great part of my career with Ford, I find NBC using ford's economic position and applying recent policies offensive. Pulling the wool over readers eyes that wouldn't possibly understand Fords dynamics on the world stage, production efficiencies, inventories, market retraction with questionable market forecast and liquid assets all in choppy waters with recent and coming prime interest rate increases. The authors conclusions are fabricated and deception at best.

Have a great evening Pete

Lonewolf

Sales in China down 43 %

truthiness

Jack, did Ford over-produce--is that the real problem?

truthiness

..
And (therefore), the trade deficit rising.

jack sequim wa Loc: Blanchard, Idaho

That's majority. Ford pressures dealers to increase inventory via allocations of faster moving inventory if orders include higher percentage of slower moving among many other incentives including aggressive buying of paper by the FMCC arm.
The inventory saturation or "days supply" catches up with dealers facing increased flooring cost. When flooring cost increase for dealers going from increased spring and summer sales to decreased fall and winter.
Ford projects this but tries to keep factories at higher productivity with new models being released, the real problem magnifies when export inventory swells with domestic. Auto sales have lagged internationally and Ford shares their negative outlook with most every other import and domestic manufacturer.

kankune Loc: Iowa

I'm a Ford person and absolutely love the Ford F-150. But.....Ford or not..there isn't any truck or any 1 dang vehicle that is worth 60,000.00. They need to get a clue!

PeterS

That only goes to say that we lost the trade war with Asia before we even started it. Germany’s top manufacturing companies – Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler, BASF and Siemens – announced tens of billions of dollars of new investments in China as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang posed for a photo op with German Chancellor Merkel in Berlin.

BMW will expand its joint venture with Brilliance Auto to produce 519,000 vehicles a year. It also set up a joint venture to produce an electric version of the Mini together with Great Wall Auto. And it agreed to buy US$4.7 billion worth of batteries from Chinese producer CATL, which just announced a new plant in southern Germany. Volkswagen earlier this year announced that it would invest US$18 billion in China by 2022 and construct six plants to build electric vehicles. BMW will move some of its SUV production out of its South Carolina plant in response to auto tariffs.

And this is going to China instead of the US because of the brilliance of Trump starting a trade war. And thanks for bringing up the sad state of the Auto industry because of Trump's tariffs. I didn't mean to neglect that...

PeterS

Wait a couple years and you can pick up a used one for a steal...

jack sequim wa Loc: Blanchard, Idaho

truthiness

Yet we think of the European economies as being restricted by regs and interstate rules, but they thrive as they move into China. Is it really our regs or just our 20th (19th??) century view of economics that keeps us behind? I really don't know. Are European car workers living a substandard life because of unfair wages while shareholders win at their expense? Why do we heavily subsidize some industries (oil) and then pretend it is a "free" market that would let everyone prosper if only we didn't restrict commerce with regulations?
I wish there was an unbiased economist somewhere who could give a picture of what a free market would really look like and what effect it would have on people, culture, and the world. Libertarians tout their heroes Hayek and von Mises but never live by their economic principles--e.g.Rand Paul and Mike Lee are perfect examples. Can anyone honestly believe that there could be a sensible unbiased system in place by reducing regulation as the middle class continues to shrink with capital so unequally distributed? Can that scenario really be blamed on the effect of constricting regs on a fettered capitalism?