<p>I don't know where you get that the auto industry has not been restructuring. They've been in a constant state of restructuring for the better part of this decade. In fact, the guys at the big auto industry research firm in Ann Arbor were saying a few weeks ago that if the economy were to recover quickly, the automakers would enter a period of unbelievable profitability because they have already done so much restructuring.</p>
<p>Anyways, since that is unlikely to happen, they need to continue to restructure...and with more urgency than in the past.</p>
<p>Well, it sounded like you've been following the recent news, but with the current economy it really hasn't helped too much, except maybe at Ford.</p>
<p>You know what really makes me mad: the banking industry is getting trillion dollar handouts from the government while Chrysler and GM have to beg for money. And we have yet to see any results from the so called "bailout" (other than raises for the employees and execs of those banks.) Sorry in advance for the post. Just venting.</p>
<p>I agree krw. It is totally unfair, but that is the sort of unscrupulous and unethical people who run the country and the financial industry. There will be a day of reckoning.</p>
<p>Awhile back the New York Times had an article about UMich and how despite the Michigan economy there were plans to continue to build and grow the university:</p>
<p>actually, krw, not really
the banking industry is so much more important than the auto industry</p>
<p>think about it this way. The banking industry fails, the auto industry would fail anyway (no more financing for new cars...whos' gonna buy)</p>
<p>the auto industry fail, the banking industry would not fail because of that.</p>
<p>Also, the auto industry fail, people in rust belt gets screwed (who cares)
banking industry fail, the entire nation gets screwed (much bigger deal)</p>
<p>Also, the auto industry should beg for money because they dont deserve to survive after so many years of idiocracy in management, strucuture and non competitiveness.</p>
<p>Comparing the banking industry to the dump by the names of ford,GM, chrysler is absurd</p>
<p>I am from out of state so I guess I dont have the bias and love instate people have for these companies, so just talking from a realistic standpoint</p>
<p>oh also, the banking industry greed lies in the management, CEOs who make millions in bonuses</p>
<p>the auto industry greed is all across the board, CEO takes a huge pay day, then the greedy union stays greedy for their unskilled work.... that's why it cant survive</p>
<p>I agree that the banking industry is much more important to the economic stability of the U.S., and I also think unions have become unnecessary. But to say auto industry management has been any worse than banking industry management is absurd. The major banks have been mismanaged into the ground. They needed hundreds of billions of dollars from the government just to stay afloat! THAT is mismanagement.</p>
<p>As a person who as grown up with many family members in the auto industry through its prosperous and dismal times, I can say that there's a lot of points that have plagued this industry that people are either to scared to tell or just plain ignorant.</p>
<p>To start off with, MANY of the top positions were filled based on quotas. Nope, experience is not necessarily the key. For example, my uncle who had decades of engineering experience and a boatload of degrees was forced to work under two complete incompetent amazons who had just literally completed their bachelors degrees. Over the years that I've known them, I KNOW the company's output diminished at least in one department. The reason these fools had such high positions? Purely because of the disgusting quota system (can we call it the modern day spoils system?), that in this case awarded them these positions because they were females and nothing else. I'm sure that the company could have, in conjunction with these quotas, found smart, competent _____ (insert race or gender).</p>
<p>Its a sad state of affairs in any profession when genuine competence floats under to make room for ineptitude. I know from SEVERAL anecdotes that the auto industry was inextricably attached to this system. Hence, this explains at least some of the mismanagement that we blame with the American auto system. </p>
<p>i understand that the mismanaged everything, weren't as competitive, but when people (or southern senators) say part of the fault of the workers making a decent living and having so many benefits, it makes me really sick.</p>
<p>Why does it make you sick? The same workers at the japanese automakers make a lot less, and they are doing fine. The point is not that the autoworkers at the American automakers should be paid minimum wage, but that Unions have bullied the automakers into paying them more than they should for many years, and this cuts into the company's bottomline.</p>
<p>"i understand that the mismanaged everything, weren't as competitive, but when people (or southern senators) say part of the fault of the workers making a decent living and having so many benefits, it makes me really sick."</p>
<p>lol what a joke.. find me another example in another industry where unskilled workers are paid as much to work the line with so many benefits. pay should be correlated to skills/degree</p>
<p>i think mitch albom says it best: "Detroit and Michigan are part of the backbone of this country, the manufacturing spine, the heart of the middle class -- heck, we invented the middle class, we invented the idea that a factory worker can put in 40 hours a week and actually buy a house and send a kid to college. What? You have a problem with that? You think only lawyers and hedge-fund kings deserve to live decently?"</p>
<p>sorry, i'm just a defensive liberal metro detroiter who hates seeing the middle class disappear.</p>
<p>UM's biggest current problem that could impact the future more than the state enonmy is that their endowment probably is down about 50% now. No, you won't read that number anywhere yet but the market is down another 15%-20% since their last report and they are WAY over-invested (50% or more) in Hedge Funds and other non-market vehicles that most estimate are worth 25-50 cents on the dollar. Now they could recover but right now many are way underwater. That is the biggest danger plus they are already at the high end in tuition so there is less room to grow that in this economy.</p>
<p>"UM's biggest current problem that could impact the future more than the state enonmy is that their endowment probably is down about 50% now. No, you won't read that number anywhere yet but the market is down another 15%-20% since their last report and they are WAY over-invested (50% or more) in Hedge Funds and other non-market vehicles that most estimate are worth 25-50 cents on the dollar. Now they could recover but right now many are way underwater. That is the biggest danger plus they are already at the high end in tuition so there is less room to grow that in this economy."</p>
<p>I think this problem is applicable to most major universities during this tough economic time. Duh..</p>
<p>Pretty amusing bearcats that you think a collapse of the Big Three would be confined to the Rust Belt states. Put a couple million people out of jobs and all of the shiny happy people will continue to buy iPods, computers, pay their mortgages to stay out of foreclosure and keep the banks from begging for bailouts, etc. They're all run by the same group of idiots. Using the media's logic, the Big Three got greedy with SUVs and the banks got greedy with subprime mortgages. We have seen what happens when Wall Street idiots are allowed to run a car company with Chrysler. They've done an even worse job than the traditional "car guys" at GM.</p>
<p>We run huge trade deficits already, consumer spending makes up most of our economy, not a smart idea to let manufacturers die out, let unemployment rise, drive down wages, etc. Possibly good for CEOs chasing higher quarterly profits, but not for the country in the long term.</p>
<p>Barron's, I would estimate that most universities have already lost 15%-30% of their endowment worth and by July of 2009, I estimate that they will have lost 30%-50%. I do not think this issue will affect Michigan more than other universities, but it is certainly a problem. The next few years are going to be hard on all universities.</p>