The Hollywood Liberal

End of a Supersized Era

Gas prices and fiscal concerns are causing the demise of the American-made sport utility vehicle, a welcome development in the eyes of many fellow drivers but one that also spells the end for thousands of American jobs.

The New York Times:

Even a federal bailout could not save three of the last remaining plants in the United States still making sport utility vehicles.

“It’s been a good ride, man,” said Frank Hereford as he left the G.M. Janesville plant.

Reeling from its financial problems and a collapsing S.U.V. market, General Motors on Tuesday closed its factories in this city and in Moraine, Ohio, marking the passing of an era when big S.U.V.’s ruled the road. The moves followed the shutdown last Friday of Chrysler’s factory in Newark, Del., which produced full-size S.U.V.’s.

The last Chevrolet Tahoe rolled off the line here in Janesville shortly after 7 a.m. in the 90-year-old plant, which had built more than 3.7 million big S.U.V.’s since the early 1990s.

Most of the plant’s 1,100 remaining workers were not scheduled to work the final day, but many showed up for an emotional closing ceremony. Dan Doubleday, who had 22 years on the job, broke down in the plant’s snowy parking lot afterward.

“I was a fork lift driver,” he said, glancing at his watch through welling tears. “Until about seven minutes ago.”

Read more

READ THE WHOLE ITEM

Related Entries

• December 20, 2008 Bush Passes Bailout Buck to Obama
• December 19, 2008 ‘Left, Right & Center’: Crash of the Titans
• December 19, 2008 To the Bailoutmobile!
• December 19, 2008 Big Three
• December 19, 2008 Bailouts

The Road Out of Iraq Begins in Vietnam

Iraq is not Vietnam, yet there are parallels between the two wars. The American military dominated the battlefield in both conflicts, and yet America the nation emerged the loser in each. A “decent interval” is now needed for American troops to withdraw.

READ THE WHOLE ITEM

Related Entries

• December 24, 2008 Don’t Be Fooled by Bush’s Farewell Tour
• December 24, 2008 What Nixon Admitted (and Cheney Won’t)
• December 23, 2008 One Man’s Bid to Aid the Environment
• December 23, 2008 Cheney’s Legacy of Deception
• December 23, 2008 Team Obama Clears Itself In Blagojevich Affair

Bush Withdraws Pardon After Learning Of Political Contributions
WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush on Wednesday revoked a pardon he had granted only a day before _ a step unheard of in recent…

The 10 Worst Media Moments Of 2008
OK, now that we’ve celebrated all the good things that media professionals managed to grace our world with this year, let’s skip ahead to a…

Jamie Lee Curtis: It Is a Wonderful Life
What this crisis is going to do is bring us into financial alignment. Neighbors are going to meal share and carpool and child care — less indoor gym workouts and more family outdoor time.

Former White House Aide Pleads Guilty To Bilking Government-Funded Group
Felipe Sixto — the former aide to President Bush charged with stealing from a government-funded agency that works for democracy and human rights in Cuba — pleaded guilty today to theft from a federally aided program, reports the Associated Press…

SECer: Under Cox, Subpoena Power For Probes Harder To Obtain
In his statement released last week in response to the SEC’s failure to catch Bernard Madoff’s alleged “$50 billion ponzi scheme”, commission chair Chris Cox lamented his staff’s failure, during previous investigations, to seek subpoenas to compel Madoff to provide…

Merry War on Christmas — The Religious Right Isn’t Going Anywhere
The Christian right has launched a permanent religious war to thwart, and even to roll back, advances in civil rights.

Untangling Obama’s Cabinet
There are real personnel differences between the team Obama is putting together and what a progressive administration would look like.

Seymour Hersh: "After 9/11 We Became a Different Country"
The New Yorker’s star reporter discusses Abu Ghraib, the "war on terror," and why U.S. reporters don’t pay enough attention to the Arab press.

Alternative Ownership Approaches for Corporate Accountability
In yesterday’s thread, there was some good discussion on corporate accountability, but I want to more explicitly emphasize that not only are alternatives to traditional private shareholder ownership possible, but that they regularly are used in our economy and in…

Is The Two State Solution Finished?
It didn’t take long for the “two state solution” to move from the category of radical to banal, but that is what has happened. Today the “two-state solution” is everyone’s favorite remedy. And yet it is farther from realization than…

Bush Era Investment Strategy
Classic investment theory says that investors should pay a premium for safety and command extra compensation for taking risk. But the above chart of the last eight years shows that we have been living in a financial version of…

Bush Revokes Pardon Of GOP Donors’ Relative
President Bush took the remarkable step yesterday of reversing a pardon that he granted the day before to a Brooklyn, N.Y., real estate developer, whose relatives contributed more than $40,000 to Republicans before his clemency petition was filed with the White House.

Chao Defends Labor Dept. Tenure, Noting Safety and Health of Workers
Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao is the only Cabinet member to serve during President Bush’s entire presidency, through nearly eight years marked by terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and long-running wars, including ideological battles.

Kennedy Endures Rough Start in Bid for Senate Seat
NEW YORK — Caroline Kennedy, who is seeking appointment to New York’s soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat, is facing sharp criticism from rivals, intense scrutiny from the media and disparagement over everything from refusing to disclose her finances to not voting in some past elections.