Unbelievable! "A Sea Of Unwanted Imports"

[orleans]

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Gleaming new Mercedes cars roll one by one out of a huge container ship here and onto a pier. Ordinarily the cars would be loaded on trucks within hours, destined for dealerships around the country. But these are not ordinary times.

For now, the port itself is the destination. Unwelcome by dealers and buyers, thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused on increasingly crowded port property.

And for the first time, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Nissan have each asked to lease space from the port for these orphan vehicles. They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking lot, creating a vivid picture of a paralyzed auto business and an economy in peril.

snip

But the inventory glut in Long Beach is not limited to imported cars. There has also been a sharp drop in demand for the port’s single largest export: recycled cardboard and paper products.



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/business/economy/19ports.html?hp

[originalpckelly]

1. Erm, yeah, shit.

[notadmblnd]

2. The problem is not just the big 3

[maseman]

3. How about a Mercedes for about $10,000?

I'll take two.

[MrScorpio]

6. I haven't had a Benz in ten years

I'm game for my second one

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. That would increase my car insurance payment though. lol.

[JCMach1]

31. The repairs would be at least that much per year

NO THANKS!!!

[DJ13]

4. When our jobs went overseas, what did the financial geniuses expect?

[amdezurik]

14. DOH we are all supposed to be Wal-Mart greeters

or flipping psuedo-meat at a fast food place dammit!

[SmileyRose]

25. LOL

psuedo meat

LOL





sorry, it was funny.

[amdezurik]

27. heh heh calls em like I see's em

:P

[cabluedem]

19. Who needs a college education with idiots like this running things?

[crispini]

5. Wow. Scary article.

:scared:

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. Yeah, I heard the report on the radio. Cars are moving out the door.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. I guess if you can't get a loan for a Chevy, you can't get a loan for

a Mercedes either.

[Lance_Boyle]

13. not so

lenders are denying loans for domestics now because of their uncertain corporate futures. Mercedes will still be with us in 2 years, so lenders will pony up for that new benz if you want one and qualify. But good luck getting a loan for a Ford even with stellar credit and a substantial down payment. lenders aren't sure the companies will be here in 2 months, nevermind 2 years. So no loans for domestics.

[Hubert Flottz]

16. When the day comes that I can't buy an American made car I'll

take the bus!

[TahitiNut]

17. Link, please??? (Reputable source??)

:eyes:

[1776Forever]

22. This is the link on the post - NY TIMES

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/business/economy/19ports.html?_r=1&hp

[TahitiNut]

23. Nowhere in that article is the bullshit claim made in the post to which I replied confirmed. Nowhere

:shrug:

[SmileyRose]

26. there's NOTHING in that article about no domestic auto loans

[1776Forever]

28. Sorry - I misunderstood the post. I thought you wanted a link to to the main post.

:shrug: Sorry!

[Lance_Boyle]

30. NPR's "All Things Considered," Wednesday afternoon

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97219822

Sorry it's an audio link - no transcript yet.

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. I didn't hear anything in that about denying loans

"You have to depend on the warranty for service; if you go into bankruptcy, people will stop buying their cars."
...
"The companies could set up a pool of money to help pay for warranty work while they're in Chapter 11, or the government could guarantee warranty work. Keep in mind a warranty is a form of insurance, and if the government backs it, maybe it would reassure customers. There is concern about the availability of parts, if GM went into bankruptcy. But let's take Delphi - it's a huge parts supplier to GM, it's been in bankruptcy for over 3 years. But that hasn't affected car sales."

"People are still buying Buicks even if the parts supplier might not be there."

"Absolutely, and I don't think it's affected the customers' mindset to the brand."

They just said that if the car makers go into bankruptcy procedures, customers might stop buying their products. Nothing at all about a current unavailability of loans. :shrug:

[gordianot]

10. Let me see, can anyone say depression yet?

[cabluedem]

18. Not until Obama is President, no. nt

[Ganja Ninja]

33. You got that right.

Once Obama takes the oath there will be no end to the wailing from the right wing radio blabber mouths.

[Mike 03]

11. Fascinating. Truly, this is one of the most incredible, frightening, mindblowing

times I've ever seen in my life.

[codjh9]

24. Yeah, ain't it the truth. I wish it were only 'fascinating'!

[TlalocW]

12. And the weird thing is

Michael Keaton made all those cars himself just to prove a point to his Japanese bosses.

TlalocW

[Deja Q]

20. Even weirder,

Even Alex P Keaton wouldn't be able to buy one.

:silly:

[old mark]

15. Funny, though - I recently saw a GM ad for Cadillac Escalades

at special sale prices of over $45,000. This is nearly as much as I paid for our house.
There are a lot of folks now who are worried about keeping their homes, buying food or medicine, of having to make choices about which of these things to buy. With over 250,000 people losing their jobs, and many more losing their unemployment checks, I somehow doubt there will be many Escalades or Mercedes's sold here for a while.

We were supposed to be the consumers who drove the engine of world manufacturing, but we son't have any money to buy much beyond basics, and there seems to be little hope for improvement in the immediate future.

A lot of these corporate big shots could stand a lesson in the reality of middle and lower class life in the USA. They have had too much for too long.

mark

[gordianot]

29. The arrogant 1% has brought this on themselves. The peculator needs the filter cleaned out.

[earth mom]

21. Yikes

:yoiks:

[Ganja Ninja]

32. I'd love to buy a new car and need to but I don't know if I'll even have a job

a year from now.