NEWS
By Tim Higgins | October 13, 2009
The new General Motors Co. is showing some old GM traits, say several industry analysts who question the automaker's plans to increase North American production next year by about 45 percent. GM has announced it plans to build about 2.8 million vehicles next year in North America. That's well below the number of vehicles GM built in 2008 but nearly 1 million more than the company expects to assemble this year. When an automaker builds more cars and trucks than consumers want, as GM has done in the past, it is forced to discount the vehicles, which cuts into profits.
NEWS
By Timothy B. Wheeler | September 30, 2009
Cal Dooley, president and chief executive officer of the American Chemistry Council, representing manufacturers, said the industry also wants the law "modernized" to boost public confidence in their products and to head off a growing patchwork of state laws and regulations. He said the principles outlined by Jackson were "in most respects very closely aligned" with proposals made last month by his industry group. "We are convinced through testing in our own industry that our products are safe," Dooley said.
NEWS
By DAVID ZURAWIK | June 7, 2009
When WBFF-TV dropped its high-profile morning anchorwoman Jennifer Gladstone recently, the news had a familiar ring to it. Across the country, TV and radio outlets are in the midst of a cost-cutting effort that is reshaping the industry and offering few hints of when - or if - it might end. Locally, TV stations are downsizing anchor desks, cutting overtime and looking at new models of content-sharing as ways of coping with a harsh economy. While Baltimore TV stations have largely been spared the kind of wholesale layoffs of on-air talent that stations in larger cities have endured, executive here say privately that this market will face some of the same if the advertising climate does not improve by fall.
NEWS
By Ken Bensinger | April 2, 2009
Each of the largest automakers reported today U.S. sales declines in excess of 36 percent for March, as the slumping economy continued to keep buyers out of dealerships, deepening the industry's woes. General Motors Corp. said its monthly sales declined 45 percent compared with March 2008; last month, it sold 156,380 cars and light trucks. Chrysler's sales of 100,001 vehicles marked a 39 percent drop, the same decline as at Toyota, which delivered 132,802 autos. Ford Motor Co.'s sales were down 41 percent, with 125,107 vehicles moving in March, while Honda Motor Co. said its numbers were down 36 percent, to 88,379.
NEWS
By JEAN MARBELLA | February 19, 2009
They are not so much alive as undead. Open for business, but only to take rather than give. Lumbering, blank-eyed and soulless, they only want more and more of our flesh - or at least the federal government's bailout money. Zombie banks - when there is no more room in hell, they walk on Wall Street! When did George Romero get hold of our economy? The man behind all those zombie movies, from Night of the Living Dead to the multiple Dawn of ... and Day of ... follow-ups, seems to have scripted the current meltdown, what with entire industries lurching about on their last legs.
NEWS
By Timothy B. Wheeler | December 12, 2008
In its final days, the Bush administration is poised to exempt poultry farms from reporting how much ammonia and other noxious pollutants they are releasing into the air from the millions of tons of manure their flocks generate. The Environmental Protection Agency has asked the federal Office of Management and Budget to give final approval to a rule that would exclude poultry farms from environmental reporting required of other industries. The budget office reviews all proposed federal regulations to see that their benefits justify their costs.
NEWS
By Jim Puzzanghera | December 6, 2008
WASHINGTON - The heads of Detroit's Big Three automakers met more resistance from Congress yesterday in their quest for $34 billion in financial aid, but the possibilities strengthened for a stopgap compromise that would keep the industry afloat for now and keep several hundred thousand workers from losing their jobs at a time of deepening economic crisis. With the government reporting the worst month of job losses in 34 years, President George W. Bush called on Congress to act next week to save General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
NEWS
By Peter G. Gosselin | November 25, 2008
WASHINGTON - The economic team that President-elect Barack Obama unveiled yesterday, studded as it is with some of the most brilliant economists in the nation, reflects more than a confident leader's desire to surround himself with talent: It's a recognition that the nation faces troubles the likes of which it hasn't seen in almost three-quarters of a century. Sunday night's rescue of one of the world's biggest banks and the threatened collapse of the U.S. auto industry are the most recent examples of how great the problems are - and there are almost certainly more to come.
NEWS
By From Sun news services | November 19, 2008
WASHINGTON - Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with Congress yesterday for a $25 billion lifeline to save the once-proud titans of U.S. industry, warning of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse. Millions of layoffs would follow their demise, they said, as damaging effects ripple across an already-faltering economy. The frantic bid from Detroit for help was laid bare at a packed hearing of the Senate banking committee, in which two of the three automakers said they might run out of money by the end of the year.
NEWS
October 25, 2008
The U.S. auto industry needs a 21st-century makeover. Its future depends on automakers finding the money and resources to quickly deliver a new generation of fuel-efficient and alternative energy cars such as the planned Chevrolet Volt that can commute up to 40 miles a day without using gas and can net 100 miles per gallon on some hybrid trips. But facing a deep recession and credit freeze that have hobbled their industry, they can't raise capital fast enough to overhaul their operations.