Mr.E.G.

just in case somebody missed it, Toyota is wanting to borrow from Japan, not America.

TheDonEffect

Amazing how everyone's sentiment is sooo drastically different when talking about jdm vs. usdm. Let's not forget that they also made the domestic mistake as well by heavily expanding their truck and suv base (rav 4, highlander, 4 runner, sequoia, fj cruiser?), most of which were introduced in the past decade. They also thought that sector was going to continue to expand and they planned accordingly. Fortunately for them, they had the smaller and midsize cars on lock as well whereas the domestics didnt since they were the established players in the truck/suv department.

WarrenW

I disagree w/ Toyota. They're a Japanese co. If any country should be bailing them out, it should be their own country. Same goes for Honda and any other non-American co.

BTW, any co that receives bailout money should NOT be outsourcing jobs overseas (i.e. China, India, Mexico, etc.)

Warren

**Jay-V**

My apologies in advance if I read the article too fast; but Toyota is asking funds from the Japanese govt, not our govt.

WarrenW

Yep, you're right. I didn't catch that part.

Warren

Vectorsumio

Actually many people saw this coming... This wasn't some freak circumstance that crept up from the depths. A congress man, Ron Paul is one of the bigger voices trying to cause a change before it was too late. Another, believe it or not, Senator John McCain spoke about this pending disaster before his campaign. Yes, I can get you the videos if you want to see them. Others too were voicing the concerns long ago... I think Clinton administration was the earliest. Not sure about that... but it goes way back.

I will say this though, these two that I just named weren't talking specifically about the auto industry... more the housing and lending markets. But being that the auto industry is hugely dependent on the lending firms... yeah, any forecaster (accountants) worth their weight could have seen how the toxic loans could effect auto-lending and therefore industry declines.

Market shift away from good ol' American SUV and other urban-assault vehicles isn't helping. We have the OPEC to thank for that. In fact, lets blame OPEC for all of this! *raises hand* I'm casting my vote!

Mr.E.G.

There is an economist on Honda-tech who created a thread called "America's Impending Second Great Depression". This thread was created back in early 07 or late 06. He predicted a lot of what we have seen in recent history.

I think he has a more "the sky is falling" type of opinion on the matter, but never the less he was on target for much of it.

None of this stuff really matters to me as I work in an industry that is mostly unaffected by a recession (in some cases a recession is good for us) and I drive a modest car, live in a modest apartment, save a significant portion of my income, and just generally don't spend money like it's going out of style.

I'm more of a spectator to the economic meltdown. lol.

Yellow_S

Last year, I recall reading somewhere that Toyota had like a $100B in cash reserves alone. I'm sure they still have plenty in reserves, but are still seeking help for the sake of it?

Edit: I haven't read the article above, so any misinformation is purely consequential.

Many of the world's biggest companies are failing, so no one is immune from this disastrous economy.

Elistan

Wow - 357 pages, over 14,000 replies. (First posted 2nd half 2007.)

http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2397005

TheDonEffect

In terms of predictions, no one can be 100% accurate, that's alike an investor who gains 100% of the time. Even the best economists get it wrong, but you're bound to get a few who's right.
As far as no seeing this coming, to use the bay area in CA as an example:
average income 35-45K, average house price, 450-550K, tech heavy which somewhat crashed, hmmm...
Average economic cycle (recession, depression, recovery, prosperity) 7-10 years.
Thus, when I graduated and looked for a job (2006), I originally was going to go into finance, but when I did some pavement pounding and looking around, I noticed a lot of underqualified, overworked folk just selling all kinds of finance products. You then saw that there were 5 competitiors within the block and only a 10 minute drive to the next cluster of competitors, hmm... not a good time to be at an entry level position.

Honestly though, this market correction in a way is good, companies have been run by morons for too long. By morons, I mean people who got to where they are by clawing up the corporate ladder and are able to just lay off a bunch of folks instead of being innovative, how do they add value to the company? I see the likes of Comp USA and Circuit City go under, but if you ever worked for those companies (I did in high school under the commission pay structure), the corporate suits are complete morons with impressive degrees.