Archive 10/21/08 - (1)

   

America's Love Affair with the Car

              

Indulge me, please.

Take just a minute of your precious time, if you will.

Consider these basic statistics; they could make a difference.

 

One out of every ten jobs in the U.S.

Directly or indirectly radiates from the auto industry.

Dealers alone account for over 1.1 million of them,

 

Not to mention that these prodigious worker bees,

Until just recently (the last two years, to be specific),

Generated 20 percent of all retail sales across the nation.

 

But look what happens when credit gets tight, evaporates,

Or interest rates get so excessive

That the 80 percent of car buyers who rely on loans

 

Decide to hightail it for the hills, lickety-split, pronto,

Unable to sit tall in their swayback nags' ragged saddles,

As they urge another hundred thousand miles out of their plugs:

 

Prospective purchasers' collective hesitation

Creates a monkey-wrench whiplash throughout the system,

Starting right there, at the local dealership,

 

When showroom salespersons twiddle their thumbs,

Receptionists paint their toenails, mechanics spin their wheels,

Followed by cutbacks and layoffs on the assembly lines;

 

Followed by fewer orders placed for outsourced parts;

Followed by fewer sellers, buyers, suppliers

Being able to make monthly mortgage payments on time or at all;

 

Followed by anxious red flags raised up the flagpoles

At one out of every ten leveraged homes of the brave,

Which, not long ago, flew Old Glory's red, white, and blue;

 

Followed by the institutionalized chaos of financial hysteria,

Which currently holds America's scrambled nest egg, by the throat,

Choking it as if it were a rubber chicken's broken neck.

 

Now that you've indulged me, with a minute of your precious time,

I guess you realize what a difference the statistics make,

As you and your family spend another night in the car.

 

 

 

 

10/21/08 - (1)

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
       

 

 
   
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