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new car sales
"Third, blue collar and middle class jobs have disappeared at an alarming rate and could well take a decade or more to get back to pre-recession levels. Furthermore, the jobs that are being secured are often less financially rewarding and result in less discretionary funds available for the purchase of a new second (or third) vehicle."
This is the absolute core of our problem! Why do the "smart people" not see this? If you don't have enough people making a decent wage, you cannot have a thriving economy! It's not complicated, doesn't require postdoctoral education or a Nobel prize to understand.
Even those of us who still have decent middle class jobs (knock on wood) are largely in debt and/or underwater on our houses--even modest houses financed conventionally. New cars move increasingly upmarket and less affordable to more people as median wages stagnate or fall. I mean, really--DUH.
And frankly, I'm not confident that we will see middle class jobs rise to a pre-recession level. As we become more "productive", fewer people are needed for most jobs. Even cashiers lose out to self-check. Unless there are new jobs from sectors unseen, we will still have high unemployment, hence lower consumer spending on all goods.
aging autos
You hit the nail right on the head! You can thank the banks also for trashing everyone in the United States credit ratings also. Therefore no autos can be bought, or will be sold as before.
aging autos
And that is how it is. And how it will pretty much remain as so many manufacturing jobs have moved out of country. It will affect purchases of many things besides autos.
Thank your government/politicians for this.
Good column Sir.
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