uh oh, chrysler closing ALL plants for 1 mos

[Chris S]

AIG was different, b/c its failure would have brought down our entire financial system. They had counterparties in banking, insurance, investment banking, trading houses, etc., and the govt. had to step in to prevent a total meltdown.

BTW, the TARP funds have already generated over 3% return in the first 30 days or so - not bad!

Tomorrow is my last day in the office until 1/2/09, and this is the 12th yr. in a row I've taken this time off. My company, which practically shuts down between Christmas and New Year, is certainly being impacted by the economy, but we're still liquid, profitable, and not looking for handouts.

[RACER X]

Originally Posted by Chris S

Tomorrow is my last day in the office until 1/2/09, and this is the 12th yr. in a row I've taken this time off. My company, which practically shuts down between Christmas and New Year, is certainly being impacted by the economy, but we're still liquid, profitable, and not looking for handouts.

is this vac. or is your co. just shutting down?

thats the difference, the auto industry shuts down, pays these people and then pays them for x weeks of vacation on top of that. CRAZY!

[Chris S]

Originally Posted by RACER X

is this vac. or is your co. just shutting down?

thats the difference, the auto industry shuts down, pays these people and then pay them for x weeks of vacation on top of that. CRAZY!

Usually 5 of those days (out of the 11 or so for the year) are company holidays. We get all the big holidays like 4th of July, mem, labr, t-giving, but skip the bs ones like presidents day to save up for dec.

[Rsv1000R]

Originally Posted by ducati_atx

1) Im guessing that a lawyer (one who's been through post HS education for 6-7 years) who has managed to garner enough funds to get themselves into high levels of the government is more than able to read and understand a financial statement. We arent talking about the sub 80IQ "joe sixpacks" here. In addition, I assume the days and days worth of meetings going over such things as the Big-3's finances are a little more than reading a couple CNN articles.

2) Im guessing the cost of those employees on medicare would be much less than the "primo" benefits they are currently getting. Sure, they will take a drop in their benefits, but sometimes life takes a shit on people...

Well, this was what 15 years ago, But I'd be surprised they're more knowledgable about finances now than then (they just might not be able to get away with bouncing checks)

House Banking Scandal

[unknownroad]

Originally Posted by RACER X

is this vac. or is your co. just shutting down?

thats the difference, the auto industry shuts down, pays these people and then pays them for x weeks of vacation on top of that. CRAZY!

This is sounding less like business expertise and more like jealousy over people having more vacation time than you do

The company my Mom works for also shuts down from Christmas week until after New Year's, and has for the twenty-odd years she's worked there. The owner is German (dual-citizenship), and takes a more European view on vacation time. It's not unheard-of.

Chrysler has a surplus of vehicles waiting to be sold. There's no point in running at full capacity right now.

Meanwhile, it's generally not a good idea to tell your employees that they're going to be taking a month of mandatory unpaid time-off starting- SURPRISE!- next week. People work because they need an income. If they lose a month of pay, when you start back up, you're going to be missing a lot of your best workers.

Now, without a Union contract, the company would indeed be free to tell its workers "Hey, guess what- your monthly budget is about to be cut in half! Merry Christmas, hope Santa brings you enough to cover the mortgage and electric for the month".

I'm sure that sounds just super to you, but there are quite a few people out there who would prefer not to have that happen...

[ducati_atx]

Originally Posted by unknownroad

Now, without a Union contract, the company would indeed be free to tell its workers "Hey, guess what- your monthly budget is about to be cut in half! Merry Christmas, hope Santa brings you enough to cover the mortgage and electric for the month".

Yup, its much better to keep paying them not to work while sticking ones hand out asking for more government money. To me, its just postponing them firing all the workers.

Or heaven forbid - those workers making 30/hr actually having savings so they could pay for the mortgage if shit hit the fan.

[RACER X]

Originally Posted by unknownroad

This is sounding less like business expertise and more like jealousy over people having more vacation time than you do

...

so you think more companys just close up shop for the last 2 weeks of the year then those that stay open? and lets leave retail out.

[Corey]

Originally Posted by RACER X

i heard the normally get 2 weeks during x-mas anyways, paid i'm sure........i would bet the next 2 are paid as well.

From what all the talking heads on the news are saying, the first two weeks are what happens every year. It's paid vacation. The second two weeks will be paid by unemployment benefits.

[RACER X]

Originally Posted by Corey

From what all the talking heads on the news are saying, the first two weeks are what happens every year. It's paid vacation. The second two weeks will be paid by unemployment benefits.

union unemployment?

[Chris S]

In the last tough market around '01, my company forced everyone to take 1 week unpaid time off during a quarter. You could take it anytime, and the last week's paycheck in the quarter was docked.

They're doing it again this quarter, ex. it's voluntary and from 1-5 days.

We also just got the news today that reg. Q1 raises will be postponed until Q3 (at least) to maintain competitive wages (implication being that we're overpaid vs. current market). It's a little bit of a bummer, but I'm blessed to still have a good-paying job. I wouldn't even complain about getting forced into mandatory unpaid time off now.