My rule: “Talk like you know even if you don’t”
May 28, 2008 (Wednesday)
Having been employed in an automobile assembly plant many years ago, I am aware of problems associated with an abrupt change in the tastes and habits of those who buy the automobiles, trucks, suv’s, etc. etc.
Much has changed about manufacturing since my days with GM 52 years ago, but some of the procedures I’m sure are very much the same. For example, a model changeover that involves drastic restyling involves changing so many things that the plants must be shut down to retool. Now that robotics plays such a big part, robotic tools must be reprogrammed, and, I’m sure, some of the tools must be replaced with others of a different type. I’m just guessing about these things, but, considering the way it used to be done, I feel like I’m not completely wrong.
In other words, it is time-consuming and very costly for automobile manufacturers to make substantive changes to their product. If yesterday’s blog was anywhere near the ball park in its suggestions that the price of fuel will result in new types of automobiles, the impact upon the automobile industry may be profound if consumer preferences suddenly and dramatically change.
The sudden shift upward in fuel prices is affecting everyone in ways not completely understood. Some experts are saying it is a “bubble” which will burst suddenly, just like the “dot.com” bubble burst. We’ll see. If that happens, and oil prices suddenly drop, it will bring a situation that cannot help but throw the economy into a “tizzie.” I don’t know what that means. Don’t ask.
I suggest that we all need to pray about this kind of stuff. Some of us remember the Great Depression, the oil bust, and the dot.com debacle. We know by experience that our economy affects our lives, our families, our homes, our churches, just about everything. It’s worth praying about as the Lord leads you.