30 Days Of Night

Chrysler is furloughing all US plants for 30 days as of the last shift on Friday. The interesting reason behind the shutdown? No credit for people to buy cars.

"Chrysler dealers confirmed to the company at a recent meeting at its headquarters, that they have many willing buyers for Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles but are unable to close the deals, due to lack of financing," the carmaker said in an announcement. "The dealers have stated that they have lost an estimated 20% to 25% of their volume because of this credit situation."

Auto sales have been hit hard by tight credit and the struggling economy. Overall auto sales in the United States were down 37% last month compared with November 2007. Chrysler's situation was especially bad. Its sales dropped 47%.

Chrysler's financing arm, Chrysler Financial, has tightened lending terms for buyers and earlier this year, it announced it would no longer offer leases.

Remember, just over two months ago, the President assured us that everything was fine, and the recession was just all in our heads. Chrysler's all but done, as is GM. An entire American industry is now on the brink and the government has pledged trillions and trillions of dollars to fix the problem over the last nine weeks or so. Trillions.

It will not be the last industry facing extinction. America a few years from now is going to be a very different place, like the difference between 1928 and 1932. We're going to have to reinvent our entire economy from scratch. Many of the old industries and jobs they represent will vanish for good over the next few years.

Our consumer consumption economy is dying before our eyes. What will replace it? That is Obama's true test...and Bush's true legacy of disaster.