I listen to Sirius talk radio and this morning, at 5:50am while on my way to work, heard a caller tell Wilkow that he has it on good authority that Ford is planning on closing three engine manufacturing plants in Detroit, but Ford will be waiting until after the Novemeber election. He then went on to estimate that these closings will put 200,000 people out of a job. Has anyone heard anything about this?
At this point, it must be treated as an unsubstantiated rumor with no basis in fact, as far as I know. Jim Patrick
Maybe we should call Rush Limbaugh and find out the true facts.
Or you could simply Google news articles..... I don't find any rumor of any Michigan plant closings, only Cleveland and European ones.
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/05/ford_to_close_cleveland_engi ne.html
And Where might these three engine plants in Detroit be?
Ford does not have any engine plants in Detroit and there are only two engine plants in Michigan.
Note: I am a fellow Model T restorer and do not presume to represent or speak on behalf of the Ford Motor Company.
Radio talk shows are almost as good a source of information as the internet.
A lot of our Ford workers have been on a 4 day week for a long time, 400 sacked only last week and a parts supplying company bank-rupt and closed.
Tom: you are confusing the rumor with facts! "No Ford engine plants in Detroit". (Grin.)
Do you also get tired of the bogus stories wrapped around true pix?
Here are a few that come to mind:
"A hundred years ago.." It's been around a dozen years, with sometimes an update of the pic of the Ford, and statistics that don't change.
The American who retires to Portugal and finds a hundred collector cars in his newly acquired barn.
The pix of Pearl Harbor supposedly recently found in a Brownie in a footlocker.
"The regional jet with a big hole above the pilot's head from a lightning strike while airborne." It was actually a feeder cable that burned up on the ground.
It goes on and on, and is going to get far worse with the political superpacs slinging s--tuff. A clue is whether the story is dated, and properly referenced.
I haven't decided which one aggravates me the most..
I am a retiree from Sharonville Trans plant, but I keep a close ear inside the plant, and I have not heard of it.
Oh forgot, If the Cleveland is closing, Maybe the Lima engine plant is on the list?? But like I said, I havent heard that
Ralph, don't forget the series of pictures "taken by an Israeli satellite" showing the space shuttle Columbia exploding. Of course it didn't "explode", it disintegrated on reentry, and the photos were movie stills. And of course there's the famous "Boycott these Godless atheistic dollar coins" email urging people to refuse using the coins because they don't have "In God We Trust" on them. (They do). Credulous people constantly swallow phony internet crap and pass it on as fact. Mencken would appreciate the internet.
"The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth." - H.L. Mencken
The whole thing about the rumor is the magnitude of the numbers. 200000 is roughly equivalent to the worldwide employment at Ford.
I am also assuming that the caller was taking into account that if an engine plant closed, an equal number of people at Captain Taco in Brookville would have their jobs jeopardized as would the laundry suppliers, parts suppliers, nearby gas stations, etc. I just don't see this as plausible.
One piece of good news. While I was sitting this evening having $1.50 coney dogs at the bar that is waddling distance from my garage, Channel 4 came on and announced that Ford's Van Dyke Transmission in the northeast suburb of Sterling Heights is hiring 225 people to its ranks in order build a new hybrid electric transmission. A similar story on 950AM used the word "insourced". That sure has a nice ring to it.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120802/AUTO0102/208020449/1148/auto01/Ford- s-Van-Dyke-plant-adds-225-jobs-hybrid-transmission-capacity
A little OT
Good information comes from Dick Morris Reports
You can send your thoughts or poles to your reps. in each state.
I have had two letters answered by my state reps and congressmen this past week.
One I might have chosen will not be. The third has never responded--------because of that he is out of my thinking!
A real good one to read---its long is agenda 21
After reading lots of the new thinking is explained, Just die after you turn 75!! What a joke for Obama care.
I think its going to get lots worse before much changes.