Search

Results

Abandoned automobiles

05 Apr 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Rick Wagoner, forced by the Obama administration to resign as head of General Motors Corporation (GM) on Monday, might relate to the psalmist's lament, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" The administration put both GM and Chrysler on notice that they won't get another round of federal aid unless they come up with a more aggressive restructuring plan, and has made it clear they're prepared to let the companies fall into bankruptcy. Fritz Henderson, GM's new chief executive, said Tuesday that more of the automaker's plants could close and bankruptcy is "more probable" as GM works to meet new, tougher requirements for government aid. In his first news conference as CEO, Henderson said he expects GM would "need to take further measures" beyond the five plants the company said it would shutter when it submitted a restructuring plan to the government last month. GM also is likely to offer another buyout program to workers as it looks to cut labor costs, Henderson said. In an effort to increase sales, GM launched a "Total Confidence" program that will make car payments for customers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. Ford Motor Co. announced a similar program Tuesday. Meanwhile, sales of new vehicles in the U.S. fell dramatically in March but picked up in the month's final week, giving automakers reason to hope the market may be at or near its bottom. "We think we're getting close to turning the corner," Ford's senior United States economist, Emily Kolinski Morris, said. Michael C. DiGiovanni, GM's chief sales analyst, said vehicle sales could start improving even before the overall economy does, provided consumers begin to see positive signs like more stable home prices. Source: Articles by Nick Bunkley for the New York Times and Kimberly S. Johnson and Tom Krisher for the Associated Press

automakers emily kolinski morris cars total confidence bankruptcy fritz henderson general motors corporation rick wagoner bailout chrysler ford michael c digiovanni
Clunker of an idea fueling a recovery?

09 Aug 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Lord saved the afflicted one from his distress, says the psalmist this Sunday. The unexpectedly popular "cash-for-clunkers" incentive plan may be doing the same for the distressed auto industry. Some environmentalists, however, are not entirely pleased. Ford Motor Company's July sales rose, while the positions of General Motors and Toyota also improved, in a sign that the worst might be behind the beleaguered industry. The incentive plan has proven so popular that its initial funding of $1 billion ran out in a week. There was every indication that lawmakers would extend the program with $2 billion of additional funding before leaving Washington this weekend for their August break. The extra funding would give as many as a half-million more Americans the chance to grab the new car incentives through September. Cash-for-clunkers may be popular, but it isn't necessarily environmentally friendly, critics say. They are not happy that the money to extend the program will come out of $6 billion the Department of Energy received from the federal stimulus plan that was supposed to fund renewable energy start-ups, such as companies that build lightweight wind turbines, design new ways to store energy on electric grids, and create cheap solar panels for rooftops. "If you're looking at it from the perspective of growing a green economy, spending money on innovative green technology is a better use," said Carol Lee Brown, senior manager for the transportation program at Ceres, a Boston-based environmental group. Preliminary figures from the Department of Transportation suggest that drivers are mostly opting for cars that get good gas mileage, data that has helped win over some original opponents of the plan. Source: Articles by Ken Thomas and Laurie Kellman for the Associated Press, Nancy Cook for Newsweek, and the Los Angeles Times

ford general motors cars cash for clunkers environmentalists toyota automobile industry carol lee brown ceres
Converting the Volt into a bestseller

16 Aug 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

We hear in this Sunday's reading from the Book of Proverbs that "Wisdom has built her house." General Motors Corp. (GM) is betting the house on the Chevrolet Volt, its plug-in hybrid due into production in late 2010. GM hopes early tests indicating a whopping 230 m.p.g. fuel efficiency in city driving will result in strong demand for the car. The Volt will be the "first mass-produced vehicle to claim more than 100 miles per gallon composite fuel economy," GM boasted. "From the data we've seen, many Chevy Volt drivers may be able to be in pure electric mode on a daily basis without having to use any gas," said GM chief executive Fritz Henderson. The model is expected to travel up to 40 miles on electricity from a single battery charge, according to GM. Nearly eight of 10 Americans commute less than that distance, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. Source: An article by Amandine Ambregni for Agence France Presse

general motors fritz henderson chevrolet volt hybrid cars
Small comfort in face of high gas prices

05 Jun 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Everything of mine is yours,” Jesus prays to the Father during his farewell discourse to his disciples in the gospel reading for the Seventh Sunday of Easter. Memorial Day weekend kicks off the traditional summer travel season, but high gas prices have consumers repeating Jesus’ line as they turn over their cash at the pump. A positive by-product: Small efficient cars are back in vogue. Gasoline costs $1 per gallon more than it did last year, and Wall Street speculators have as much or more to do with that than any of the oil companies or OPEC, analysts said. "There won't be another drop in the price of gasoline this weekend and it's due to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley," Mark Meyer, president of Keck Energy, said before the holiday weekend. Goldman and Morgan, both major investors in crude oil markets, issued forecasts last week of higher crude oil prices this summer even as prices at the pump in some areas began to descend. The price of oil promptly rose more than $1 a barrel in the next two trading days on exchanges. "What a crazy system we have," said Meyer. "People resist paying an extra 5 cents per gallon in gas tax to fix the highways, but we allow speculators to raise the price of gasoline by 50 cents a gallon." There is an upside, however, to higher gas prices. By refocusing on small cars and de-emphasizing the gas-guzzlers that had long sustained the auto industry, General Motors and Ford in particular are preserving jobs and positioning themselves to prosper, industry watchers said. Their efforts are already paying off in the marketplace. Nearly one in four vehicles sold in the United States in April was a compact or subcompact car, compared with one in eight a decade ago. Of the small cars sold in April, about 27 percent were American models, compared with 20 percent a year earlier. “There is a less-is-more mentality,” said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of the auto research site Edmunds.com. “The market demand and receptivity for these vehicles just didn’t exist four or five years ago.” Sources: Articles by Bill Vlasic for the New York Times and Dan Piller for USA TODAY

cars goldman sachs jeremy anwyl mark meyer morgan stanley gas prices
Motor City revs up sales

04 Mar 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus is transformed in a dazzling manner in front of Peter, James, and John in this Sunday’s gospel story of the Transfiguration. Three years after the U.S. auto industry nearly collapsed, automakers have transformed their businesses and are reporting dazzling sales numbers. The happy result for autoworkers, many out of work for years: 38,000 jobs added in the last year with at least 13,000 more on the way. The hiring is good news for communities around the country that have seen hundreds of thousands of manufacturing positions disappear since 2005. If sales hit 15 million by 2015, as some experts predict, the three Detroit automakers could hire another 20,000 people, noted Sean McAlinden, chief economist for the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "You can only squeeze so much out of the same amount of people," said Itay Michaeli, an auto analyst at Citi Investment Research. But there's a downside. The newfound success is straining the factory network of Detroit automakers as well as the companies that make the thousands of parts that go into each vehicle. That could lead to shortages that drive up prices. It also has auto executives in a quandary. They got into trouble in the first place largely because their costs were too high. Now they fear adding too many workers. Still, the strengthening demand is undeniable. Foreign carmakers are also shifting production to the U.S. because of higher sales and the weak dollar, which cuts the profits they get from selling vehicles exported to America. Nissan is adding workers in Tennessee. Toyota just hired staff at a new plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi. Honda is hiring in Alabama and Ohio. Hyundai and Kia plants in Alabama and Georgia are running flat out but can’t meet demand for some models. Source: An article by Tom Krisher for the Associated Press

detroit automakers cars jobs itay michaeli sean mcalinden
Reviewing European votive offerings

13 May 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

When the Holy Spirit descends on Cornelius’ Gentile household, Peter and the Jerusalem community learn that “God shows no partiality.” Elections, however, are all about partiality, and this past weekend voters in Greece and France chastised their respective ruling parties and sent a strong message of Euro-discontent, rattling markets.In France, François Hollande, a Socialist who campaigned on an anti-austerity platform, pushed out President Nicolas Sarkozy, bringing to an end a staunch partnership with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that has been at the heart of Europe's austerity drive.Greek voters' rejection of pro-bailout political parties in Sunday's election has raised the chances of Greece leaving the euro. Even in Germany, where many taxpayers who are angry at bailouts for other governments welcome austerity measures, local elections in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein improved the standing of opposition Social Democrats and expressed their skepticism of coordinated European fiscal policy. Another vote this weekend in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, will probably continue this trend.“Germans are now predominantly of the opinion that they would be better off if Greece left the euro zone,” said Carsten Hefeker, a professor of economics and an expert on the euro at the University of Siegen. “If the country really is continuing on the path they are taking now, it would be hard to justify keeping them in. How do you deal with a country that says we don’t want to keep any of the commitments we have made?” Sources: Articles by Dina Kyriakidou, Nigel Stephenson, and Edward Krudy for Reuters,Ian Bremmer for ABC News, and Nicholas Kulish and Liz Alderman for the New York Times

angela merkel france nicolas sarkozy greece germany austerity eurozone carsten hefeker francois hollande
How a "growing" population threatens resources

24 Jun 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist this Sunday praises God for having been “knit in my mother’s womb” and having a frame that was “wonderfully made.” Many frames these days are carrying around more weight than is good for them—or the planet. The increasing levels of obesity worldwide could have the same impact on global resources as an extra one billion people, researchers said. Investigators from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated the total weight of people on the planet and found the U.S. had the highest average. Although having only 6 percent of the global population, the U.S. accounts for more than a third of the world’s obese population. By contrast, while Asia has 61 percent of the global population, it only accounts for 13 percent of the weight of the world due to obesity. Using World Health Organization data from 2005, the scientists worked out that the average global body weight was 137 pounds. But there were huge regional differences. In North America, the average was 178 pounds, while in Asia it was 127 pounds. As one of the authors of the paper, Prof. Ian Roberts, put it: “When people think about environmental sustainability, they immediately focus on population. Actually, when it comes down to it, it’s not how many mouths there are to feed, it’s how much flesh there is on the planet. “If every country in the world had the same level of fatness that we see in the U.S., in weight terms that would be like an extra billion people of world average body mass,” said Roberts. But he cautioned against finger-pointing. “One of the problems with definitions of obesity is that it fosters a ‘them and us’ ideal. Actually, we’re all getting fatter.” Roberts said that the increasing level of obesity is indicative of the car-culture growing worldwide. “One of the most important determinants of average body mass index is motor vehicle gas consumption per capita . . . people eat but they move very little because they drive everywhere.” Source: An article by Matt McGrath for BBC World Service

obesity cars united states weight
Homily stories

07 Dec 2008 - Second Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

When Henry Ford put the Model T on the first assembly line, he boasted that you could have it in any color you wanted–as long as it was black. Since those early days, imagine how many cars have been built and how many different designs and colors have been offered. Every year car enthusiasts await each new model eagerly. It is interesting that there is a trend these days to make new cars look vaguely like some classic older models, a “retro” look, it is called. The new Volkswagen Beetle, Chrysler’s PT Cruiser, and new Ford Thunderbirds are examples of this trend. Isaiah bombards our senses with all sorts of images and models: filled valleys, leveled mountains, fiery prophets, gentle shepherds. They are all familiar to us but were new when Isaiah prophesied. At the same time, we are to patiently await the new heaven and earth the Messiah will bring, says Peter, even if it takes a thousand years. Mark gives us a “retro” prophet, an Old Testament figure to begin his New Testament gospel, a character out of synch with his time. But isn’t that the real message of Advent? What is new is old. God has always loved us. The Messiah is the ultimate sign of that love. And what is old is new. The message of salvation is as fresh today as it was 2,000 years ago. God’s promise of love remains for us if we remain faithful to God. Advent is what brings the old and new together, like John the Baptizer.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

past cars advent

Restricted