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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ild who wrote (26002)	3/20/2005 6:08:55 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 116555

thehomeblog.blogs.com This guy talks about the hidden agenda: Over at Realty Times Blanche Evens posits that the White House will be looking at the perceived profits being made in the housing market for some backdoor taxes to implement. Reducing or removing the mortgage interest tax exemption would do just that. Combine that with an increase in home ownership and you have a new tax base. Easy as pie.

To: ild who wrote (26002)	3/20/2005 6:45:11 PM
From: TH	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

ild and Mish, This is another sign of things to come across the US automotive industry. Ford will probably do the same later this year. Not too sure about Chrysler, but they are much more difficult to understand/predict after the "merger" (I laugh at this term because all the Chrysler employees were told it was a merger, and of course it was not). GM to Cut N.American White-Collar Workers NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) plans to cut its North American white-collar work force, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Sunday, less than a week after the automaker warned that 2005 earnings would fall short of its target. The cuts in salaried staff could be as deep as 28 percent in certain functions, according to the newspaper that cited industry officials and analysts. The paper did not specify a time frame for the cuts, nor did it provide an overall number for the expected job cuts. "We've had a fair amount of natural attrition for a while," said GM spokeswoman Toni Simonetti, "From time to time we've accelerated attrition. But there's no broad based across the board target." In some areas of the business, the company is looking at reductions of as much as 28 percent, she added, but noted that those cuts were in the works prior to last week's profit warning. The company said last week that earnings this year would be 80 percent below its prior forecast as a result of slumping North American auto sales. The newspaper called the cuts a prelude to health-care concessions that GM would seek from its largest union, the United Auto Workers (news - web sites). Asked if GM has opened negotiations with UAW, Simonetti said, "Suffice it to say, we have an ongoing and open dialogue with the union." story.news.yahoo.com