"US construction and mining equipment maker Caterpillar has taken steps to cut around 20,000 jobs, amid falling sales and profits.
It said 5,000 jobs will be reduced in the first quarter, while around 15,000 jobs have already been eliminated.
It employs 112,000 people worldwide, including 10,000 people in the UK.
The majority of the job cuts will be in support and management, but the company is also implementing a shortened working weeks and factory shutdowns."
BBC
Our government is always touting the latest and greatest surge in the housing market as proof the economy is turning around. The only thing these numbers have proven is that if you give people money to buy houses, they'll buy houses. Of course, they will be buying houses that are already built and have been on the market so long that the prices have dropped to bargain basement levels. The bankers (of course) made money and the builders at least were able to move some inventory, most likely at a loss.
The real truth is in the story above. Caterpillar can't move its equipment because the REAL economy has ground to a halt. If construction was really starting to move away from deaths door, builders would be buying equipment. They aren't. And they don't intend to anytime in the remotely distant future.
I just wish that we could trust anything the government tells us. It wears on me trying to figure out the truth every time I hear a public official open his mouth. Or even worse, publish numbers and charts.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment