Tomorrow, President Obama will begin a three-day, three-city tour highlighting the proposals he will discuss in his State of Union speech later this month. One stop on the president’s visit will be the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, “where he is expected to tout the resurgence of the domestic auto industry.”
The plant, however, will be closed according to the Detroit News “because of lagging demand for its small gasoline-powered and hybrid cars.”
The White House released the site of Wednesday’s visit late Monday night. The Detroit Free Press describes: “the president will deliver remarks recognizing the growth in the American auto and manufacturing sectors and ‘highlighting the decision to save the auto industry and the over one million jobs that went with it.'”
The plant’s workers are still getting paid, despite the temporary closing. Falling gas prices are doing no favors for retailers manufacturing hybrid automobiles. “Autoworkers on temporary layoff get most of their pay. Oil prices fell Monday below $50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the first time since April 2009, while Michigan gasoline averaged $1.91 a gallon Monday, according to AAA Michigan.”
The plant is traditionally closed during Christmas but had added an extra week to manage “capacity,” according to Ford Spokeswoman Kristina Adamski.
The Obama administration has provided over $80B in “bridge financing” that was credited with helping both Chrysler and General Motors. Ford, not so much.
After Detroit, where Obama is expected to spend about two hours, he will head to Phoenix to talk about the housing industry.
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