Greetings folks, first day of the workweek, and welcome to another edition of Manufacturing Monday. I had planned to put this out earlier in the day, but had to deal with a turkey situation (hint: dogs); plus other holiday-related madness. So anyways, we got some good stuff for you today. First on our highlighted list is a story on GM's board. Then we got two industrial-esc jobs updates, first on coal then in green-collar world. Finally, I want to finish off today's edition with something special, a music video! No...not me singing, but a reader sent it to me and thought you should all see it. So a shout out to Amber for bringing this to my attention, you rock! And with that we go to...the Numbers!

The Numbers

CNBC is just reporting that some sort of agreement has been reached in the Senate. Announcement to be made this afternoon.

The network is reporting that the funding will come from the $25 billion that was originally allocated for retooling. Now that money, if the deal goes through, will go to allow the automakers to meet their financial obligations. As everyone knows, the automakers have been struggling, their CEOs testifying before Congress this past week, are saying the situation hasn't been this dire in decades.

Jerome York, adviser to former GM board member, Kirk Kekorian, told Bloomberg today that the company actually has weeks left, not months. This contrasts to what CEO, Rick Wagoner has said to Congress and the Press.

America cannot survive without an industrial base.  We cannot simply be a pure service economy anymore than we can be a pure agricultural one or industrial one.  Our nation is too complex, it's needs are too large to adhere to one type of sector.  The nation would be more at risk to economic cycles if it were to simply go one route or at the very least put most of its focus on say just services.  It would be like many towns in this country where there is only one employer or one type of industry supporting the economy as a whole.  One need only read the latest news about how the City of London is not doing so well because its Financial Services Sector has gone downhill.  Now take that onto an aggregate scale.

But we have alternative car companies who cares about GM or Ford?

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another installment of Manufacturing Monday. Today we are going to cover something that has been in the news lately, General Motors.  Well to be exact, the potential bankruptcy of GM, and what it could mean to you.  For many, this is a non-issue, who cares about another car company and a failing one at that?  But indeed, it may just be that a collapse of GM could be worse than that of Lehman Brothers and AIG.  Of course we'll cover, as always, the economic indicators for the past week and what they also mean.  So without further adieu, the Numbers!

The Numbers

You ever have one of those weeks?  You know, where one bad thing leads to another.  That, by Wednesday you wish it were Friday, and by Friday you wish it were Saturday?  One of those weeks that could be summed up with those three words....what..the...fuck? That, my dear Economic Populists, has been my week.  So why bring that up at all?  I feel I owe you all an apology.  You see, every week I put out my little cruddy column, Manufacturing Monday (or Tuesday), yet this week nothing came out. Now I know I'm not one of the better bloggers out there on the web.  Far from that, and I know my econ stuff isn't the best either, that goes to the two folks who I think are the kings of that, Bonddad and Jerome a Paris.  I'm a piece of crap compared to them, a rookie, a guppy, a greenhorn, a Padawon Jedi Learner, well you get the idea.