This marks the end of 20th-century industrial America and maybe, finally, the beginning of 21st-century industrial America.
As Ford gets smaller, Michigan will get smaller. One hundred thousand people left the state in the last two years, and this will accelerate in the wake of Monday's announcement.
It really seems to infuriate a lot of Americans. They give the rich people that live on (bond) coupon clipping in resorts all over the world a full pass. But when some autoworker spends weeks or months on a system making that much money, it drives people crazy.
The union talks a tough game, but I don't think they're going to let anyone walk out. Everybody is in the same lifeboat. They're not going to start to fence with each other in a rubber lifeboat.
They've closed the productivity gap wonderfully, but they had to do so, because it's the thing they could address.
They're liquidating, they firing, they're retiring. This is a GM that's getting in shape much faster than it's ever before, in any past restructuring.
Turning over an entire labor force has never happened on this scale.
There will be another burst of gypsy moves. GM will have to move another 20,000 to 30,000 in the next two to three years. You're really going to have to get a lot of these people to retire or move back to Michigan and Ohio.
The scariest picture in town is the Hyundai Sonata. It's the best value in the automotive market. It has everything that a Honda Accord and a Toyota Camry has, and it's built in Alabama.
GM may have to enter this situation and take a good chunk of Delphi back.