"At 55 years old, this isn’t what we envisioned" (auto dealers face layoffs, 60-70 hour work weeks)

[Amerigo Vespucci]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28817816/

As automobile manufacturers in Detroit and Asia struggle to salvage their businesses, and lawmakers in Washington, D.C., work to bail out the industry, car dealers in the Tempe Autoplex are living on the front lines of the auto industry’s devastating change of fortunes.

Here, the natural optimism and entrepreneurship that is essential to the car business is running up hard against the cold reality of today’s economy, which has strangled their businesses and led to layoffs and even some dealership closures.

In an industry already known for long hours and high stress, managers say the days have gotten longer, the responsibilities larger and the profit margins thinner. People who have been selling cars their entire lives are now contemplating a future very unlike the one they envisioned during the boom years, when customers were literally lining up to buy cars.

“I’m working 60-70 hours a week and I’m writing a check every month to keep the son of a bitch open. The issue is that I don’t know what it’s going to take to turn it around,” said Dick Ehret, who owns Tempe Lincoln Mercury. “At 55 years old, this isn’t exactly what we envisioned.”

[LibDemAlways]

1. I'm wondering how many of these auto dealership owners

who are now facing the failed economy voted for Bush. In case they don't remember, the "boom" years happened under Clinton. Stupid asses in this country who made the 2000 and 2004 elections close enough to steal IMO share the blame for the situation the country now finds itself in.