Saturday, July 04, 2009
Business / Economy / Politics / Autos
Daniel Howes is business columnist and associate business editor of The Detroit News. His column runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. From 1999 to January 2003, he was based in Germany as The News' European correspondent and automotive columnist, reporting from more than 20 countries on three continents. Before heading to Europe, Howes was senior automotive writer and an investigative and projects reporter on the business desk. He came to Detroit in 1993 from The Roanoke Times in Virginia, where he covered business, politics and higher education. He can be reached at dchowes@detnews.com or through his blog.
More on Daniel Howes
- On media: He is a regular contributor to the Paul W. Smith Show on NewsTalk 760-WJR in Detroit. He appears often on radio and television locally, in the United States and overseas.
- On education: He holds a bachelor's degree in history from the College of Wooster in Ohio, and a master's in international affairs from Columbia University.
- On awards: Winner of multiple International Wheel Awards for column writing; a four-time winner of Northwestern University's Medill award for general markets coverage; and a three-time finalist for the prestigious Gerald Loeb Awards, including an honorable mention for commentary in 2007.
Podcasts
- On the UAW-GM tentative deal
- Why the Chrysler sale means merger was a failure
- Commentary on the return of Ford's Taurus
- On whether Chrysler is a better or worse company than it was nine years ago
- On The President's meeting with CEOs from the U.S. automakers
Resources
- Detroit Renaissance: Structural Reform Agenda (PDF)
- Road to Renaissance Report (PDF)
- University of Michigan Economic Outlook (PDF)
- Michigan Future Inc.: New Agenda for a New Michigan (PDF)
- U-M's Millenium Project: Roadmap to Michigan's Future
- Brookings Institution study: The Vital Center (PDF)
- Michigan Emergency Fiscal Memo
Blog: Business / The Economy / Politics
'Our country is in ruins because we don't make anything anymore'
Toyota Motor Corp., the Japanese juggernaut, may be losing more money than General Motors Corp. or Ford Motor Co. (at least in the first quarter). It may be falling … Continued
- Where's the Mayor? Shootings demand action, higher profile
- Bankruptcy 'R Us ... another one bites the dust. Detroit shrugs?
- Perils ahead in GM bankruptcy include liquidation, pension shortfall
- In a refreshing change, the Big Mitten wins a rare economic two-fer
- MonCon's plea signals feds targeting DTW's 'culture of corruption'
- Who says the president's people don't want to 'run GM?'
- More in Daniel Howes' Blog
- Join the discussion in Daniel Howes' Forum
The Howes Blog Roll
More in The Detroit News blogs
Washington Bureau Blog
Gordon Trowbridge: Gettysburg, Pa. -- The day before Independence Day seemed like just the right time to take the drive about two miles north of Washington, to the spot where, 146 years … Continued
Autos: Scott Burgess' Blog
Scott Burgess: Cash for Clunkers is coming -- so where should consumers go to reap the benefits of not having bought a new car over the past decade?
Autobytel has put together a … Continued
Nolan Finley's Blog
Nolan Finley: Gays always seem to get thrown under the bus by the politicians who are supposed to love them.
President Bill Clinton disappointed his gay supporters with "Don't … Continued
Brutal, unforgiving change was inevitable
Years ago, in a fit of organizational zeal, I customized an online stock chart to get a quick scan of important Michigan companies -- 10 of them in all, including the three automakers, five auto suppliers, a retailer and one bank. - 07/03/2009
Toyota's down, but not out
Could Toyota be mortal after all? For the third month in a row, Ford outsold the Japanese juggernaut in the United States, still a crucial and rich market amid this nagging recession. - 07/02/2009
Detroit gets chance to rise from ashes
It took Monica Conyers, guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery and soon a former member of the City Council, to show that Detroit does have public standards after all. - 06/30/2009
Crossing bridge of state control
Paid my $4 to cross the river into Canada last weekend, courtesy of the allegedly rapacious capitalist who owns the Ambassador Bridge. He's trying to build a new one. - 06/26/2009
Too early for Ford to celebrate success
Most athletes know it's dangerous to celebrate victory before crossing the finish line. Apparently the lesson's a little harder to learn in the auto industry -- even now, amid the carnage. - 06/25/2009
Auto woes are America's woes
On the final day of the National Summit, touted as a forum to chart a path to global competitiveness in the 21st century, Michigan's unemployment rate hit 14.1%. - 06/18/2009
U.S. letting manufacturing slip away
Forget the bailouts and the billions of taxpayer dollars pumped into the rescue of Detroit's auto industry -- the crisis in American manufacturing is far from over. - 06/17/2009
'Conversation' lacks federal heavy hitters
The National Summit bills itself as a "conversation" between business, government, academic and labor leaders to craft a "to-do list" for America in the global 21st century. - 06/16/2009
Summit may hold hope for Detroit
It wasn't supposed to be like this -- a National Summit to chart a collaborative course for the future amid what has become the creative destruction of Detroit and its defining auto industry. But it's where we are. - 06/15/2009
Meddling with GM? Not us, feds say
Don't know what's more laughable: federal officials, including a president of the United States, who say they don't want to run General Motors but do. Or a GM CEO who denies altering business decisions under political duress but does. - 06/12/2009
Old look to the new Chrysler
The new Chrysler, sprung from bankruptcy Wednesday, is not the old Chrysler. Or is it? It's leaner, smaller and lighter by 789 dealers. It's got a new CEO, Sergio Marchionne, a promoted deputy CEO, Jim Press, and the makings of a new board. - 06/11/2009
In Supreme Court, Chrysler bankruptcy paves new legal road
It doesn't take a law degree to understand why the fate of Chrysler and its ostensibly life-saving deal with Fiat now rests with the U.S. Supreme Court. - 06/09/2009
GOP falls flat with its auto arguments
Congressional Republicans at some point might break through with their serial laments on the metastasizing auto bailouts-cum-bankruptcy -- but they haven't yet. - 06/05/2009
Commentary: Ford gives model for recovery
There's one powerful counterargument to the gloomy script of inevitable Detroit decline -- Ford Motor Co., the cross-town rival little more than two years ago given up for dead, mortgaged to the hilt, dumping brands and bleeding market share. - 06/04/2009
Commentary: Day of infamy
There's no doubting the historic import of GM's bankruptcy filing Monday, the brutal humbling of an American corporate icon and confirmation that taxpayers in the United States and Canada will own 72% of an automaker to be considered an arm of government -- until it isn't. - 06/02/2009
GM bankruptcy is epic fall
Growing up in Flint, Dee Allen remembers the day in 1958 when General Motors Corp. chose his hometown to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The giant automaker, America's symbol of post-war prosperity, then was approaching the zenith of its power and wealth. - 06/01/2009
Michigan can't wait until 2011 for reform
Down here in the real world, far from the world's longest porch and the corporate swag of leaner times, reality keeps encroaching -- a novel concept for the 1,400 or so folks who schlep up Interstate 75 for the Detroit Regional Chamber's annual confab and accomplish very little. - 05/29/2009
Suppliers feel the heat from GM's impending bankruptcy
As many as 1,400 suppliers to General Motors today expect to receive their cut of roughly $2 billion in payments from the beleaguered automaker, teetering near a historic bankruptcy filing likely to come as early as Monday. - 05/28/2009
Lawmakers posture on Chapter 11
What did they expect from the creative destruction of Detroit Auto -- more business as usual? - 05/22/2009
GM's Chapter 11 is inevitable
The voice on the other end of the line put it simply: Don't expect anything before June 1. But the executive's tone spoke clarity and inevitability. There's not much "probable" about it anymore, folks -- General Motors Corp., barring some unforeseen miracle, will declare bankruptcy, altering forever the foundation of the Detroit and global auto industries. - 05/21/2009
Commentary: President Obama's actions bring big change to auto industry
Two years ago this month, not-yet President Barack Obama laid it all out. Detroit would mass produce fuel-efficient cars, he told the Economic Club, invoking America's response to the onset of World War II. He was right, because the government-turned-chief-lender now can require it. And it will. - 05/19/2009
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing inherits a multitude of trouble
Welcome to chaos, Mr. Mayor. Your largest private employers, in bankruptcy or close to it, are cutting jobs, plants and dealerships. Your marquee annual event, the North American International Auto Show, is poised to decamp to the suburbs. - 05/15/2009
Auto dealer angst: Waiting for the ax to fall
For 70 years, Scott Allen's family has been selling Cadillacs in Southern California. As early as today, he could learn from General Motors Corp. whether that family tradition will be allowed to continue. He's not alone. - 05/14/2009
Pulte's focus includes recovery
Don't tell anyone, but the nation's soon-to-be largest homebuilder, Pulte Homes Inc., thinks home prices finally may be poised to hit bottom -- and it plans to be there to profit from the rebound. - 05/12/2009
