The collapse of the US car market and the collapse of the economy Unemployment is on the rise and the entire global economy is in decline. The story has become all too common. If there is a negative direction to go, we are definitely capitalizing on the opportunity. Americans have become too accustomed to the inflationary period of the 1990s, and the ongoing recession is affecting almost everyone. The big three automakers (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) made massive cuts to their workforce, and the entire national job market was disrupted. My personal life has been significantly distorted by these events, after Delphi (contracted by GM) outsourced most of the work and closed 21 of 29 plants in the United States. In previous years, anyone would have been able to earn a comfortable salary working for GM since high school. Now that these jobs are gone, union wages are no longer available. The unemployed are desperate and working for a minimum wage and are therefore required to drastically change their standard of living. My father works seventy hours a week and we can barely pay the rent. For many the so-called “American dream” has been transformed. Once upon a time the goal was to get what you need to be happy, now it's just finding a job capable of supporting your family. The collapse of the American economy could be attributed to many crises plaguing our country, such as the subprime mortgage crisis. A few years ago we experienced an energy crisis where oil prices skyrocketed, and this directly led to the current crisis in the automotive industry. It could be argued that the auto crisis and the collapse of the big three automakers were solely responsible for leading to our…half of paper…mistakes that had been made before. Works Cited Boyer, Peter. "The road ahead." New Yorker 85.11 (2009), 44-56. Web.Carty, Sharon. “The plan to save the automaker presents risks for the economy.” USA Today (2009) Web."Gas prices put Detroit Three in crisis mode." MSNBC. June 1, 2008. Web. February 15, 2010. .Hornbeck, Mark. "Michigan's Long Fiscal Misery." State Legislatures 35.3 (2009), 26-29. Web."In pieces." Economist 390.8619 (2009), 63-64. Web.Klier, Thomas H. "From Tail Fins to Hybrids: How Detroit Lost Its Domination of the U.S. Auto Market." Economic Perspectives 33.2 (2009), 2-17. Web.No, Eric. "Consumers report that the best cars all Japanese choose." ABCNews.com. March 2, 2006. Web. February 14, 2010. . Web. Woodyard, Chris. “Ford reports profit for the year.” USA Today (2010) Web.