 On January 20th, 2017 Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States, during his run for president against Democrat Hillary Clinton the election was a close call and many were hopeful for the first woman to be president. From the beginning, President Trump's election has been viewed critically by many political leaders and citizens of the United States. President Trump has made a statement that he will build a wall on the southern border to keep illegal immigrants and terrorists out of the United States. Many professionals and celebrities have made the comment that not everyone that comes into the United States are terrorists and drug lords but President Trump has refused to believe them. Enforcing the idea of a 1,000 mile long wall from Arizona to Texas to keep thousands of famlies from coming to the United States. The wall could take up to 8 billion dollars to build according to nbcnews and millions to take care of every year taking funding away from important departments.
President Trump recently has declared a state of national emergency regarding the 8 billion dollar wall he hopes to build, after President Trump proposed the amount of money the wall will take to build, Congress passed a bill only allowing 1.375 billion to be used causing President Trump to consider the national emergency. The Pentagon announced they would send an extra 3,750 troops to the wall for more protection. Congress is on the verge of formally repudiating President Trump's national emergency making it a historic first and many agree with this idea. Many celebrities have tweeted comments such as "Speaking of borders, I do believe loving people know that regardless of politics, there are some lines you do not cross. Protecting children seems to be one we can all agree on."- Jennifer Nettles along with many others tweeting similar posts. A national emergency can be declared by the government during three different situations civil unrest, disaster, or armed conflict. There have been 59 national emergencies in U.S. history and 31 of them have been in effect for many years. Some of the National Emergencies that are still in effect today are the national emergency with respect to Iran in effect because of the Iran hostage crisis and was put into effect on November 14, 1979, and the national emergency with respect to prohibiting certain transactions with respect to the development of Iranian Petroleum Resources this was put in to effect in March of 1995 along with 29 other emergencies still active today these are just a few. Most of the national emergencies still in effect are active because the U.S. is still considered to be in a state of crisis. Story by Barret Bryson link  Closing the awards season this year, the 91st Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, made history in many ways. From daring fashion statements to setting new records, the 2019 Oscars didn’t fail to impress us. On Sunday night at 8:00 pm the curtains rose on a smoke-filled stage. Emerging from the background, world famous guitarist Brian May emerges with frontman Adam Lambert to open the show with Queen’s first live TV performance since 1985. Performing songs “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” brought the awards ceremony to life. When the performance ended, stars Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Maya Rudolph open the show and announce that there will be no host for the 91st Academy Awards. This hasn’t happened in 30 years. Even without a host, the show turned into one of the most memorable, record-breaking Oscar ceremonies ever held. Here are some of the highlights of the night!
Records One of the most monumental records set was "Black Panther" production designer Hannah Beachler’s win. She was the first African-American winner in the production design category. Her speech was tearful and inspiring, saying “I give this strength to all of those who come next to keep going and to never give up and when you think it’s impossible just remember this piece of advice I got from a very wise woman: I did my best, and my best is good enough.” Legendary director Spike Lee also won his first competitive Oscar for “BlacKkKlansman,” even after being discouraged for not winning any direction awards for one of his biggest films, “Malcolm X” (1992). This was such a big moment for Lee. After he heard his name, he ran up to the stage and jumped up onto Samual L. Jackson for a huge hug! The room was ecstatic from the pure energy Spike Lee brought onto the stage. Drama After Lada Gaga won the Oscar for best original song with “Shallow” featured in “A Star Is Born,” she stunned the crowd with a live performance of her award-winning song alongside Bradley Cooper, her costar. Throughout the whole song, all viewers felt a strong sense of chemistry between the two and questioned whether there was a secret romance between them. The day after the performance Lady Gaga tells Randee Dawn, a reporter for ‘Today.com,’ “Yes, people saw love, and guess what? That's what we wanted you to see.” On a much funnier note, Mellisa McCarthy surprised the crowd when she confidently walked on stage wearing a gown covered in bunny stuffed animals. It was a tribute to the nominated film “The Favourite.” McCarthy managed to walk on to the stage and hand out the Oscar for best costume design with a straight face! International The biggest international record set this year was for "Roma." This movie became the first film from Mexico to win the Oscar for best foreign language film. The dialogue in “Roma” is in Spanish and Mixtec. Another new record set this year was Rami Malek receiving the award for best actor. This was his first nomination and first win. During his acceptance speech, Malek says, "I am the son of immigrants from Egypt. I am a first generation American, and part of my story is being written right now and I could not be more grateful." This makes him the first Arab American to win the best actor award at the Oscars. Fashion Feature A Hollywood award show wouldn’t be complete without a red carpet report! On Sunday night, singer Billy Porter stole the show with his tuxedo top the flowed into a magnificent gown. He later told stunned reporters that he wasn’t part of the drag community, he was simply a “man in a dress.” This red carpet outfit has hopefully opened up a new world to all boys watching, teaching them that stereotypes about boys not being able to wear skirts and dresses are unnecessary. Billy Porter taught everyone to move past gender stereotypes and do what others were afraid to do. After all, he ended up being the star of the red carpet at the 2019 Oscars! Story by Lily Crum Sources: https://abc7chicago.com/entertainment/women-win-record-number-of-oscars;-see-2019s-oscars-firsts/5155000/ https://www.cnet.com/news/oscars-2019-winners-best-picture-best-director-green-book-reactions-black-panther-bohemian-rhapsody/ https://www.vogue.com/article/billy-porter-oscars-red-carpet-gown-christian-sirian https://www.bustle.com/p/hannah-beachler-is-the-first-black-woman-to-win-oscar-for-production-design-her-speech-is-so-moving-16051138 https://www.today.com/popculture/lady-gaga-talks-oscars-performance-bradley-cooper-shatters-our-dreams-t149566 https://people.com/movies/oscars-2019-melissa-mccarthy-rabbit-dress-presenting-costume-design/ https://www.bustle.com/p/rami-maleks-2019-oscars-speech-for-bohemian-rhapsody-honored-his-immigrant-parents-16051557  This shows the man leaving with the shark disguised and in a baby carriage. On Sunday, July 29, 2018, in an aquarium in San Antonio, workers discovered that one of their sharks went missing out of their ‘interactive touch tanks’. The shark was a 16-inch female horn shark which is part of the bull shark family. Her name was Miss. Helen. She was good with kids and being touched and that is why she was in the touch tank. This also explains why she didn’t fight back or bite the men when she was getting ‘sharknapped’. After this was brought to the attention of the aquarium manager, they went through every piece of security footage from the time frame of when the shark was stolen. This then turned the attention to the security team and how they didn’t see anything wrong.
After going through all the security footage, the aquarium called the police to take over the investigation. The police then found the three suspects, brought them into custody, and then questioned them. Once they were confronted, all three confessed. Also according to abc news 13 eyewitness news the three men staked out for more than an hour by the exhibit. Now, this confused the police. Why didn’t the employee’s see anything wrong with the men? According to abc news 13 eyewitness news the men distracted the employees by dumping a bucket of bleach into the aquariums cold water filtration system. All this happening right by at least two different employee’s. Currently the shark, Miss. Helen is back safe and sound in the aquarium. In the end Miss. Helen was stolen at about two pm. She was found alive in a makeshift tank in a garage in a San Antonio home. Investigators say that if the thieves didn’t know what they were doing the situation would have ended very differently. As of now one of the men has been charged with theft and as for the other two suspects charges are still pending. The three men got away with stealing the shark by putting it in a baby carriage and disguising her. The three men's names have not yet been released. Story by Hadley Wallace SOURCE FOR PICTURE: switchyourmood.com  I'm sure you've heard of the 2018-2019 government shutdown. But I bet you didn't know, unfortunately, there was $3 billion that will never be recovered from the shutdown. It was the longest government shutdown in the history of the U.S.A. Ms. Kelly Spencer, a contractor at the Justice Department, said she thought she wouldn't be able to pay her mortgage because she was one of the many people that didn't get paid during the government shutdown. Many other positions got affected also, for example, as said by PayScale, the department of education, health, and human health services, transportation, and more didn't get paid either.
The government shutdown took an economic toll, and cost the U.S. about $11 Billion, as said by New York Times. According to The WSJ President Trump wants to take money from the defense budget for funding for the wall. He also signed a bill that will fund the government for 3 weeks, while they negotiate the security on the southern border. The reason the government shutdown was because President Trump and the Republicans wanted to build a wall between the U.S.A. and Mexico for National Security. On the other side, the Democrats disagreed they did not want the wall. CNN said that our President, Donald Trump got offered $2.5 billion from his vice president and chief of staff, for the wall but turned it down because he needed $5.6 billion. In conclusion, the U.S. has lost a lot of money to the government shutdown. Most employees that work for the government did not get paid. The government is on a bill to fund them, and President Donald Trump wants to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Story by Rowen Dollar-Raynolds SOURCE FOR PICTURE: Picture  A 3-year-old, Casey Lynn Hathaway, was found on January 24th after claiming he had hung out with a bear for two days, according to CNN. The three-year-old, who is just over 2 feet tall, disappeared from his grandmother’s house in Craven County near New Bern. According to ABC 11, the boy disappeared on January 22nd. He was playing outside with two other boys and according to Fox News, the others went inside but he did not. The authorities first learned of Casey’s disappearance 45 minutes later when his family called the police. In the call to the police, Casey’s great-grandmother states that Casey usually didn’t go missing and that he’d been in the woods for at least 45 minutes at the time of the call. Many organizations, including the US government, joined in the search, including the FBI, the Craven County Sheriff’s Office, the Chocowinity EMS, NCIS, and the Marine Corps.
At first, the searchers were worried that the temperatures, which were dipping near freezing, would work against them and Casey. ABC 11 reports that Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes was worried that the boy was not dressed for the weather. The first night dropped to 20 degrees Fahrenheit and on the second night, Craven County received 2 inches of rain, CNN writes. Major David McFadyen of the Craven County Sheriff’s Office says that there are bears in the woods of the county, but there’s no evidence to prove one of them stayed the nights with the boy. McFayden says that all that matters was that something was there to comfort him during the three days. He says, “We are very pleased he had that type of comfort. There were very brutal conditions out there.” Many volunteers turned out for the search to find Casey, but they were reluctantly turned away; the conditions were so bad. Hendrix Valenzuela, a Multi-Hazard Field Planner with the DPS, reports, by Thursday late evening, our hopes to find him in a well-being state was diminishing. According to historical search and rescue data, our window of opportunity was closing. And eventually with any operations the situation shifts from search and rescue to recovery. (Meaning they then would search for a body, not a live person) He also says that the searchers had never mentioned the “possible negative outcome” to one another but knew deep inside that it was probable that Casey wouldn’t survive another night. Casey was found on January 24th in good condition, the FBI confirms. The searchers had received numerous tips and followed them all, Hughes reported. "It was folks giving us tips and leads," Hughes said. "We hit every one of them immediately and it paid off." A search team followed a tip from a woman walking her dog, reporting that she’d heard a child calling out in the woods, and found Casey Lynn Hathaway in “a tangle of vines and thorns.” Reportedly, Shane Grier, the captain of the Chocowinity EMS, found him along with Valenzuela. “We responded to a tip and found him by voice," Grier said. "Disentangled him from some briars and brought him out." Grier said as soon as he got to the location, he heard Casey calling for his mom. "He was cold. He was verbal," Grier said. "Considering the conditions, I think he's doing very well." Sheriff Hughes believes that Casey was not in the same area the entire time. "I think he moved around," Hughes said. The FBI says that he is in good health and is talking and has been reunited with his family. “We were at the right time and right place, and glad we could follow that lead to reunite Casey with his family,” said Valenzuela. “The entire search over three days was a team effort, all the agencies did a heck of a job.” Casey’s mother, Brittany Hathaway, says that Casey is, “He’s good, he’s good, he’s up and talking, he’s already asking to watch Netflix” and “eating Cheetos, nuggets, and watching ‘PAW Patrol.’” He’s currently being treated at Carolina East Medical Center, where he is being evaluated and will undergo a forensic psychological exam this week, CNN reports. On January 25th, the boy’s aunt posted an update on the Casey on social media. “Casey is healthy, smiling and talking,” Breanna Hathaway wrote. “He said he hung out with a bear for two days God sent him a friend to keep him safe. God is a good God. Miracles do happen.” In any case, thanks to the professional searchers and volunteers alike who helped find Casey and get him back to his family safe! Oh, and the bear. You can’t forget the bear. Story by Caroline Barton SOURCE FOR PICTURES: https://www.ncdps.gov/blog/2019/01/25/search-three-year-old-boy-ends-successfully-thanks-teamwork  How are they numbered?
The United States Interstate sign is a red, white and blue shield and has the word “interstate” on the top, the state housing the interstate, and the route number. Interstates are one, two, or three digit numbers. If a interstate has a “0” at the end, (examples: 40, 70, 90) the interstate is running from east to west. If an interstate has a “5” at the end, (examples: 5, 15, 35, 95) it runs from south to north. The interstates are numbered going from west to east. Interstate 5 is on the west coast, I-95 is on the east. Interstate 45 is running up the middle of the country. The east-west interstates are numbered starting with the south. Interstate 10 is running at the bottom of the country, while interstate 90 is running at the top. I-40 is running through the middle. If the interstate is a three-digit number, then it is a route that either is a spur or a circle around a specific space. (examples: 495, 240, 305) The end two numbers depends on what the parent interstate is. For example, if there is a route coming off of interstate 94, a three digit route may be 794. The first number depends on whether the interstate is a circle route (connects back to the parent interstate twice, making a circle) or a spur route (has only one end connecting to the parent route). If the first number is a even number, then it is a loop route. (examples: 440, 836, 205) If the first number is a odd number, it is a spur route. (examples: 770, 515, 926). There are other routes that do not end with a “0” or “5”. It is still the same rule, if the last number is a odd number, it runs north to south, if it is a even number it runs east to west, it is just it does not span the whole country. Business routes Business routes are loops or spurs around a city that have the same parent number as the interstate it is coming off of. The sign is a green shield with the word “business” at the top, whether it is a loop or spur, and the parent route number. Examples Here are some real-world examples of what I just explained above. I-40 I-40 is probably the best example because it covers everything I just talked about. I-40 goes from California to North Carolina, (east to west) therefore the last digit is a zero. There are many spur or loop routes coming off of Interstate 40. An example would be in Nashville, Tennessee. There is a I-840 and I-440. They are both loop routes, because the first digit is an even number. In Fort Smith, Arkansas, there is an interstate 540. This interstate is a spur route and only has one end connecting to I-40. In Winston Salem, North Carolina, there is a I-40 Business loop around the city. I-95 I-95 is a interstate running from Florida to Maine, going north to south on the east coast, hence the name, 95. Interstate 95 goes the whole way up the country, going from the most southern point of Florida (Miami) to the border of Maine with New Brunswick, Canada. Interstate 95 goes through a total of 14 states, not including Washington D.C. It goes through many large cities such as Miami, Richmond, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Portland. I-95 is the parent of 24 interstate routes. There are two city loops and one spur route coming off of I-95 just in Washington, D.C. I-27 I-27 goes south from Amarillo to Lubbock, Texas. Since it does not end with a “0” or a “5”, it does not span the whole country. The end number is a odd number, so that means it runs north to south. Facts
US Highways The US highway system is over 160,000 miles in total that is somewhat similar to the US interstate system. The US highway system is also very different. The odd numbers are usually run north to south, (example: US-21 runs from Columbia, SC to Charlotte, NC, which is north to south.) which is the same as the interstate system. What isn’t the same is that the smaller numbers in the US highway system start on the east. (US-1 starts in Jacksonville, FL and US-101 starts in Los Angeles, CA). The even numbers, just like the interstate system, run from east to west, but unlike the interstates, the lower number is on the canadian border while the higher ones are at the gulf coast and Mexico. (US 2 is against the Canada border while US-98 is at the bottom of the country. The most major routes usually end with a 0 or 1, but there are many exceptions to this (US-51 goes from the southern part of Louisiana to almost the Michigan-Wisconsin border. An acception to this would be US-25 which runs from Georgia to Ohio. There are also, just like the interstates, spur, loop and business routes. There are also “alternate” routes and “direction” routes. Business routes (US highways) Business routes are pretty much exactly the same as interstate business routes, they are spur or loop routes off of a major US highway. The only thing that is different is, well, there’s a lot more of them. In a town called Sedan, Kansas with about 1,000 people (as of 2017), has a business route going through it (Business US-166). Spur/loop/parent routes Another thing that US highways and Interstates have in common is loop, spur, and parent routes. They work a little bit differently though. Just like interstates, a 3-digit US highway has a parent route. You find the parent route by looking at the last two numbers of the 3-digit highway (Example: the parent route of route 643 would be 43). The 3-digit route does not necessarily have to connect directly to the parent route. It can run closely beside it or just be connected by other routes. Technically, route 936 could be across the country from route 36, it would just have to be connected by other highways. US-395 runs closely to the left of US-95. US-422 is directly connected to US-22 in Pennsylvania. US-431 is only connected to US-31 by other routes, not directly. Facts
Story by Ryan Oast Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Numbered_Highway_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System Image credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Greensboro_road_signs.jpg  The government shutdown has been active for one month so far - the longest in history. To learn more about the shutdown itself please look to another article here on cougar news which will hopefully explain why it's happening etc.
The government shutdown has made many government-owned buildings close down temporarily. Specifics include; Museums, Embassies, The Pentagon, National Archives, and National Parks. There are most likely more but my focus is on National Parks and, before you ask, yes ALL government buildings are closed down until the shutdown is lifted. The outrage of Park fans is that even some people could be in danger, as people who are invading national parks are getting injured because staff aren't on duty to stop people from getting hurt. For example, a person walking their dog in Yosemite ended up having to chase it and fell off into Nevada Fall. This wouldn't have happened if staff were there to tell him to not take his dog. Including this incident, there have been 7 deaths and 4 of which have been suicides, and of course, we give our condolences to those families of all of the victims. Not only are people in danger but the wildlife in these National Parks are being hurt by other people and some VERY rare trees and plant life, that have been the reason that the sites became Nation Parks in the first place. The most important type of which is the rare Joshua Trees, which as IFLScience says ¨Will take some national parks years to recover¨. It has now been a month, the longest in history so far, and while it continues it will be a hard record to break. Another park near us is Blue Ridge Parkway which, had to put up a BRPA on their website to warn people to be careful. We also ask all people who plan to enter national parks to be careful. Story by Skye Robertson Sources: https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/about-brpa/ https://www.npca.org/articles/2029-how-is-the-partial-government-shutdown-affecting-national-parks https://www.thedailybeast.com/government-shutdown-means-history-is-on-hold-at-national-parks  The death penalty is a very controversial subject. Many people believe that it is nowhere near acceptable for the government to kill anybody for any reason. On the other hand, though many people believe that if you committed a crime so terrible it is only ok for you to be put to death. This is an unbiased telling of the rules and regulations of North Carolinas death penalty laws. Many states don't use the death penalty because they believe it is a cruel and unfair punishment and therefore they have stopped using it. Although many other states still use capital punishment. 30 states use capital punishment and it is illegal in 20 states. It is still a legal punishment in North Carolina though it has not been used since 2006.
In North Carolina, the death penalty has been around since the state was a British colony though back in that time people were hung. In 2009 the supreme court decided that the death penalty would be disproportionate for any offense against an individual that did not involve the death of the victim. This means only murder suspects can be on death row. This penalty is very controversial and has not been used much in the past 10-15 years. The death penalty can only be given for forms of murder such as various forms of murder such as murder committed during a drug-related death, drive-by shooting, murder during a kidnapping, and murder for hire. The death penalty is also called capital punishment. Many people who are death row never get executed or die of natural cause while awaiting execution. This occurs with around one-fourth of death row inmates. The last person In North Carolina to be executed was in 2006 in North Carolina. Many sources say that there is a good chance that Samuel Flippen is the last person to be executed in NC, he was executed in 2006 for the murder of his 2-year-old stepdaughter. The autopsy of his daughter Britney Hutton revealed that she was beaten to death because she wouldn't stop crying, after Samuel Flippen’s wife at the time, Tina Flippen, had left for work around 9:15. He was executed by lethal injection at the age of 37. He was executed on the eighteenth day of August in the year 2006 and he mouthed the words “I love you”, to his parents outside of the window. He said those final words before dying at 2:11 am. He was convicted of first-degree murder and executed after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the request to stop the execution. Story by Brooke Darby Sources: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800140.html?noredirect=on https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article215100635.html  If you have been watching the news or been on social media lately you have probably heard about the partial government shutdown that we are in right now. Most people have started to wonder about the history of government shutdowns, and just like you probably have I've started my own research. I'm going to give you the rundown on the government shutdown, what causes them, and the difference between a partial and full shutdown.
I'm going to start by telling you the difference between a partial and full shutdown and brief details on the wall itself. A partial government shutdown is when Congress doesn't pass funding or the president doesn't sign them before the previous appropriation doesn't run out. A partial government shutdown can also happen when the president and Congress can't agree on funding for something, for example, our current shutdown, which happened because the president wants 5.7 billion dollars for border security. The 5.7 billion would let President Trump build another 237 miles of steel fencing, and that's adding to the 580 miles in place. But this wouldn't cover the whole border, as there would still be 1,140 miles left because the border is 1,954 miles long. So the difference between a partial and full shutdown is that during a partial government shutdown about 25% of the government is shut down, places like national forests, museums, and non-essential personnel. But places like jails, IRS, TSA, FAA are still open, the thing is the people who work at those places have to work but are not being paid to do so and about 1 out of 16 workers have said they can not come to work. But a full government shutdown is when everything government related is shutdown This is all according to my various sources CNN, The Washington Post, and Investopedia. Now I am going to list all partial and full shutdowns in U.S. history in total there have been 21 government shutdowns all for either very short or long periods of time. I am going to list each shutdown and the president that they happened with. The first ever government shutdown was in 1976 with President Gerald Ford it was 10 days long and lasted from September 30th to October 11th. The next few shutdowns were with President Jimmy Carter who had a total of 5 government shutdowns 3 in 1977, 1 in 1978 and the last in 1979, the first was 12 days the last 11 days and the longest was 18 days. Next was President Ronald Reagan who had 8 his fist in 1981 and last in 1987. He had 2 shutdowns in 1982, 1 in 1983 another 2 in 1984 and one in 1986. His longest was only 3 days and his shortest was legit 1 day long! Up next we have President George H.W. Bush who only had 1 shutdown in his presidential career which was in 1990 and 3 days long from October 5th to 9th. President Bill Clinton had 2 shutdowns one in 1995 and the last 1995-1996. His first one was 5 days long November 13th-19th, and the last one was the longest government shutdown in America but not anymore, it was 21 days long and crossed on over into the new year from December 5th to January 6th. Next, we have President Barack Obama who had one shutdown that lasted 16 days from October 1st to the 14th in 2013. Now last but not least we have our current President, President Donald Trump who has 3 government shutdowns each of them was in 2018, the first lasted one day which was February 9th, the second was Jan 20th to 23rd which was 3 days long. The last which is the shutdown that we are in right now which started on December 22 and it has not ended yet, this is all according to ThoughtCo. So far the shutdown has not ended yet, and the democrats dont want the wall and the President does, he would like 5.7 billion dollars for funding for the wall. Journalists have asked President Trump if he will declare a national emergency and his response was “I can do it if I want,” … “I may do it.” If he was to declare a national emergency he could get funding without going through Congress and use Pentagon funding to build the remainder of the wall, another option has the Army Corps of Engineers build it. This is according to CBS News. Now I am going to talk about who has been affected by this shutdown, many government agencies have been affected including Homeland Security, Justice, State and Treasury, and many others have been affected too like the Environmental Protection Agency and even NASA. Many people are working without pay or staying home without pay about 800,000 are just living without pay. Some have to work and will be repaid when our government opens back up, but others are being sent home with no such chance of being repaid. This is all according to the Washington Post again. Thank you for reading my story on the government shutdown and all it's many details and history and have a great rest of your day. Story by Diakhou Gaye  On Monday, November 26th, 2018 the General Motors co. (GM) said they will cut 14,700 salaried workers as of December 2019 according to the USA today. This cut is 15% of there salaried workforce. This closes up to 7 factories in North America according to the Chicago Tribune. This is the first minor cut that the GM has made since the great recession, the great recession was in 2008 when the stock market crashed but not to bad. In case you do not know what the GM is... GM is the general motors company. It makes cars and sells them under names such as GMC Chevrolet Cadillac and bike.
This is obviously not good for the economy. The COE Mary Barra said, “to get in front of while the company is strong and the company is strong”. The GM, however, does not see the economic backlash from this, in the trade war between us china and Europe, this might raise the prices of imported vehicles. The GM, however, did not close any plants in China. President Trump urges GM to close a plant in China instead of Ohio. This is terrible for the people that the GM is firing. This is like the reason that the economy is so weak because there are not enough jobs these new cuts just prove that. I emailed a corporate relations manager and he responded. I asked him for more information about the cuts and this is what he responded with: "As painful as this is, GM must make decisions to ensure the company’s future, and ensure we can continue to provide good manufacturing jobs here in the U.S. for years to come. You may have noticed the popularity of pickups and SUVs on the roads today. This in part is due to a shift that many consumers have made toward trucks and away from some types of car models – especially compact cars. As a result, the company will discontinue the production of some car models next year. At the same time, GM is investing in new technologies to expand in electric vehicles and introduce self-driving vehicles. To sum up, shifts are taking place in the market that unfortunately result in some types of products declining in demand, while others grow. And a big transformation is taking place that will expand new kinds of vehicles in the future." This proves a point that the GM has not been doing as well in the last few months and this would be worse for our economy than the cuts and the GM plans to modernize their cars by as stated in the Email. One thing that I pick up in the email is that some cars they made were not doing good one of those being the Chevrolet Volt. This was one of there fuel-efficient cars. They are stoping the production of the volt and making more fuel heavy SUVs and pickup trucks. This the email stated is to preserve the future of the GM. The GM’s cuts might hurt there business because people will not support the choices the GM made for multiple reasons and I see why but in the end this was to stop them from going out of business. That would hurt the economy more. I hope in the future that the GM will reopen the factories that they closed. Story by Garrison Hunt |
