Voluntary Shutdowns: A sign of the times

After Tata Motors shut down manufacturing for a week, and others in India followed..we now have Chrysler shutting down all manufacturing for at least a month:

Chrysler said Wednesday that it will idle all of its manufacturing operations starting this Friday through at least January 19 in an effort to keep inventories more aligned with plunging U.S. demand for new cars and trucks.

How can this be good?