Let Detroit go the way of the dodo

November 17, 8:24 PMDC Corporate Ethics ExaminerJim Cunningham

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I once heard someone say, “The best thing you can do for the American auto industry is buy a Japanese car”, meaning if you bought cars from the competition it would force the American car makers to make what people wanted to buy. Unfortunately, only about half of people took that advice and purchased reliable, economical automobiles made elsewhere. The other half (a few just to spite environmentalists) bought pickup trucks and SUVs. When gas prices went up and people wanted to trade in their American-made gas guzzlers for American-made hybrids, there were none to be found. The shelves were bare. Remember the waiting lists for hybrids at the local dealer? (But rumor had it you could get Hummers “buy one get one free”)

But remember, when you bail someone out of jail, there is no guarantee he won't jump bail, and even less of a guarantee he won't ultimately end up back in jail anyway.”

So here we are, stuck with an auto industry that refused to evolve and about 3 million people depending on that industry to keep their jobs. It’s a bad reason to keep a willfully incompetent industry afloat. As a general rule progressives like me are pretty pro-union, but they, too, were perfectly content making cars nobody wanted – “Hey who cares what we’re building as long as we’re getting paid, right? Why bring it up and start trouble?” What happens to people’s jobs in other industries when their American companies can’t keep up with their foreign counterparts? I know somebody who got laid off by a computer part manufacturer back when Japan was kicking our butts in technology. He never did get his job back. Ironically, he now sells cars. But isn’t that what we do when our employers fail? We go where the work is. Bring on the green jobs! Give the auto workers dibs on the windmill-making jobs. They can just rename their union the Windmill Maker’s Union. The ones that are left can work for the foreign manufacturers that have plants in the US. They’re going to have to step up production to meet the new demand.

 
Like our soon to be US auto industry, Dodo birds went extinct.

As far as the industry itself, let it fail. I wish I could blame this all on the Republicans. I would expect it from them. But, as you can see from the current reports the Democrats, too (perhaps especially), are shamefully in bed with this anti-environmental, global-warming denying industry that has been spending a small fortune on lobbying each year so Congress would keep the CAFÉ standards pitifully low (a pathetic 20% over ten years) so Detroit can continue manufacturing gas guzzlers while making a half-hearted attempt to innovate. Sure, you’re thinking, “But what about all those flex-fuel vehicles they made?” Well, they made those to take advantage of a loophole in the CAFÉ standards  – instead of raising fuel economy, they make ‘em flex fuel capable instead.

For Progressives, in my opinion, it all boils down to this. When it comes to our nation’s addiction to giant pickup trucks and SUVs, Detroit is our meth lab in a trailer park. Want to wipe out the majority of them in one fell swoop? Let Detroit go!