(Or, Why should I buy an American car?? )
Michigan,, the worst economy in the US. Corporate greed and incompetence combined with a labor movement that pushed too hard and got too much is largely responsible. There is plenty of blame to throw around but one thing I am sick of hearing is this "you must buy American" attitude that is seems to be coming around again (remember the 70's?). What is a foreign car anyway, given that we now are living in the new world of a Global Economy??
Large corporations (that just keep getting larger by mergers and aquisitions) and our own government are supporting this transistion (it seems more like a drag race) to the new Global Economy.. Yet our governmental leaders and their CEO Cronies all fail to realize that one of the largest new opportunies in this new economy is the entire "Green" industry. Grean houses, Green buildings, green cars, schools, buses, you name it. The technology, the conversion to get to these new sources of energy and the consulting services alone will one day be large enough to rival the automotive industry for world dominance. Yet American policy makers want to ignore this entire opportunity so as to allow their corporate re-election funders continue to cash in on their traditional lines of energy business - ENERGY/OIL and CRAPPY GAS GUZZLING CARS -
SIDE TRACK/TANGENT ALERT!! - Back to the point...
If corporations are gaining due to this globalization shift, shouldn't we American consumers be able to also benefit from it? The largest corporations in the US and the world are playing (and profiting) on the global playing field, so why can't we consumers play as well?? (People call me a traitor for owning a japanese vehicle just so you understand the basis for my rant here). Shouldn't we be able to buy affordable, high quality cars that get 30+ miles to the gallon, last for 150,000 + with no major repairs and are extremely safe?? The only cars I know that meet these criteria are foreign.. But I ask the question again, what is a foreign car? My Subaru is made in Lafayette Indiana, and my neighbors' Ford pick up is made in Canada.
Why should I be loyal to any American company any more? I had a Jeep once, but they are now owned by Diamler Chrysler, a HUGE German conglomerate. Should I never buy a Jeep again now, even though they are still made in Toledo, by UAW workers?? If it is okay to still buy the Jeep, then is it still okay to buy the Chrysler M300 that is made in Canada? If you dont know already, you should know that MANY other Ford and GM vehicles are made outside the US. So I say SCREW GM and Ford, as they already decided to screw us decades ago.
I don't buy any of this "guilting of the American consumer". The corporate greed that views the global economy as the next way to increase their profit margin has gotten us where we are now.. Consumers should look out for themselves and their families, and make the best decision for their lives... ,, every man for himself!!... and then, there will finally be ARNARCHY!! and then the REVOLUTION!!!
VIVA LA REVOLUTION~!~!~!
3 comments:
I'm with ya, brother.
Right now we have a Honda Accord (Japanese, made in Ohio) and a Dodge Caravan with a Mitubishi engine.
What's even funnier about the Caravan is that, after owning two of them, I never replaced the engines but I replaced the transmissions three times (so far.)
It's not that the American worker is incapable, or that our engineers suck. I believe it's the business model, the focus on quarterly earnings, the loyalty to the shareholders and not the consumers that causes American manufacturers to be so short-sided.
Er, that was supposed to be "short-sighted."
Word, Eddie; word
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