Conspicuously absent from Paddy and Scarlet’s (Rt.66) responses has been the “why” behind GM’s demise.
Advocating and agitating for a “Buy American” program when you are unwilling and unable to address why GM went bankrupt in the first place is the worst kind of knee jerk jingoism there is.
Why not take the time and review the 1970s and 1980s and Detroit’s absolute arrogance when it came to their customers? [/quote]
I think we’ve been down this road before but, this is a deservedly long post and yours a deservedly valid point.
It is 2009.
Auto industry observers who have been around awhile might arguably admit that the 1970’s and 80’s were not the best of times for the American Auto Industry.
And, arguably, we let / helped the Japanese point that out to us ( The Big 3 ) and major strides in American quality were made.
But, with all due respect, that was pretty much 30 to 40 years ago. Almost half a century now.
There have been a lot of crummy imports of all ethnicities before, during and along the way.
American Made cars have proven to be just as good as / reliable as any of the imports for maybe 20 years or more now.
How many years does it take before one let’s go of the past and grasps the present and future of the American auto industry ?
As for the present, my original point to this post was basically, what can we as Americans do now, to ensure that what we “let” the Japanese do to us 35 years ago not happen again with Korea, India and China. Must history continue to repeat itself ?
So sports fans, poetry lovers and fellow Americanos – (just trying to lighten things up a bit).
Take a teenie, tiny, itsy-bitsy step, and join me in respectfully asking Jeff Bridges to deep six the Hyundai voice-overs, jump ship to his “alma mater” and prove, once and for all, that charity begins at home.
