Running on Empty

To American auto execs -

Try living like the rest of us for once. Drive your own cars. Get stuck in traffic. Drive 30 miles each way, and never think about vacation or retirement. The soul you save and the company you save might be your own.

Do you really think (like the Escalade commerical says) that we want to live in our cars? If that we true, then there would be no road rage. By the way, all that commercial did was make me think that Escalades probably smell like farts.

I don't want a car that tells me where all the steak restaurants are. That's why we have cell phones and Google. Make cars reliable, safe, and energy efficient, and we'll buy them. Or is the Corolla a failure in your eyes?

So much for laissez-faire economics...While Republicans controlled Congress from 1995-2007, Detroit got its wish for the government not to legislate things like tougher CAFE standards or other measures that'd affect what the companies could sell. As a direct result, they got whipsawed and now may go under because of it. Unless, perhaps, there's a government bailout. Managements at the companies have been shortsighted, overpaid and arrogant.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again --

UAW, *beg* the Japanese to come here and open plants. The "Big Three" (ha!) are wrecks headed straight for the bottom. You may have to make concessions on benefits, true. But in the bargain you will get management that doesn't have its head up its ass.

A "Harley"-edition F-150??? Are they high? Rather than slapping together trucks that are pimped-out fantasies for auto execs, how about something we can afford to drive? How about fewer DVD players and cupholders, and more MPGs?

Nah -- why change?

The big 3 automakers have made clear for more than a decade that unless you want to buy a pick-up, SUV or a V8 sports car there is no need for you to stop by their lots. They are reaping what they have sown.