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This week, struggling automakers learned they won't be getting a piece of the bailout for now. The auto industry and financial experts are debating the economic effects of a possible bankruptcy in this cornerstone of American manufacturing. But what about the effect on our collective psyche? USA Today's Sharon Carty discusses how the American car resonates in American culture.
The auto industry deserves to struggle. For years they have been digging their own grave. The US people and government have given them every concession from tarrifs against foreign imports to allowing overseas manufacturing only to receive poorly built cars that do not meet the interest of the American people - or the rest of the world.
Right now I am driving an armored Toyota Landcruiser that gets better mileage than the SUV's in the domestic market because it has an effecient diesel engine.
For years I have waited for the Dodge Dakota to come out with a small and effecient Diesel engine, or Ford and GM to offer good looking cars with hybrid or high effeciency gas engines, yet they limit the market to what they believe the public wants with little or no feedback.
If the US wants to provide stimulus to auto makers, provide discounts to manufacturers like Tesla motors, who is providing a fully electric car.
I am by no means a gear-head, but I grew up watching "The A-Team," and I have no idea where you got the idea that there was a Camaro on the show. The A-Team drove around in a van--how would you fit an entire team from the Los Angeles underground inside a Camaro?
Perhaps you were thinking of "Knight Rider," but I believe that was a Trans-Am.
Just listening to the pod-cast. Not sure if it says more about how jaded I am of late, or how often I still watch the A-Team, but this appears to be the only news item recentlt that has spurred me to comment. I'm with Evan, the A-Team drove a van, which, last time I checked, is a pretty good example of early trends in carpooling by renegade soldiers of fortune. Magnum, P.I., on the other hand....
wow still waiting for "the economic effects" of the collapse of the auto industry. Are Garfield and the USA Today reporter stuck in "cultural" mode...what of the workers who will lose their jobs?
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