It was a great comfort, when we were dating, to discover Cory and I shared similar patriotism and political views. Although I tend to avoid listening to talk radio (I despise arguing), we do have stimulating discussions about current events and American ideals. Late last night and not-so-early this morning we were having another series, mostly prompted by Prop. 8 whiplash (my art school is based in San Francisco. I have to take some shrapnel when I stand up for family values). After a while we fell to the current event of the Senate considering to give the failing Big Three billions of dollars to "rescue" them.
My thought: In facing a potential bankruptcy for the all-American Detroit carmakers, it is easy to become sentimental. After all, aren't these the cars that were driving down the all-American Route 66 in its days of glory? Why would such a national legacy be on the verge of catastrophe?
It appears that Americans simply didn't want to buy the cars the companies were making in the first place. If the Senate did throw them the billions of dollars in question, it would be forcing American taxpayers to pay for the very cars that they had chosen not to buy.
Perhaps, if the manufacturers are willing to start over again, they can begin by finding out what it is their modern American customers want in a car.
2 comments:
Yeah, it doesn't make much sense for us to have to pay for something we didn't want/couldn't afford in the first place.
I am split on this one. I don't think they should get a bailout but with China and Japan sending less than stellar vehicles here with less than stellar safety ratings but are priced where Americans can afford them it is time to step up the import taxes to make the playing field a little more level. We have a tendency to complain about jobs going overseas but are unwilling (or able) to keep them here by supporting the industry by spending more. If the importing costs were more our deficit would be less and we would be able to pay less taxes so more of our dollars could be spent supporting the US economy and not foreign economies.
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