Sunday, February 8, 2009

Dinosaur industries?

Remember when Bush was handing out tax incentives for people to drive bigger, heavier cars? I'm referring to the tax write-off businesses could get on small trucks---in practice, often SUVs.

Eight years of that, and the U.S. auto industry still can't make a profit. Perhaps they should simply scrap it and start from scratch. Electric sports-car maker Tesla is reportedly following more of a computer-industry paradigm. And the likes of Cirrus and Eclipse have revolutionized the once moribund general aviation industry by similarly throwing away the established playbook.

India can put cars on the road for $1500 each. How much longer can U.S. citizens compete in the world economy if they're paying ten times that for transportation, as well as for housing and probably food too. There's a reason everything is made in China now.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

one of my instructors likes to say America has been voting via dollars since the 1970s. he thinks the businesses and the government should pay attention to the ballots cast with each car purchase.