A big IMHO here but I blame part of the problems in the US auto industry on Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. It was Kissinger back in the early 70's that persuaded Nixon, against the strong objections of the oil companies, to allow the Shah of Iran to nationalize his oil industry. He needed money to buy military hardware ( from, you guessed it, the US military industrial complex) to protect his flank from the Russians. Funny how the "domino theory" that was a pillar of the Vietnam war happenned not in SE Asia, but in the oil rich shiekdoms of the middle east. Gas prices rose to 50¢ a gallon and lines at the pump became the norm. These circumstances were the setup that accentuated the flaws in the US auto industry. With the doubling of the price of gas many US workers used to doing long commutes found the costs of those commutes doubling, hurting family finances. All those toyotas and datsuns and volkwagens getting 25+ mpg started to look like good 2nd cars to help save gas and the family budget. All these little foreign imports were being used far more than the family car, usually a large ford, chevy, or chrysler. Odometers were hitting 80,000 miles and up with little more maintenance required than oil changes. While the family car was needing a lot of repairs at 40-50,000 miles. The big three back then wanted you to buy a new car every 3-4 years so they weren't made to last much longer than that. That was their downfall as the US consumer woke up to the fact that these rice burners lasted a lot longer and cost less to run. The US auto industry has been behind the curve ever since as the imports gained market share every year. So we can all look back and say thanks to that president and secretary of state for higher gas prices (the rise of OPEC), the eventual demise of the US auto industry, mega profits for the US military industrial complex( big republican donors), and all those extra petro dollars supporting terrorism all over the world. See it ain't all W's fault. I'd give you a LOL on that but there isn't anything funny about it.
............al
I may not agree with what you say, but have fought and will continue to fight for your right to say it. USArmy 1966-1975
