"Did he say American Express Howard? American American Express has failed now too?"  "No Eleanor, he said American excess, now let's read on and see what he is talking about." 

What I am referring to, is the impending death of the American, and quite likely, the world automobile industry as we know it. My pal the Grey-Beard Loon, and I on occasion, will bemoan the fact that our society is fraught with wretched excess and I am certain, as probably is he, that if this country goes to the dogs, wretched excess will be at the very root of it. Nowhere else, is there a more telling or better example, save for maybe housing, of a part of the American dream, that turned into a nightmare, yet has been glorified and perpetuated as a "must save" industry, than the auto industry. I have harped on this before, and now that part of my tax money may well be earmarked to bail out thieves once again, I have a few very basic simple questions I need to ask.

Genaral Motors, Ford and Chrysler. The Big Three. Detroit. Motown. Detroit has been flagging and sagging for so many years. First they blamed it on the glut of Japanese imports, and pumped in more money to try to compete, and touted "American Made", and "Quality is Job #1". That worked fine until some smart marketing folks figured out that the qualiity was slipping and that the imports from Japan, and now Europe, were actually better built and rated better in safety tests. And then the Americans found themselves in a downturn, and actually had to start dismantling Detroit a bit and scale back and streamline operations in the name of saving shareholders' money.......Oops, now what? Circle the wagons and maybe we had better start talking to Uncle Sam about a tax break here and there and start looking for some creative financing. So models died. Then we found ourselves trying to emulate the imports, and compete with them, but all the while, still overlooking the all too obvious.

That obvious is that  the automobile, like the starter home and striving to claw our way up the ladder with "more and newer and bigger and better", is just what the money people who are responsible for this mess we are in, have groomed us as a society to believe.

Now for my few questions. How is it that a simple tool in our lives has been transformed into such a symbol of status? It is a ride to work. I remember when one car was enough in a family. Now I see them filling a garage, the driveway and one or two parked on the street.....all at the same house. How is it that something that used to be what we would save a down payment up for, while driving the old one until it cratered, has now become something we are willing to take what amounts to a second mortgage on, "just to have the latest and coolest" model?  It has been drilled and marketed into us for so long now, and money made to seem that it grows on trees by "no credit ckeck", "nothing down" bankers, that some actually have started to believe it. Well pick up the last two weeks front pages, if you want to revisit and see where this kind of mentality has landed us. What happened to building things that last and making do with what we have for a few years, rather than having to have the "latest model" yearly? Was there really a need for a new model each and every year? No, simply put, NO! My truck is 11 years old and I have changed the oil and washed it on occasion, and it is serving me as well as the day I bought it. Maybe not as pretty and shiny, but what the hell. I don't really have any need to impress anyone, or to hold it out there as a symbol of my manhood, or as my symbol of my place on the ladder of life.

I'm sorry folks, but until we start thinking of making things to function and to last as opposed to sell and dazzle, this road to hell we are on will be taking us as a nation, closer and closer to the end. No amount of interest cuts and bailouts will reverse that. The only thing that will is to live by the principles and ideals this country was founded on and to show some pride in our work and work ethic, and to strangle the corporations that run our government, and to take it back from them. I say we start with the automobile industry. Screw 'em. Let 'em fail. They brought this upon themselves. Next, maybe we can take on the pharmaceutical industry, or the insurance thieves. What we need is more doctors, not more feel good drugs for invented maladies.