Uh-Oh

[A Theist]

You are a fat and lazy people who can't make cars that don't rust in a week, and nobody anywhere else in the world would bother to buy one.

Jon, your assertion falls a little short of the facts.

1. Fat. I won’t argue that one.
2. Lazy. American workers are among the most productive in the world. In 2011 American workers ranked 4th in productivity behind only the Czech Republic, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea. Please note that our productivity is better than China, India, Japan and Germany.
3. Rusty cars. Please find below a just taken picture of the undercarriage of my 13 year old Chevrolet truck. During the 13 plus years I have owned this truck I have put 2 set of tires on it, replaced a $300 power window motor, a couple of running light bulbs and a $2.50 plastic catch in the tailgate latch mechanism. Other than that nothing but routine maintenance. I wouldn't think twice about using it to haul a 5000 lb trailer 1000 miles. In fact, I just did a few months ago.
4. US automobile exports. In 2011 the US exported nearly $50 billion worth of passenger vehicles. That number doesn’t include another $40 billion in automotive accessories or commercial vehicle sales that exceed those of passenger cars.

Nice...
I'd like to add that I'm still driving a 1980 F-100 pick up, 300 cid I-6. Still going strong....with Headman headers, Edelbrock 500 cfm carburetor, Offenhauser intake, MSD ingnition and a few other things added to the engine...just routine maintenance...never had any major issues with the drive train....

[The Grand Nudger]

Yes they would have to find somebody else to give their money too.

They would have to find someone else to subsidize their development. The value of their currency is another thing that they rely on us (and finagling) to maintain. We have a sort of symbiotic relationship going on, economically speaking. We get cheap shit, they get our money. They want our money more than they want their own cheap shit...and we, apparently, want their cheap shit more than we want our money.

[frankiej]

Jonb, get it right, it is the electronics on an American car that are the shitty part.

[DeistPaladin]

Post script. In years to come when America is looked back on I wonder what will be remembered, The Egyptians Art. The Greeks philosophy. Romans Architecture, Even the French can boast a sophisticated culture, America all I can think of of the top of my head is the Hamburger.

Up until the 90s, I'd hoped we would be remembered as the power that helped put together an international body of nations and steer the world in the direction of international law. Empires always rise and fall, our number is bound to turn up sooner or later, but I'd hoped we'd be remembers as a superpower that didn't just indulge in imperialism (we've admittedly had done our share of that) but also thought beyond its own interests to bring the world together.

And then W Bush came along.

[jonb]

Look and weep, The British Car of the future!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJfSS0ZXYdo

[popeyespappy]

Jonb, get it right, it is the electronics on an American car that are the shitty part.

I'm pretty sure the bulbs on my Chevrolet were made in Taiwan.