That Damn Sagging Economy

Two things:

1. Ford, GM, Delphi are laying off 30,000 workers and 30 million Americans have lost auto sector jobs since the 1980's (this number seems high to me, but somebody else said it, so OK, whatever). There will be more cuts in the future.

2. I learned to drive (in Driver's Ed in high school) on a Ford Taurus sedan.

How are they related? Well, let me say this first: I also rent cars fairly regularly and, but for the odd Hyundai, every car I've ever rented was American (including the most recent, a one-year-old Pontiac G6 with a persistent rattle under the hood, terrible understeer, and seats like a city bus).

Observation also tells me that 100% of American student drivers in cars with bigass "Student Driver" signs on them, learn to drive in Dodge Neons, Chevy Malibus, Ford Focuses (Foci?), and the like.

Now, to get back to it, how are these observations related to our shitty economy and, more directly, the shitty state of our homegrown auto industry?

Teenagers will eventually become automobile owners. Do you really want their first, traumatic experiences behind the wheel to come in someone else's boxy, ill-designed, unresponsive American car? I, personally, will never buy a Ford Taurus, because I recall what that car did to me as a 16-year-old.

As a national industry, doesn't the American auto sector want a young driver's first negative experience with an American car to be at the dealership, when it's too late to change your mind because you bought the fucking pile and now GM has your money ha ha ha ha ha sucker? I think so.

Plus, in another vein altogether, don't we also want our young drivers to learn on machines like Hondas that don't have squishy gas pedals, excessive road noise, better stereos than airbags, super-sensitive brakes, and confusing instrument panels? Wouldn't that make them better drivers? So, after they fob their shitty first car (American-made, as per my plan) off on some schlub, they could get a Honda or Toyota (also American-made, by the way) and really know how to drive it safely, efficiently, and responsibly.

Nah, fuck that. I love the fact that driving down the street is like being unwittingly registered in a demolition derby--and it's still a safer bet than holding a job at the GM plant.