Cars cars cars

I was bouncing around one of my favorite forum sites, when the topic of "Whats your opinion on the Auto Industry Bail out?" Came along, I decided to copy/paste my post, and share it here.

The core thing about it, is that you have four groups floating around screwing everything up.

First, you have the physical corporate heads at the big four who couldn't tell a spark plug from a hole in the ground, but can tell you what kind of wine is being poured on the private jet. These money grubbing slimeballs wouldn't know a decent car if they were sitting on it. They're corporate heads know nothing about engineering, manufacturing, or even consumer science. What they do know is how to lobby big government, wow thier investors, and spend cash like it all belongs to them.

secondly, you have vastly overpaid and overcushed union workers who insist on maintaining their bennies come hell or highwater. Compare the UAW to the airline industry unions, who took paycuts and benefit cuts in order to ensure that the airlines wouldn't go under. Airline mechanics can take paycuts, but auto factory techs can't? WTF.

The third trouble group is the government itself. We could have nice cars, like they do in foreign countries, if it wasn't for our own governments safety nazis and enviro weinies. Its the enviro wienies who shoot down diesel powered trucks and cars. Its the safety nazis who shoot down all the small car designs (Why not just make a law banning them from interstates, effectively keeping them on surface roads with a max speed of 55MPH?)

Finally, you have the airheaded consumers who keep buying the crap that the big four roll out. Soccer moms who insist that they need a seven passenger four wheel drive SUV to take Timmy to his ballet recitals. Why do my idiot neighbors drive F-350 Diesel club cabs with dualies on them? They live in an apartment complex for God sakes! I know they don't own a boat or even a trailer. The only thing they ever put in the bed is groceries! The one guy who owns a motorcycle loads it up in the bed of his small size truck when he needs to take it somewhere.

In the meantime, us smart consumers sit with out dreams unfulfilled.....

I want a small diesel truck. Something like a Toyota Tacoma or Chevy Colorado. But even though there are thousands in third world nations, I can't get one. The government enviro nuts say they aren't clean enough, and the big four only sells gasoline. What I'd really like is one of those Japanese mini trucks that has four wheel drive, and tops out at 55 mph. But the safety nuts are afraid I'll wreck it on the interstate, and refuse to allow them to be licensed for highway use.

I personally think that the big three should be cut apart. Let the useless sections die off, let the rest diversify and grow. I miss the time when buying a chevy truck meant you were getting a tough and reliable vehicle, buying a dodge car meant you were getting a cheapy little car that could get you from A to B. Buying a pontiac or mercury meant you were getting a nifty little speedster with just a bit more oomph then you'd expect, and buying a Cadillac or Lincoln assured you that you were riding in the lap of luxury. Now they're all the same cars, with different badges. General Motors has turned into the Electronic Arts of the Automotive world. They assimiliate great companies (Like Saturn and Saab, and even Hummer, in its own wierd oversized way) and force those companies to manufacture Borgish vehicular crap. Then they get confused when the fans revolt and buy foreign.