| The Detroit News is reporting: Among the eight members named Friday to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry and the 10 senior policy aides who will assist them in their work, two own American models. Add the Treasury Department's special adviser to the task force and the total jumps to three.
Now that's interesting. If you click the link, you can see the whole list of specific makes and models, and the names of those team members who don't own a car. (Interestingly, the non-car-owners are Carol Browner and Stephen Chu.) These are the people charged with evaluating the GM and Chrylser bailout plans. Do you think that ownership of foreign cars, or the choice to not own a car, both personal choices, will impact these folks ability to be dispassionate in their considerations? I'm not sure. I'd like to believe that if I were on the Task Force, I would work very hard to inhale all of the information, ask the right questions, and endeavor to balance the needs of America in general with those of the workers, the stockholders, and the companies themselves. I would like to believe that I would be 100% completely objective. But somewhere in the back of my mind would be the knowledge that there is a reason I've never bought an American car in my decades of car buying. My understanding that Detroit has never made a car that would "fit" me - I need to be able to see over the steering wheel, and have my feet reach the pedals, and that's not Detroit's strong suit. I've bought little cars not only because they are more comfortable for me, but because they get good mileage (which I've cared about even when gas was cheap). In the interest of full disclosure, I currently drive a 2008 Honda Fit. What about you? |
.jpg)