There is talk of building GM cars in china more cheaply than in the U.S., and then these cars will be imported to the U.S. to be sold here. To be sold to whom? We, all of us, will not have enough value in our dollars in order to buy them. There will be few who will be able to buy used cars which are 5 or less years old. Where is the quality there? Where is the value of the dollar there?

These are politicos trying to push fluff on all of us in order for these same to be re-elected. I feal sorry for all of us. That sorry does NOT extend to the Wall Street ones who knew what was happening, nor to the Presidents Clinton and Bush who goaded Fannie and Freddie into those mortgages, nor to any and all mortgage brokers who knew but were too avaricious to care. My sympathy is not with those of us who took these loans, which i did. My sympathy is with those of us around the world who are completely blameless. The hardworking people who scarcely know what home ownership is. I am sympathetic to those who scarcely have an idea of what a next meal is.

This reminds me of someone who once stole bread. Did not that, Sir, start a revolution?

All of us need to know, some to remember, that God is not going to ask us how much money we have, but did we sell our soul for it.

Here are the facts that must be addressed in the automobile marketplace or the manufacturing problems here in America will never be solved.
(a) In your Grandfather’s time and in your Father’s time, American automobile manufacturers DESIGNED and BUILT vehicles and if the customers liked them they purchased the product. The customer’s appetite for various models was conditioned by heavy mainstream advertising.

(b) There are NEW Market demographics in the American automobile marketplace today! Generation X does not respond to the relentless drumbeat of national advertising and Grandpa and Dad are no longer the largest component of the current marketplace. The profile of the dominate consumer in the current car marketplace spotlights an individual who is much more likely to get excited about the newest Apple iphone than they are about the latest vehicular offerings from GM or Chrysler.

(c) There is no IDENTITY FACTOR between automobiles and the personalities of Generation X consumers. Years ago Grandpa and Dad were proud to be known as “a Cadillac man”, or “a Dodge man”, or maybe “a Mustang man”, etc. The car they drove became an integral part of how other people identified them, and hence became part of their own sense of self identification. This form of identity connection DOES NOT EXIST with generation X. They see their car primarily as a source of pleasant, DEPENDABLE transportation and that’s it, no more, no less. Therefore in this respect, since the car is viewed exclusively as a utility, price is a very big issue.

(d) Current and future generations will not buy an automobile just because it gets 40 to 50 MPG. They won’t buy a car just because it has a 300 watt surround sound system inside. They will not pay attention to endless commercials and testimonies by movie stars about how great a certain car is. Generation X will only pay attention if the car you are selling addresses their sensibilities and presently NO American or foreign car manufacturer knows how to reach these folks.

(e) GM must reach out to these folks via the medium enjoyed by Generation X and y, i.e., YouTube, Facebook, Tweeter, the internet, etc to GET IDEAS FOR THE DESIGN OF THE CAR that these people actually WANT! This requires INVOLVEMENT of the whole U.S. of A. GM & the Government must plan and execute these public appeal events like a military operation using the medium of TV. Maybe they can engage the American Idol people to help with the planning and execution of this critical outreach. Without some revolutionary marketing approach such as this, GM’s rebirth will be short lived.

I will still drive a Hyandia.