This New Brand of Patriotism

Question:  If the US Government bails out the domestic auto industry and we all effectively become shareholders in GM, Ford and Chrysler, does that mean it would be unpatriotic to buy a Honda?

Probably not.  Every dependable consumer survey consistently ranks import quality, as a whole, above domestic quality.  The choice of an import over a domestic is more a matter of overall quality and value than patriotism, no matter what Toby Keith may tell you.  Unlike banks, the auto industry isn't suffering because it overextended itself on bad loans.  The Big Three are hurting because they horribly misread their target consumers while their Japanese counterparts understood us perfectly.  They offered us what we wanted at a price we could afford.  They spent large sums of money improving the quality of their interiors while the Big Three developed bigger engines and larger wheelbases. 

I think, in this case, the free market is working extremely well.  The Big Three offered a product that was out of sync with market desires.  Imports filled that void.

Most of the major import brands (Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai) operate factories here in the US.  If the Big Three failed, there will be pain.  There will be a lot of unemployed people.  But I wager that the Toyotas of the world would be willing to pick up the slack.  They may even recapitalize some of the Big Three factories.  They already have the vehicles we want--small cars, sedans and crossovers with good gas mileage and defensible quality.  Why should we loan the Big Three billions so they can reverse engineer what the import brands have already figured out?  We didn't bail out the electronics industry when it was overrun by superior Asian imports.  Why should we bail out the automakers?

By next year, however, I imagine we'll all be part owners of Ford, GM and Chrysler.  We will have a financial stake in the cars that they produce.  Consider it a tax to keep 2.5 million people employed.  The next time you see an Employee pricing deal at the GM dealership don't consider it an incentive.  We all work for them--we deserve that employee discount.  In fact, you should walk in there like you own the place.