Bailout Watch 408: "The Cars of Tomorrow [have to Be] Built Here, By Americans for Americans"

John Horner said: Plus, what if Japan, Europe and the Asian Tigers wanted to retaliate against US trade? Couldn’t the US simply start pulling back the defensive umbrella we pay for on behalf of those countries and tell them to start spending their own money and blood to defend themselves? Instead of closing military bases in the US, how about closing those in German and South Korea? Again China and Russia and India will be glad to see that (weakened Japan and Taiwan). And you call that a retaliation?

@bluecon: For even juicier numbers, go straight to the source In August of 08, there were a mere 55145 active duty personnel in Germany. And 0 in Iraq. 0 in Afghanistan. Why? March to the footnote "deployments." 18K of the 55K soldiers officially still stationed in Germany are deployed, fighting a war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The rest are needed to support it from Germany. Ramstein Airbase. Landstuhl Medical Center. Stuff like that. @John Horner: So Bertel, have you ever said anything critical of China’s trade policies? I live here and I like them. Works for me. And for the gadzillions of US companies that are here because of that. Btw. remember to correct the China footnote in your next bailout scoresheet. It's wrong. Trust me, I'm in the business: It's much easier to import a foreign car to China than to the U.S. Would you find it acceptable if the US simply adopted the exact same trade and investment rules as China has in place? Absolutely. I lived, worked and invested in both places. Why do you think is foreign investment money (or what's left of it) still pouring into China? Remember: Probably the only place where even a challenged company called GM can turn a healthy profit is called China. And to those who are still worried about China flooding the world with cheap goods, stop worrying. The world is increasingly unable to afford even the cheap goods.

@ Bertel Schmitt And to those who are still worried about China flooding the world with cheap goods, stop worrying. I don't worry about the price of items, so long as they're not INTENDED to be disposable. If I buy a Dell server and a 1c capacitor fails 2 years in causing the whole unit to be trashed because someone decided stealing a capacitor fluid recipe and saving 0.01c was a suitable risk then the world can not afford that. Or the lead-acid batteries that last 18 months, because building them again is "cheaper" than building them properly the first time. Or the power drills that use a lower grade of motor winding causing more heat release and rapid failure of the plastic housing. Repair?? No just replace it because it's so "cheap". Or the hand tools that have plastic handles that harden over time making them unsafe in 2-3 years when a wooden handle would last 50 years. Or the plastic clothes pegs that disintegrate in the sun, but people repeatedly buy them because they seem "cheap" compared to wooden pegs. Or the industrial water pumps that use more energy and poorer bearings for 30% less cost but have a 50% shorter lifespan. Or the conveyor bearings previously manufactured in Germany, now made in China that only last 1/3 the time, but are 50% cheaper. You've said before, you can manage the quality, but my experience in China is you have to RIDE IT HARD, too hard. Somehow (mostly at consumer level) we've descended into a "disposable is acceptable" approach which the Chinese love because they can create busy-work twice or three times! It's not sustainable.

I feel sorry for this guy. Somebody, probably his boss, told him, "Hey, get out there and tell the AP we're doing something about Carmageddon." And he probably said, "What should I tell them? We've got nothing to report." And they said, "You're our press spokesman. That's why you have the job. You can think of something." And that's what you've got. A guy who will do that for the next 15 months, and he'll think about leaving to do something else for two months, and leave in about 17 or 18 months. Poor bastard.