Building the AmeriCar Market

As we wrote previously, we have a pet theory that the U.S. Federal Government is in the process - deliberate or accidental - of forming a national car manufacturer, owned and operated by the Government. With Chrysler in bankruptcy, never to repay the over $7 billion in loans from the Government, we suspect that the process of forming "AmeriCar" is accelerating (if you'll pardon the expression).

However, as anyone who has actually paid attention knows, most American automobiles suck. It's all well and good that the Federal Government might be running its own car company in the future, but who's going to buy the crap that will - almost certainly - be produced? If the Soviet Union is any indication, the national cars will be impressively crappy... except for the members of the Government, of course.

We suspect that the preliminary methods for corralling people looking to buy new cars will be similar to the "cash for clunkers" programme; older autos can be traded in for a rebate on a new vehicle. It wouldn't be difficult to extend that programme to apply only to vehicles purchased from "AmeriCar." Indeed, an even more draconian move - and in keeping with the "Buy American" mantra of the Obama Administration and Congress - would be to restrict the programme to only American-made cars, on both the trade-in and the new auto. Additionally, we wouldn't be surprised to see hefty tariffs on imported vehicles, to further coerce buyers to get "AmeriCar" vehicles.