Remember when you opened an account with a bank and they gave you a toaster? I don't, but I'm aware that it happened, and older readers will surely relate. For those who aren't aware of how banks work, they make money off of investing your money, so it is in their interest to get as many depositors as possible. If all it takes is a crappy toaster to get your business, so be it.
Remember when car companies made really cool cars? You know, lots of steel and chrome and horsepower? So much horsepower that they actually underrated it so the insurance would be cheaper? And speaking of cheaper, remember when those muscle cars were actually affordable by industrious young people? Yeah, I don't remember that either, but as a child of the 1980's, I was born well into the slow death of the American car.
So, what went wrong? Somewhere along the way, some bright businessman realized that car companies made more money financing cars -- that is to say, collecting interest on a loan for a car -- than they were making actually selling the car. Since that fateful day, American car companies have been banks and cars are the new toaster.
Now, I've got no problem with companies trying to make money. That's what they're supposed to do. I just don't feel like I should take out a $20-40k loan from a bank to buy a toaster from them. I want a real, honest to goodness, kickass car.
Aside from the sheer nonsense that is "too big to fail" (another post for another day), it doesn't make any sense to perpetuate a dying business paradigm, and certainly not with my tax money! If a car company would rather do something else than make cars, fine, but if no one's buying, no one's buying, and the business model will fail again and again.
Ultimately, it's up to the consumer to dictate these kinds of things. Call me unpatriotic, but I say, when it comes to cars, don't buy American (or Japanese or German) if they don't offer you the product you want at the price you're willing to pay. Supply and demand, works every time.
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