Detroit's Back! As in...back to the 80's. Quality-wise...

Well, Barack & Biden did tell at least one truth in the 2012 general election campaign - General Motors is back!  Of course, they didn't specify where they were back to, but Micky Kaus does:

Remember all the press hype about how Detroit made cars had for all practical purposes caught up with the Japanese in terms of reliabilty? Well, that was then. If you just got your December Consumer Reports you may have noticed that in the magazine’s seemingly authoritative reliability survey Japanese nameplates took the top seven spots–Toyota is #1, followed by Mazda, Subaru and Honda. There isn’t an American name in the top 10. You have to go to #11 before you hit a Detroit brand–Cadillac. …

It seems almost like Japanese manufacturers are able to rebound more quickly when faced with challenges–as if they don’t have some institutional impediment that prevents them from making rapid adjustments...

Cadillac, the top UAW-made brand, is barely better than average, but that’s significant progress–an average car is fairly reliable these days. GM’s showing on the whole wasn’t that bad. Chrysler slipped, however (about 40% worse than average for its Chrysler and Dodge nameplates). And Ford was a disaster–60% below average, with some vehicles so bad their scores didn’t fit on the chart...


No surprise.  The unions killed Detroit, and were rewarded for it by  President Obama with ownership of GM.

A child who acts poorly and is never punished never behaves.  A child who receives undeserved gifts of high value will usually treat them casually and eventually break them before time, unaware of value.

Is it any wonder that the union workers in Detroit are doing such a slipshod job on the assembly line?  With "The Man" in the White House, who's going to hold them to account?  If they break it again, oh well - Daddy Baracky will just buy it back for them!

If you decide to buy American this year - better make sure you put some money away in a three-year IRA or something.  About the time it matures is when the doors will start falling off....