My dad had a '57 Beetle. I wonder what MPG my granddad's Opel Kadett got? Ah, Google knows all ... around 30 mpg.

crime would shoot up immediately in Detroit

Having been to Detroit recently, I must say I'm amazed anyone thinks a RISE in the crime rate is still possible, there.

Bit, there has been a long enough history of small cars in the US that we have our own data.

Funny how on this subject we suddenly get isolationist. In all else, we're supposed to be emulating this or that country... except, of course when the downsides of those policies show up. As in this case. the Japan data shows clearly that as you get smaller, the death rate goes up, in rather dramatic fashion.

There's only so much I'll give up for a gallon of gas. My life isn't one of them. I'll keep my Rainier, thank you.

(The Japanese are on the wrong side of the road ;-), totally different!)

Yep... exactly what Al Gore wants US to drive.

Trackers and Metros are quite different

yes my metro was 13 dollar from Sunday to Sunday and I worked a half an hour away. I wish I still owned it so I could put it on Ebay and get rich, well rich for a day or two lol.

but I think some GEOs have the about worst "deaths per million miles" recorded.

ya lol, those evil SUV's keep snatching them out of peoples back yards and having them for lunch, or is that coyote's and poodles, I forget.

For anyone who really wants to dredge through the pdf, here it is. Hmmm. Maybe not the paper I remember, but I see this on page 16: "We excluded the high-risk Geo Metro from the analysis."

ah well ... Trackers and Metros are quite different ... still the PDF is there for internet crazed shoppers ;-)

Lets design a twelve step plan to save Detroit

1. Dump the union contracts. The people are the higher power.

(Chuckle)

That might be true. I already have a mid-size hybrid, and it cost me less than the average new car sold in America.

I have a ten year old GEO Tracker, I bet it' s cheaper then yours, 1300 hundred dollar, has lasted me 5 years so far, 25 bucks to fill and and I haven't killed a single glacier yet with it. lol, USED GEO'S FOR GAEA!

you think they can just build them used so I that I might be able to afford and get a new one?

Thanks. Unfortunately, it's not particularly helpful since it doesn't disaggregate Big 3 from all U. S. automakers.

Quite so...whereby 'to a degree' seemed appropriate.

And of course you are ready to share your methodology and calculations with us :)

You've already demonstrated such to be beyond your ken.

How many people are really employed by the Detroit automakers, their domestic suppliers, and distribution system?

It's a hard number to quantify but i'm confident it's bigger than most people think. The tentacles go out much farther than parts suppliers and distributes...much much farther.

To me, this eager congress is hell bent on two things...saving the union and having oversight into what kind of cars that will be produced. That seems like a non winner to me. Were I GM, filing chapter 11 sounds like the best option.

One last thing, many of the suppliers supply to all the automotive companies. Should GM fail it's probable they would take down the suppliers too. That will also get into Toyota, Nissan, etc.. It has the makings of another crisis.

Of course I've taken into account 9.11 and the financial impact of that, and added it to cyclical financial trends.

And of course you are ready to share your methodology and calculations with us :)