I while ago I wrote about how 1 of every 3 cars in Puerto Rico is a new or lightly used Susuki (research while driving around.) Also, about how a production boom in Chinese automobiles is underway and that many of those low-cost cars are selling in Africa, where safety and emission standards are low. Well, today I read of Maruti Suzuki producing a car in India that retails for US$5,000. Anyone want to bet what the dominant car brand will be in a few years? But scarier than that is the “People’s Car,” coming out next year in India which will retail for US$2,500. The producer? Tata Motors. Can’t you almost smell the fumes?
If you think the globe is warming at an alarming rate now, wait 10 years when there are a half billion more cars on the road. The closet anthropologist in me says “Buy Tee-shirt stocks.”
Hopefully, we will be hearing much about global warming from the U.S. presidential candidates in the coming year and that’s a good thing. To me this suggests two of the most critical topics of our times: planetary climate and U.S. economic climate. With a half billion more cars on the planet, the trees in Vermont will start dying. If everything is manufactured overseas and at a fraction of the cost, the US economy will start dying. We need to be able to manufacture at a lower cost here in the states. Anyone have any answers? I do, but you may think me a foo (thanks Mr. T.)
