Why the auto industry will endure

The
North American International Auto Show is an absolutely amazing tradition; the
first one was staged in 1899, at a time when almost no one had ever heard of
Henry Ford.



They’ve held it again every year since 1907, except
for a few years during and after World War II. Since 1965, it’s been at the
Cobo Center, usually in January.



I remember coming down to it in the early 1970s and
being absolutely shocked that some new cars then cost $10,000 or more!  These days, that might get you a used Honda
Civic.



The auto industry is changing, of course, and will
continue to change.  But it’s not going
away. I’ve read the stories about millennials not wanting or needing cars, and
there is some truth in that. But the naked truth is that in Michigan, for most
people, it just isn’t very practical to live without having some form of
vehicle.



I’ve been arguing forever that we need more mass
transit. But when it comes to a sense of freedom, many, probably most, people
feel there is no substitute for wheels of their own, which is one reason why
Americans have been buying 17 million new cars and trucks every year.



 More than a century
ago, Detroit became the command center of this industry.  Even before cars, it was a place where
workmen and master craftsmen made things, including stoves and railroad cars.
Once Henry Ford figured out how to make cars for much less money and make it up
on volume by selling millions of them, it was inevitable that the industry and
its suppliers would settle in and be based in Metropolitan Detroit – and its
nerve center is here too.



There have been good years and bad years.  I am well aware that a majority of cars sold
in this country today are made by firms whose world headquarters are in other
countries.



But did you know that two years ago, General Motors sold six Buicks in China for every one it sold here?  GM sells more vehicles now in China than it does in the United States. Those numbers fell last year, partly perhaps because our President essentially declared a trade war on China.



Actions have consequences, and it is a good idea to
know what you are doing before you do it. 
But some adults clearly haven’t learned that. Nor have they learned that
this is increasingly a world economy and a world market.



You literally cannot separate U.S. auto manufacturing
from Canadian, not without  hurting both
nations’ economies.  It seems that Donald
Trump may not understand this.



And while the auto industry is doing pretty well
today, the government is not. The North American International Auto Show is
opening at a time when all the Detroit three are extremely profitable, and the
federal government is shut down.



It has been shut down by the President, in response to
an imaginary border crisis that every rational expert knows doesn’t exist. No
terrorists are coming across our southern border; none ever have. Illegal
border crossings have steeply declined.



Most drugs are smuggled into this country in
trucks.  Most “illegal aliens” or
“undocumented immigrants” are in fact people who came in on legal visas and
stayed here when they expired. The President is fighting the wrong war and
addressing the wrong problem, and we are all paying for it. America’s auto
industry was once a mess.



Today, it’s gotten it together. The irony is that the