Trump wants to disconnect our auto industry from its foreign branches and “bring it all home”. The impulse is good but the approach is fucked up as usual.
Our auto makers had foreign branches FROM THE START. Ford and Buick had Canadian plants a few years after founding, and nearly all makers had Canada plus some Euro countries after 1920. Before the Share Value coup of 1980 made them shun ALL production and creativity, our corporations were happy to have a LOOSE foreign empire bringing in more profits. LOOSE is the key. The foreign branches bought some components from Detroit, but added plenty of local parts and materials, and often made their own variations. They employed local workers and gave plenty of business to local suppliers, creating more business and profit for BOTH countries. Capitalism is SUPPOSED TO WORK THIS WAY.
China now operates in the way we abandoned. China encourages local content and creativity, as long as the foreign farmers or manufacturers give profit to China. Both sides win.
China is capitalist, we’re communist. We believe in absolute central planning and control by Elon. All power flows from the barrel of Elon’s SpaceX rocket (or metaphorical equivalent thereof.)
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Here’s a fine example of local creativity that I hadn’t noticed before. Hudson had strong ties with Britain and the Commonwealth, with a big factory in England and branches in Canada and Australia. Earlier I noted that the Australian branch continued as part of AMC. Aussies liked the Hudson brand, so AMC continued rebranding Ramblers as Hudsons for at least a year after the US branch gave up the brand entirely.
Today I noticed a much earlier and more creative effort by the same Aussie branch. Every Aussie automaker had utes. Neals Motors made its own convertible ute in 1939:
They didn’t need to design a ute because Hudson made its own utes in Detroit before 1948. Here’s the ’39 US ute:
Along with the open top, the Aussie version had smooth sides in true Aussie fashion, while the Detroit version was more trucky with a separate bed. Australia could have satisfied the ute demand by producing the US version with RHD, but Neals Motors needed to exercise its own creativity and national pride. Use it or lose it.
That’s how our auto industry worked before globalism. It gave BENEFITS to foreigners, letting them USE THEIR SKILLS as well as gain profit.
The Graybill line is sharp and clear in this history. Before globalism, both sides of the trade were using ALL of their own skills optimally for their OWN purposes and benefiting both sides. After globalism, only China uses a full range of its own skills. We use fentanyl.
Polistra's Mill 