Since Americans savings are already negative (meaning they don't save), there would be no adjustment in behavior. The behavior already exists.

Right. The Japanese companies are merely meeting market demand when they build small cars for their people.

 

I disagree. I have owned two small cars made by Detroit. Neither were "crap".
One lasted over 300,000 miles.
The other I still drive 21 years later.

"American cars are junk" is a myth that was true in the 70s, but has no relevance to latter-day cars. (If you want junk, buy a European car like Volkswagen. If you enjoy lots of recalls, that's the car for you.) I won't say American cars are as good as Japanese, but it's pretty **** close. (Especially since japanese quality has gone downhill in recent years.)

 

American cars may very well have improved their reliability over the level they were at in the seventies. The fact is, it would be pretty hard to NOT improve over cars like the Pinto, Vega, AMC Pacer and Gremlin. I cannot give Detroit any points for improvement over some of the very worst cars ever designed.

Even after "improvement", they still did not meet the quality level of Japanese cars and what's worse, the quality level is even today, erratic and unpredictable. This is why Detroit has such an ingrained reputation for building crap. It is VERY well deserved, isolated examples of good cars being no absolution for prior and continuing sins.

I traded my 1999 Ford Taurus in for my current Prius. My Taurus was a full size sedan and Ford can't even built THOSE correctly. Mine had crappy brakes which could NOT be made right. It was explained to me that this was a DESIGN flaw. For crying out loud, disc brake technology is only one hundred year old technology and Ford's engineers can't even get THAT right. A friend of mine who purchased a 2000 Taurus has had the exact same problems.

I can't tell you how many former American car owners have sworn off of Detroit products for good. This is a topic which has been discussed and researched to death on other forums among hard core car enthusiasts, not to mention just about everyone I know personally.

I agree with you, however, on the German cars like the VWs.

 

Overall indeed the savings rate is negative. But lets not confuse averages with everyone. If your idea takes off (and it very well might when push comes to shove on the issue as most voters don't have any savings), it will put an even more negative impact on personal savings rates. In fact perhaps a much larger one.

Although grossly unfair, it likely has a better chance of being implemented than raising taxes on the masses because if the median voter has zero retirement savings outside of SS entitlements they would surely want the solvency problem of SS solved by other people's dollars.

 

I agree that Detroit cars have come a long way since the 1970s. My experience with a mid-90s Saturn taught me that the drivetrains can be quite reliable but other issues pop up.

Although only breaking down on me while driving it once, it had the following problems over the 10 years I drove it, in addition to regular maintenance (ie brakes, tune ups):

Alternator had to be replaced three times.
Exhaust had to be replaced twice.
Radiator had to be replaced.
Timing belt had to be replaced twice.
Radiator hose to engine burst also knocking hood engine heat shield loose.
Trunk latch broke, was replaced, broke again.
Front motor mounts had to be replaced.
Sunroof started leaking, causing interior to come down (glued it back)
Cigarette lighter clip broke in its socket and fell in somewhere.
Odometer quit working at 150k miles.
Car started consuming oil slowly at around 150k miles (seems to be par for older engines).
Faulty connection caused one headlight to go in and out (fixed this myself).

It finally threw a rod around 200k miles. It was driveable up until the very end, limping its way into the junkyard. Over the time I owned the car the top five items, which I consider to be major repairs) had to be done ~every 18 months on average with a bill betwee $500-1000.

My American car was reliable, only breaking down on me once, but not dependable. Obviously there was a flawed design in the alternator as it lasted ~60k each time.

(And no I don't drive european cars for the reasons mentioned and the increased costs associated with maintenance/repairs)

 

It's funny you bring up Saturn. My friend drove his Saturn 320,000 miles without problems.

I'd like to see some "proof" that American cars are trash. Not anecdotes but actually studies across thousands of car. As I stated before, I've owned one Dodge that went over 300,000 miles, and Plymouth over 20 years old, and both were more reliable than my Honda (keeps giving me random check engine lights).

And then there's my friend with the 320,000 mile Saturn that just kept going and going and going... Please show me some evidence that American cars are crap compared to European or Japanese or Korean cars. Well I'm not convinced. Welfare is a "needs based" system where people pay & pay & pay, but never get anything back unless they need it. People seem happy with that arrangement, and it keeps welfare at a manageable level so as to not go bankrupt (like SS is).

I also disagree with SS on principle. It's supposed to be a safety net, not a free loterry for everyone over 70. You shouldn't get SS if you don't need it. ----- We should encourage our retirees to be independent & self-sustaining, not parasites living off the government treasury.

[Another idea: Make it based upon income. Anyone who earns over $4 million during their lifetime becomes ineligible. Similar to how anyone earning over $20,000 during a year can not get welfare. It someone earns over 4 mil, they can't get SS, because they are too rich. They earned too much money.]

Another annoyance:

The gov't taxes SS checks. That makes absolutely no sense. It's like me giving you $1000 and then saying, "Okay now give me back $100." Say what??? It would make more sense to just give you $900 and be done with it. Handing money, and then taking some of it back, makes zero sense.

 

"I'd like to see some "proof" that American cars are trash" I just did front brake jobs on my 3 daughters american made cars and they were well built and showed qiality. However I also did the same front brake job for my sisters focus and it turned into a nightmare because of cheaply designed caliper mounts. The caliper bolts were threaded right into the frame that holds all the strut,wheel berring.steering arm.ect. The threaded hole goes thru and water sand and salt (Minn) got in the hole and caused the threads to rust and strip out,Hence the nightmare began. In this case "very poor Quality"would be the Proof for at least 1 americam car.

 

I think the focus is made by Mazda, pretty sure it was designed by Mazda.

 

What mazda model is the focus the same as? Did mazda or ford design it. It truly was a poor design!

 

Protege then Mazda 3 maybe, they do share engines and transmissions. In europe the Focus, Mazda3 and Volvo are the same platform.