The Occasional Occurence

Ok, this post is on a controversial issue, and I'm entitled to my own ridiculous opinion. Therefore ...

The fact that we have 3 major automakers in the US that our economy apparently hinges upon is a problem. From the news, the talk is that a failure of any of them is disaster.

The problem with that is stuff fails. It just does.

It sounds like each of the Big Three has become a single point of failure. We try to avoid these in the technology world - we plan for failure in hardware and software.

def oversimplification():
    try:
        return make_cars()
    except ForeignCompetition:
        return make_better_cars()

We're human. We make stuff that breaks. We are flawed and fail a lot. It seems we have some economic single points of failure.

So now we are in a bad place. It reminds me of a monopoly situation. I realize these companies are three separate entities, but it seems like the public is in a position similar to a monopoly - the entities in question are so large and all encompassing that we need them whether or not we want them.

I want a US auto industry.

But why, oh why, OH WHY does everything in America have to be so BIG?

Grow, grow, grow. More, more, more. I'm tired of it.

So here's my solution (the culmination of my own ridiculous opinion) - many smaller automakers that adhere to open standards. I don't know how something like that gets regulated or started or anything, but I think that would be a much healthier situation for our nation. Lean companies that are making cars that they would like to drive for people like them.

There would need to be some sort of growth-cap or production-cap too. Think of it as a salary cap for the auto industry. You can only get so big.

Man, that doesn't sound very capitalist-like. I'm so back and forth on that sort of thing. I guess for that to be fair there would need to be caps on all industries. Moving on ...

Come on now! - we regulate against monopolies - we should regulate against (loaded language alert) cancerous big-business that entraps our children and furry woodland friends! I kid ... sort of.

Cancerous cells grow out of control until they form a mass that harms the vital functioning of the body, right? Isn't this a real-life economic cancer? Companies that have grown out of control and are now threatening harm to the vital functioning of the economy?

I've been picking on the auto industry because they are the ones in deep doo right now and are getting the headlines. Know that I was even more incensed at the Wall Street situation, and even wrote my representatives in Congress, rather than just idly blogging about it.

So there you have it. My solution for the life, the universe and everything, or at least the economy. Stop trying to get so big. You're only going to crash harder.

So, now, in the words of Captain Jean Luc Picard: "Make it so" (because everything that gets blogged about magically happens).

cw