Thread: The US is Committing National Suicide

The US is Committing National Suicide

By Alan Caruba Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Growing up as a teenager in the 1950s, I could not wait to get my license to drive and I liked the sporty look of the British MG. These days I drive a Volkswagen. In that short tale can be found the seeds of the end of the American auto industry.

Here’s some history. In 1952, the merger of several British auto companies resulted in the British Motor Corporation. It was the largest of its day with 39% of British output. Despite established dealerships for the various models, a series of poor management decisions resulted in the loss of market share.

By 1968, British Leyland was formed out of British Motor Corporation and became British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd. In 1975, it was partially nationalized and the government became a holding company. UK market share barely changed and despite brands such as Jaguar, Rover and Land Rover, the government motor company continued its decline.

By 2005, the MG Rover Group went bankrupt, bringing to an end the production by British owned companies. The MG became part of Chinese Nanjing Automobile.

The 1970s were difficult economic times for the United Kingdom and its Labor government (1974-1979), as noted above, created a holding company with the government as the major shareholder. At that point British Leyland employed 159,000 people in its many divisions that included a bus and truck operation.

In 1984, Jaguar Cars became independent once more through a public sale of its shares, but the Leyland truck and bus operation was sold to Volvo in 1988. The Rover Group was sold by the government to British Aerospace that in turn sold it to BMW. Suffice it to say, the British auto industry is now largely owned by companies in other nations or operating as a mere shadow of its former self.

Anyone who thinks that General Motors will revive is wrong. As Larry Kudlow, the radio-TV business maven, recently wrote, “Taxpayers won’t get their money backâ€

How is it that the government owns AIG? We have had insurance with AIG for years and suddenly it became "Twentieth Century" (aka AIG). We pay our insurance premiums to Twentieth Century now not AIG. I have spoke with people at the insurance company by phone and they have told me that, "We use to be AIG but now we are Twentieth Century". The name has obviously been changed so people will not know they are buying insurance with what was once AIG, or has all of it's assets been spun off and hiding under another name, leaving only it's debts to the American taxpayers? Does the government own AIG or do the American taxpayers own AIG's debt?