The American auto industry was once the envy of the world. We produced muscle cars that had power, speed and the was the embodiment of our freedom. Yet when the 70’s came alongside an oil embargo that shot the price of oil through the roof, the domination of American cars were undercut by fuel efficient Toyotas, Hondas and Volkswagons. Instead of learning from these lessons of the 70’s the American car manufacturers continued to big bigger cars. Our government attempted to limit this by imposing fuel efficiency standards in cars and so the American auto industry responded by circumventing these laws by producing vehicles on truck chasis that were subject to different regulation. As a result we had even larger vehicles that were no more efficient than the american muscle cars generations past. Sales boomed and all cares were tossed to the side and then gas hit 4 dollars a gallon. Almost deja vu of times past and now the industry cant pay its bills. Lets not forget that in the meantime Nafta was passed and these beloved American icons sent factories to Mexico and Canada to lower their labor costs. In the meantime our competitors arrived and built factories on our shore and have still turned profits. Not all of the profit loses are managements fault, the union also shares a good portion of the blame. They fought for wages and benefits beyond reasonability. The legacy costs of retired workers have left the automakers with an albatross around its neck. Now as the companies are about to enter into bankruptcy they have demanded intervention from the government. This despite the fact that the union has said they will fight at any attempt to roll back more of their benefits. So the likelihood of a slimmed down more efficient American auto industry is hard to fathom. Yet in the wings are companies like Telsa and Wrightspeed who can make electric cars right here in the USA and would probably be the likely beneficiaries of a collapse of the Detroit 3, both by gaining experienced engineers and by opportunities in markets share. So our government need to respect the the decree of the market and allow these companies to face the same fate of any other American business that made poor decisions.

Beyond our means

PHOENIX, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Sales of rifles, pistols and ammo are surging in parts of the United States, as many gun owners fear President-elect Barack Obama’s administration may seek to tighten ownership of certain weapons.

“The day after the election, I had many more calls than usual from people looking for semi-automatic rifles,” said David Greenberg, the owner of the Second Amendment Family Gun Shop, in Bisbee, Arizona, who sold out of AR-15 rifles in recent days.

“There seems to be a fear they will be banned, and it’s fairly likely,” he added. “Obama and Biden are driven to eliminate firearms from the face of the country.”

Gun stores and trade groups have reported a spike in firearms sales in the run-up to the Nov. 4 election victory of Democrat Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who many perceive as strongly pro-gun control.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for the shooting, hunting and firearms industry, reported a 10 percent jump in gun sales this year based on its analysis of an excise tax placed on firearms and ammunition, and a spokesman said the increase had grown dramatically ahead of the election.

“Gun owners are afraid of what Obama is going to do as far as guns,” said spokesman Tony Aeschliman. “He has a clear record of being against us.”

Obama stated his support for the right to bear arms during campaigning, although both he and Biden back a permanent ban on assault weapons — military style semi-automatic rifles — and “common sense measures” to keep guns away from children and criminals, positions which spurred concern among some gun enthusiasts.

“It’s always been the liberal or Democratic agenda to restrict gun ownership,” said Jim Pruett, the owner of a gun store in a Houston-area strip mall, whose sales more than tripled on the Saturday before the election to $35,000.

In McPherson, Kansas, gun dealer Steve Sechler said demand at a gun show last weekend jumped by more than 50 percent as buyers rushed to stock up on guns including Kalashnikov and AR-15 rifles.

“Most of the people there were cussing Obama and saying we need home defense,” Sechler said.

BUSINESS BOOMING

Obama loyalists say gun owners need not fear curbs when he takes office in January. The Democratic governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland, told a rally last month he had spoken directly to Obama about the right to bear arms.

“If you are a sportsman, if you are a gun owner, if you are someone that honors and respects the Second Amendment, you have nothing to fear from Barack Obama,” he told a crowd in Chillicothe.

The lobbying arm of the powerful National Rifle Association, however, stoked concerns during the campaign, calling Obama a “serious threat to Second Amendment liberties.”

Among other complaints, they accused Obama of endorsing a 500-percent increase in the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition — a comment he made as an Illinois state Senator in Illinois in 1999, but has not repeated.

The sentiments are so strong Wall Street is taking notice. BB&T Capital Markets analyst Frank Mitsch on Wednesday raised estimates for Olin Corp (OLN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) due in part to expected increased sales from its Winchester firearms ammunition business.

But despite surging sales, not all gun dealers are celebrating.

Scottsdale, Arizona, gun shop owner Manuel Chee sold out of AR-15 type rifles in the days on either side of the election, but said he would prefer to have steady sales and no prospect of curbs — whether real or imagined — in the future.

“I’d rather that (Republican Sen. John) McCain got in and there’s not a big scare and we just followed our normal sales,” Chee told Reuters.

“Rather than say right now we are going to make a lot of money for a few months, and then in a few months, possibly, our business could be shut down,” he added.

Click here to read the entire report.

The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.

“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008.

“Many people were fooled (including this student of politics although less so than many others) by this year’s increase in registration (more than 10 million added to the rolls), citizens’ willingness to stand for hours even in inclement weather to vote early, the likely rise in youth and African American voting, and the extensive grassroots organizing network of the Obama campaign into believing that turnout would be substantially higher than in 2004,” Curtis Gans, the center’s director, said in the report. “But we failed to realize that the registration increase was driven by Democratic and independent registration and that the long lines at the polls were mostly populated by Democrats.”

Some experts also note that national turnout trends may mask higher turnout in swing states with more intensive attempts by both campaigns to get their supporters to the polls. Several large states, including California and New York, had no statewide races and virtually no advertising or get-out-the-vote efforts by either presidential campaign.

According to the report, several Southern states — North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, and Mississippi — and the District of Columbia saw the greatest increases in voter turnout.

Overall turnout was highest in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, South Dakota and North Carolina, according to the report.

In 2004, 122 million Americans voted in the general election.