Not a Formula for Success

Why does it seem like America is no longer the economic superpower it once was?  Perhaps, with the shift to a more global economy, consumers care less about "buying American" and more about getting the most quality for their dollar.  Today's article in the Wall Street Journal detailing car reliability ratings illustrates the point.  Here is the link: Rating Car Reliability: Detroit Moves Up but Asia Rules.  In summary, of the 27 brands ranked for reliability by Consumer Reports Ford ranks 10th, Chevrolet (the highest ranking GM brand) ranks 17th and Chrysler stumbled into the ranks at 27th.  However, I am almost certain that if one surveyed the rankings of wages and benefits, the American autoworker would be at the top of the list.  Yet, we as Americans are still perplexed at how to get out of our economic funk.  Compare American auto producers versus our foreign competitors.  We produce lower quality cars, which results in fewer sales at a lower price tag.  Then we pay our workers more in wages and benefits.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out why we had to bail out the industry.  The days of getting by on average products and services is gone.  Check out Thomas Friedman's column at the NY Times The Election That Wasn't.  He does a great job of expanding on the same sentiment.