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17 Nov 2008 11:23 am

Are We There Yet?

Manzi responds to Cohn's article on bailing out Detroit:

This story – look, we now see how foolish we’ve been, and finally have our act together; with just a little more time we’ll be world-beaters again – has been sold by Detroit to journalists many times over the past 20 years.

Here’s the New York Times in 1992, making almost the exact same argument as Cohn makes: “Ford and Chrysler have increased the efficiency of their factories and workers so much in recent years that their basic cost of producing a car is now less than that of their Japanese rivals, according to a study published today.” Here’s Fortune in that same year saying that “For the first time in a decade, the U.S. auto industry has a genuine chance to grasp the lead from its Japanese competition. Ford and Chrysler are operating at worldclass efficiency, and General Motors has taken on a new sense of urgency with seismic shakeups at the top.” How’d that work out? This kind of coverage continued almost into the current crisis – here’s Fortune as recently as 2004 saying “GM Gets Its Act Together. Finally. How America’s No. 1 car company changed its ways and started looking like … Toyota.”

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