Chris Matthews brought up something last week when discussing the proposed Pacific Trade deal. He talked about how trade with Japan improved our auto manufacturing. He said that it used to be that cars did not last very long, which was a general overstatement, but largely true, but that now Toyotas run for decades which, again, was an overstatement, but largely true. I remember that with every new car daddy bought, he had to make a list to present to the dealer after the first week of things that had to be corrected. Our auto manufacturing spasm was largely brought on by the 2 oil crises in the 70s and the inability or refusal of the American auto manufacturers to offer high mileage cars. When the air pollution controls went on cars in the late 60s, gas mileage really suffered as if the Big Three were saying, don't tell us how to make cars. So, in the absence of domestic cars that got good mileage, the Japanese cars became the standard for quality. As has been said here previously, the GM auto lines subsidized the Frigidaire Appliance line and corporate intransigence led to the loss of profit which led to the sale. It was a very sad time in America for many reasons.