by James Buchanan

Millions of Americans have seen their jobs outsourced. American wages have been driven down thanks to cheap Third World labor imported from India and Asia and the endless flood of illegals from Mexico. Our politicians have endlessly told us that Free Trade is good for us, but why can’t we ever benefit from Free Trade? Why can’t we get a really cheap car? Seems like outsourcing our jobs is OK, but saving us $10,000 on an economy car just won’t fly with our politicians.

A recent news article reports “Tata Motors said it will launch its ultra-cheap Nano car in Mumbai on Monday — a vehicle meant to herald a revolution by making it possible for the world’s poor to purchase their first car…. The Nano, which is priced starting at about 100,000 rupees ($2,050), is a stripped-down car for stripped-down times: It is 10.2 feet (3.1 meters) long, has one windshield wiper, a 623cc rear engine, and a diminutive trunk, according to the company’s Web site. It does not have air bags or antilock brakes — neither of which is required in India — and if you want air conditioning, a radio, or power steering, you’ll have to pay extra.”

While many Americans are skeptical about Indian workmanship, a new car at $2050 would be extremely popular especially among students, teenagers and millions of Americans worried that they’ll soon be losing their jobs as the Depression gets worse.

Don’t hold your breath for this car to be allowed into the US. Even though there are plans to sell it in Europe in 2011, US politicians will no doubt block it with all sorts of bureaucratic red tape and arbitrary federal mandates, which do more to raise prices than improve safety.

While it used to make sense to protect US car companies from foreign competition, do they really deserve protection when they jack up the price of an ordinary vehicle to twenty or thirty thousand dollars?

Ford and GM are teetering on bankruptcy even with all sorts of protection. If they finally disappear, then maybe Americans can get decent new cars for a few thousand dollars from foreign sources, instead of a glorified American lemon with mechanical problems, flaking paint and a five year payment plan. Henry Ford made good reliable cheap cars that people could easily afford, but the Big Three have moved away from that concept, and few people are buying their massively overpriced, gas-guzzling SUVs nowadays.

India isn’t the only nation with a remarkably cheap car for export. China has one too. Another news article reports “Kathleen Ligocki, CEO of GS Motors and formerly president of Ford of Mexico, expects Chinese-designed cars to begin production in Mexico in 2010—and make their way to the US about five years after first testing the waters in Latin America and Canada. GS Motors, a Mexican company, already imports three models from China’s First Auto Works (FAW) and sold 4,000 of them in Mexico last year. Here’s the zinger: Ligocki believes Chinese cars will be sold in the US through big-box stores like Costco or Wal-Mart, which is how GS Motors is retailing them in Mexico. GS is building an assembly plant in Michoacan, Mexico with FAW. The plan is for vehicles to roll off the line beginning in 2010. GS Motors will launch the FAW brand in Mexico this year with the F1 Hatchback, an entry-level car sold for under $5,500….”

Airbags for example are a total waste of money if people wear seatbelts. Considering that more and more states are passing laws to force people to wear seatbelts the airbag is even more unnecessary. During the early deployment of airbags, it was discovered that a child on the floor of car could be decapitated. So the airbag might actually have been killing more people than it was saving. The REAL purpose of the airbag was to make it more difficult for foreign car companies to get into the US car market since no sane CEO would include an airbag if he weren’t forced to and it adds thousands of dollars to the price of the car.

The Russian Lada Niva is another bargain vehicle that Americans should be allowed to buy. It is an excellent rugged four wheel drive vehicle which can be built for about $4000. It actually sold in Canada for a number of years, but it was blocked from being sold in the US.

A car really shouldn’t cost more than a few thousand dollars. The technology has been around for over 100 years. People spend tens of thousands of dollars on cars for ego, keeping up with the Joneses and all sorts of irrational reasons. The fancier car you have, the more you have to spend on insurance, the more you have to worry about it being stolen or damaged, and the more you have to pay for registration.

Anyone who doesn’t own a house 100%, should NOT be paying $24k for some massively overpriced car. You need to own the ground under your feet first before blowing a lot of money on an overpriced car.

Naturally Americans won’t be allowed to buy this new Indian car. Our jobs can be outsourced to India, but can we import a cheap car from India? Of course not!!