Yeah, petr, you have struck a chord that I kinds suggested earlier in the thtead... Yeah, the Big Three are all straped with huge pension costs where as Toyota isn't... This gives Toyota one heck of an advantage in having more money for research and developement...

It's not a slam dunk issue as far as I can see... I don't want to see the country loose anymore of it's abilities to make stuff... I think it is short-sighted and could leave us very velnerable down the road...

As for rarelamb's observation that we are better educated that isn't exactly true either... If we were then, yeah, maybe we could get by loosing some of our industrail capabilities.. Kids, especially males, aren't going to college like the once did... More and more folks are entering the work force right outta high school... Maybe another reason why industry is important to our economy...

One thing is fir sure, the US has a pension crisis on its hands...

BObert