Dear Big Auto Twatface ...

Whose name I missed because the cat enclosure man appeared during Newshour (Australia's SBS has a wonderful news service that brings me Jim Lehrer among other gems). Here's a tip: the 'very small cars' that you say Americans are not interested in buying are the exact same cars that were selling gangbusters last year when your fuel costs were rising through  the roof.

They are the same cars that the rest of the world drives quite comfortably, which can be parked in normal-sized car spaces. You can even fit more of them on the road, because each of them is less than the size of my student flat. Miraculously, most of the rest of the world has lower motor vehicle mortality and serious injury rates than the US, even though we don't drive giant trucks. It's because we do up our seatbelts. (No, really, it works! Ask Princess Di's bodyguard!)

After 30 years of selling increasingly stupid vehicles despite promising the Carter administration that you had learned your ways and would produce smaller, more economical cars the LAST time your received a MASSIVE FUCKING FEDERAL BAILOUT (Oh yes, big auto, some of us are in our 40s and remember the last time this all happened.), you have spent the last 20 years selling cars that can only be described as stupid.

I have lived in Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya, where there were elephants, rhinos and hippos. A normal Jeep, RangeRover or, these days LandCruiser, is quite enough to survive a concerted attack, or at least make sure the people inside do. Funnily enough, concerted attacks from elephants, rhinos and hippos are rare, even in southern Africa. I believe they are unheard of in the Continental United States. No one actually requires a Hummer.

Okay, so maybe if you do live in South Central LA and are deeply worried about drive-bys. But then you should move rather than buy a car that says 'My penis is TINY! TINY I TELL YOU!!'

To sum up, oh twatface who has probably spent his bailout money on a new private jet: those very small cars are not actually very small. They are in fact normal. You just have ridiculous giant cars. The American public is not unified in its desire to drive giant cars, as the big downturn in their sales has shown. Petrol will again be priced through the roof in the very near future and you will be inundated by people wanting economical vehicles. Also, none of this is news. You were told this directly 30 years ago. You took a huge government payout then and promised you would change your ways. The cars you produce now are LESS economical than the cars you produced then. Moreover, during the last eight years as petrol costs in the US have crept ever upwards and people demanded more economical cars, you ignored Supply and Demand! You are meant to LIVE by supply and demand.

You aren't even wasting my tax dollars and I find you a repulsive, oleaginous creep. I hope someone parked you in while you were filming the segment. And I hope they were driving a Prius. Actually, no, I hope it was a fleet of Segways. Boo and hiss!

Meanwhile, if you are an American who is considering buying a car, might I suggest you buy European or Japanese? You might feel bad about not supporting autoworkers in Detroit, and I do sympathise with that, but apparently those poor bastards will be screwed no matter what, so you might as well prop up one of the other teetering global economies, giving them enough money to buy your grain and thus supporting American farmers. Thinking globally AND acting locally!

ETA PS: Saying that it was fine for you to spend the last eight years continuing to produce ludicrous cars because the Bush administration's environmental policies said you could is NOT the persuasive argument you seem to think it is.

PPS REC REC REC! Pop over to Leochi's lj for the most beautiful watercolour of a young Malfoy. It's my early birthday present and it is just lovely – human and touching as all her art is. Hurrah for birthday week!

Dear Big Auto Twatface ...

Whose name I missed because the cat enclosure man appeared during Newshour (Australia's SBS has a wonderful news service that brings me Jim Lehrer among other gems). Here's a tip: the 'very small cars' that you say Americans are not interested in buying are the exact same cars that were selling gangbusters last year when your fuel costs were rising through  the roof.

They are the same cars that the rest of the world drives quite comfortably, which can be parked in normal-sized car spaces. You can even fit more of them on the road, because each of them is less than the size of my student flat. Miraculously, most of the rest of the world has lower motor vehicle mortality and serious injury rates than the US, even though we don't drive giant trucks. It's because we do up our seatbelts. (No, really, it works! Ask Princess Di's bodyguard!)

After 30 years of selling increasingly stupid vehicles despite promising the Carter administration that you had learned your ways and would produce smaller, more economical cars the LAST time your received a MASSIVE FUCKING FEDERAL BAILOUT (Oh yes, big auto, some of us are in our 40s and remember the last time this all happened.), you have spent the last 20 years selling cars that can only be described as stupid.

I have lived in Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya, where there were elephants, rhinos and hippos. A normal Jeep, RangeRover or, these days LandCruiser, is quite enough to survive a concerted attack, or at least make sure the people inside do. Funnily enough, concerted attacks from elephants, rhinos and hippos are rare, even in southern Africa. I believe they are unheard of in the Continental United States. No one actually requires a Hummer.

Okay, so maybe if you do live in South Central LA and are deeply worried about drive-bys. But then you should move rather than buy a car that says 'My penis is TINY! TINY I TELL YOU!!'

To sum up, oh twatface who has probably spent his bailout money on a new private jet: those very small cars are not actually very small. They are in fact normal. You just have ridiculous giant cars. The American public is not unified in its desire to drive giant cars, as the big downturn in their sales has shown. Petrol will again be priced through the roof in the very near future and you will be inundated by people wanting economical vehicles. Also, none of this is news. You were told this directly 30 years ago. You took a huge government payout then and promised you would change your ways. The cars you produce now are LESS economical than the cars you produced then. Moreover, during the last eight years as petrol costs in the US have crept ever upwards and people demanded more economical cars, you ignored Supply and Demand! You are meant to LIVE by supply and demand.

You aren't even wasting my tax dollars and I find you a repulsive, oleaginous creep. I hope someone parked you in while you were filming the segment. And I hope they were driving a Prius. Actually, no, I hope it was a fleet of Segways. Boo and hiss!

Meanwhile, if you are an American who is considering buying a car, might I suggest you buy European or Japanese? You might feel bad about not supporting autoworkers in Detroit, and I do sympathise with that, but apparently those poor bastards will be screwed no matter what, so you might as well prop up one of the other teetering global economies, giving them enough money to buy your grain and thus supporting American farmers. Thinking globally AND acting locally!

ETA PS: Saying that it was fine for you to spend the last eight years continuing to produce ludicrous cars because the Bush administration's environmental policies said you could is NOT the persuasive argument you seem to think it is.

PPS REC REC REC! Pop over to Leochi's lj for the most beautiful watercolour of a young Malfoy. It's my early birthday present and it is just lovely – human and touching as all her art is. Hurrah for birthday week!