Volkswagen or Ford

The recent acquisition of Budweiser by a Belgium Company has resulted in a lot of conversation about the virtue of drinking American beer and buying American products. In the local coverage of the issue, live from Bobby’s Idle Hour Lounge, Todd Milsap, son of country music legend Ronnie Milsap said, "I'm not hip with it. I drink Budweiser, and I don't do foreign beers. I won't even drive a foreign car."

Last week Volkswagen announced they had chosen Chattanooga, Tennessee as the site of their new, one billion dollar, Volkswagen plant. The plant will employee about 2,000 people and will produce about 150,000 cars a year.

Today, there was an article in the paper about the future of Ford Motor Company. Ford recently reported their worst quarterly loss in history. It seems that Americans concerned about high gas prices are not purchasing as many SUV’s and pick-up trucks as the market had previously demaned, so Ford is looking at importing some of its European models to America. Ford plans to construct new plants in America, equipped to build some of its European cars. Two of its models will be built elsewhere: The Ford Fiesta Subcompact will be built in Mexico and imported to the U.S., and the Ford Transit Connect will be built in Turkey.

So, I have a question for Todd Milsap and all you other “buy America” proponents. I am confused and so could you please explain the following: Which is the more "American" car: the Volkswagen built in Chattanooga, Tennessee or the Ford Transit Connect built in Turkey?

Top Stories

Only Trade Can Solve Global Poverty

By Peter Lilley
Telegraph Co. UK.
July 24, 2007

"Even if the rich countries fulfil their pledges to increase aid, the total amount will still be inadequate to finance all the health, education, nutrition, water and sanitation that people living on the edge of survival need.
Above all, they need economic growth to boost their incomes. And trade is the great dynamo of growth."
"When millions of children go to bed hungry and we can do something about it, we cannot pass by on the other side of the world. And poverty affects our security and prosperity as well as our humanity." (to continue: Only Trade...)

In this article, Peter Lilley who chairs the Conservatives' globalisation and global poverty policy group, ask us to face the truth about the massive corruption and inefficiency in many third world countries and argues that foreign aid alone will never be sufficient to make a significant difference in world poverty.

Unfortunately, it is often those who profess to care the most about the world's poor that advocate policies guaranteed to keep them poor. The opponents of globalization would rather let the poor of the world starve than see them participate in the world economy. The truth is that greed and enlightened self-interest will lift more people out of poverty than all the philanthropy in the world. Rod

Top Stories