If U.S. buyers who love their foreign cars start patronizing those brands for their SUVs, and SUV demand stays flat, Detroit's overcapacity--and already thin profits--could deteriorate further.
If profitsthin out as the only real success comes from extra-cheap devices like the Nexus 7, there's fewer opportunities to gamble on technology research that might not pan out.
The great 19th-century philanthropists laid down their fortunes and set up their foundations in the days when profits were fat, taxes thin and labour weak.
So, automakers should imagine how to put themselves smack in the middle of all the value in the car market, rather than building cars on razor-thin margins while letting others reap most of the profits.
Businesses and economies should be rewarded for profits and growth, not for creating a creative new accounting system that makes money appear out of thin air.