I know why Detroit is in freefall...

They make cars too well. But nobody seems to mention that fact. My wife and I were at a party in 2004, the evening after Thanksgiving, at a house across the street from our house. It was about seven o'clock, we had sampled the various crackers, cheeses and spreads, said hello to everybody, and my wife said, "Let's go buy a car."

"Now?" I asked, and she nodded.

So we walked across the street, climbed into our gray - she claims it was teal, but I'm not that colorblind - Ford Escort wagon, drove to a couple of dealers who sold the kind of car we knew we wanted and had been talking about. The sales guys at both places were sitting around, looking totally bored, and the guy whose turn it was brightened up when we walked in and asked if we could get a better deal than we'd been offered someplace else. They gave us a better trade-in for the Escort, knocked a bit more off the MSRP and threw in free pinstriping.

Hint: Unless it falls on a Sunday or a holiday, Black Friday is a great day to shop for a car. I'm convinced.

Anyway, the Escort had maybe 80,000 or 90,000 miles on it, but it was nowhere ready to quit. We were just in a mood for a newer car. We still have it. It has 60,000 miles on it, and we've had it to the shop for routine maintenance only, except for the time we were in a tornado and took an indirect lightning strike which blew out our computer. The dealer replaced the computer under warranty, and we're good as new. We even have the original tires, which I find hard to believe, although I plan to replace them in the fall.

When I was a kid back in the 50s and 60s, you traded your car in when it hit 20,000 or 30,000 miles, and if it had 50,000 on the odometer, you practically had to pay somebody to take it away. While gas was cheap then - and dirty - you might only be getting 10mpg out of the family buggy.

And you risked death if you didn't replace your tires every 12,000 to 15,000 miles.

So a dealer, instead of selling a guy one car every 10 years nowadays, back in the day that same customer would have been buying three or four new cars in a decade. And they were brand loyal. If your dad bought Fords, you bought Fords. Even if it was an Edsel.

So here's my plan to save the American auto industry - go back to making junk.

Just kidding. Honest. What they need to do, or - worst-case scenario, needed to do - was adjust.

I haven't mentioned the kind of car we got, because I really don't think it would have made  a difference.

Cattlemen need to find out more about why anti-farm initiatives are finding their way to the ballot box, according to Gary Voogt,, newly elected president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. He would like to see more farmers advocating for the beef industry, he told Charlene Shupp Esbenshade, Lancaster Farming special sections editor. Her story appears in Saturday's edition, which is finding its way to your mailbox as I write.

This may or may not be a tribute to W. But it is funny and interesting. (Thanks, Brett)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ZquJIolvY