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When it comes to getting around, Americans love to consider the question of "what if...?"
As a result, our cars have evolved into "land yachts", our trucks have become "monster trucks", and the desire to drag our living spaces around with us has morphed into converted busses with rooms that pop out of the side, a Mini-Cooper hidden under the master bedroom floor, and self-tracking satellite dishes that fight for space on the roof with air conditioning equipment.
And for more than a few of us, "what if...?" has even extended to "what if my car...was a jet car?"
In today's improbable reality I'm here to tell you that Chrysler engineers asked that exact same question, for roughly a quarter of a century, and as a result they actually designed and deployed seven generations of cars with jet engines-and they came darn close to putting the eighth-generation design on sale to the general public.
It's a story of pocket protectors and slide rules and offices full of guys who look a bit like Drew Carey...but as we'll see in Part Two, it may also be a story of technology that couldn't be perfected "back then", but could be reborn in our own times.
So there's a lot of conversation out there about car dealerships being told they won't be selling cars for Chrysler and GM any more.
The idea, we are told, is to save the auto manufacturers money by reducing the number of dealerships with whom they do business.
I don't really know that much about the car business; and I really didn't understand where these cost savings would come from, but I was able to have a conversation with the one person I do know who actually could offer some useful insight.
Follow along, Gentle Reader, and you'll get a bit of an education at a time when we all need to know a bit more about these companies we suddenly seem to own...and about the closure of thousands of local businesses that will make the news about our bad job market worse.
Sadly, liberals continue to be in denial regarding our current economic troubles, conveniently ignoring the lessons of the past.
Most of us recall vividly that during the 1980s the fundamental problem with the economy was all of those "welfare queens" driving Cadillacs, encouraging an ostentatious lifestyle that clearly could not be sustained. Tens of thousands could be tracked cruising the drive-through windows at Popeye's or dashing in and out of mall parking lots, conspicuous consumption and carefree living all too apparent.
Adding fuel to the excess were cultural icons such as Natalie Cole extolling the comfort and luxury of owning a "Pink Cadillac", and Michael Jordan, whose "Air Jordans" propelled Nike and its sportswear to designer status among urban youth.
It wasn't long before middle and upper income Americans jumped on the bandwagon, with Pink Cadillacs handed out by the hundreds by cosmetic maven Mary Kay Ash, and high-priced basketball shoes de rigueur even among the most non-athletic computer nerds. The ghetto was driving GDP.
