The Ford Probe was discontinued in 1996, the Mazda B series is a glorified Ranger.
Ford/Mercury/Lincoln's Current Lineup.
-Focus
-Mustang
-Taurus
-Ranger
-F Series
-Escape
-Explorer
-Expedition
-Excursion
-Cougar
-Sable
-Mountaineer
-Continental
-Town Car
-LS
-Navigator
-Blackwood
I'm not seeing a whole lot of imports there. I may have left some out. Sure there are parts on the cars that came from overseas, but the cars themselves are based here, primarily. Global Marketplace. Get used to it.
On the China subject, I feel it keeps inching closer to a civil war there. I don't like the idea they have nuclear weapons, or that their military seems to have a great deal of power over the supposed leadership. I certainly don't believe that it's a stable country, or that it's govenment is to be trusted even one bit. I think all the trade that we've been doing with them has served the US interest within that country. I believe China has become quite dependant on money from the United States, and the government knows it. Unfortunately, I also believe the military doesn't care, and it will attempt to perform a coup de dat if it sees an opportunity.
On the Japan subject, I don't like the fact we still support them with our military. It's high time that Japan was given the obligation to create it's own military. Their economy has been very poor in the last few years, probably due largely to the NAFTA agreement, technology manufacturing in Singapore, China, and Korea. Japan has very little in regards to natural resources, or land area. It is a country very much dependant on the global economy to prosper. Now that it is seeing increased competition from it's Asian neighbors, and a growing relationship with Mexican and Canadian workers from US industries, I think it is much more obvious how dependant the Japanese are on the American market. Japanses businesses have protected themselves by diversification, betting that demand for a great deal of different products will not collapse all at once. Honda and Yamaha are great examples of this. Obviously, if a business can diversify a great deal, it can save a tremendous amount of money by cooperation between different divisions. The added communication probably better serves technology and implementation of new ideas across a variety of sectors as well. That being said, I truely believe the US does not lag behind anybody in the world as far as technology is concerned. I don't believe Ford, anyway, lags behind the Japanese in automotive technology, either. I do believe Ford has chosen to focus it's attention partially on overseas markets, and that they've chosen to implement only technology which is marketable within their products.
What could be our greatest ally, could be our once greatest foe. I think Russia has tremendous potential as an American ally. It's unfortunate, but understandable given historical information how Russia is a bit xenophobic, and reluctant to trust outside countries. Their current leader Putin, is nothing more than a soldier. Neither do I believe he is capable of helping his people, nor is he likely to allow the US to bail Russia out in an attempt to gain on the long term investment. Maybe I'm just biased in favor of Russian women accents? LOL
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