Creative destruction meets Baptists and bootleggers

America's outside-the-rustbelt auto industry is too big to ignore. So we may not get the standard Baptists and Bootleggers outcome.

Today's LA Times includes "Knights in white SUVs ... In Georgia, a Kia plant promises 2,500 jobs. Grateful residents wonder why Detroit deserves a bailout."

I am old enough to remember that auto imports (first from Europe and then from Japan) began making serious inroads in the U.S. market in the 1960s. The Big Three have been in decline for about 40 years.

Yes, they have made changes. But not by enough. Any U.S. comparative advantage in this business is found on the map (of six southern states) and accompanying chart (listing 7 auto plants now operating and 3 underway) of the LA Times piece.