Oh, and for those that want to support Toyota as they are creating “American Jobs” - GM and Ford last year downsized in blue-collar jobs twice as many positions as Toyota has in all of North America (~30,000). And despite that, they still directly employ many times more Americans than Toyota does.
Also, retirees do have some impact. As of now, Toyota has less than 600 retirees on its books (and I bet it’s a 401K-based, rather than pension-based one, to boot). This is opposed to the 1.1 million employees, retirees and dependents GM directly covers.
Now are the domestics making investments abroad? Sure. It’s the easiest way back to financial health for them - and they’re still a profit-motivated entity. It’s the same for Toyota, except they’re taking the cynical view that they must seem to be American in order for the next round of products to be accepted (e.g. large trucks). This is the only reason why they built a plant in Texas, and the only reason why they’re in NASCAR. Despite that, Toyota still contributes less to the US economy than GM or Ford.
So yes, let’s support Toyota as it’s an “American” company, rather than just a “good” car company. Just understand that if the domestics fail, we ALL will pay, somehow. No Democratic Congress will allow that many people to go financially unsupported, so our taxes will have to take up the slack.
Regardless of all the internet-arguing, I think we all should realize that America is living on borrowed time. This century will be Asia’s century, and we Americans will help them get there.