Ah, the iconic if remarkably ugly automobile of Serbia has finally breathed it’s last. The Yugo is no longer.

I know everybody’s pissed at the automobile industry here in this country - and rightfully so - but can you imagine the thought of an entire make of American cars disappearing from the map?

Count on this blog for all the good news, folks.  But you really need to read just how bad things suck at GM before we start the process of bailing them out.

Given the numbers that pretty much all the media seems to agree on - that, for example, as many as 2 million jobs could be affected by the collapse of GM - I’m inclined to agree with the need for some sort of bailout.  But there seems to be such an endemic problem with our automobile industry that I begin to wonder if what we should be looking for is closer to a soft landing than a rescue.

I don’t know what the next thing after GM would be.  I don’t know how GM changes it’s ways and suddenly begins to research and develop new technology, or if the myriad of startups playing with green technology are capable of handling even parts of the marketplace that is currently dominated by GM in that venerable company’s absense.  I just don’t know.

But the times they are a-changin’, no matter what happens.