Maven: GDP Gross Out

That's why The New Yorker's James Surowiecki get this week's coveted Business Press Maven "Nod of Approval" award.

Y'know all that talk about how the auto companies formerly known as The Big Three and now known as The-Medium-Sized-and-Reeling Three need to prioritize and reorganize and downsize? You know, they basically have to get rid of a bunch of brands if they want to live to see the light of day?

Well, if it's so obvious that The-Medium-Sized-and-Reeling Three need to prioritize, then why haven't they? That's where Surowiecki taught even The Business Press Maven a lesson by looking at the past through the eyes of the historically difficult relationship between automakers and the dealers.

In sum: For nearly a century, it's been a tough one for the automakers, who essentially created their own monsters by handing out local franchises with considerable stakes and power bases of their own.

Want to simply eliminate a brand, whether it's Pontiac or Buick? Good luck doing it without shelling out billions. If the automakers hadn't given in to temptation early on by figuring that independent dealers could absorb excess inventory -- well, they might not be in as fine a mess as they are now, with streamlining much easier said than done.

James, good work. And if my foreign-made Tin Lizzie ever comes bearing down on your lovely typing fingers, rest assured that it'll stop on a dime.

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