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December 12, 2003

Strange But True!

  • A weekly column of incidental information, off-the-wall observations and other random facts about the world.
    • By BILL SONES and RICH SONES, Ph.D.
    Special to the Journal

    Q. Where exactly are "American-made" cars made?

    A. Buy one and you're buying a product that people of different nationalities came together to design, make and market, say Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier and Richard P. Appelbaum in "Introduction to Sociology: 4th Edition." For instance, of the $20,400 paid by a buyer of a 1991 Pontiac Le Mans, $6,000 went to South Korea for basic assembly, $3,500 to Japan for advanced components, $1,500 to West Germany for design engineering, $800 to Taiwan, Singapore and Japan for small components, $500 to Britain for advertising and marketing, $100 to Barbados in the West Indies for data processing. "The $8,000 or so that remained," continues Giddens, "went to a diversity of groups -- strategists in Detroit, lawyers and bankers in New York, lobbyists in Washington, and General Motors shareholders, an increasing proportion of whom are in fact foreign nationals." (Statistics from former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich)


     
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