The "Daily Show"'s Guide To Fixing The Auto Industry (VIDEO)

There's no denying that the American auto industry is in serious trouble. The big three came to Congress asking for bailouts, and in return President Obama made GM CEO Rick Wagoner step down, and said the companies must revolutionize the way they do business to avoid bankruptcy.

The "Daily Shows"'s John Hodgman knows exactly what to do to save the American auto industry and kindly laid out his five-step plan last night for the world to see. The highlights include rekindling the American love affair with the car by capturing the tender beauty of autoerotic asphyxiation. (We're pretty sure that doesn't mean what he thinks it means.) Also, moving Detroit to Cancun.


WATCH:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
You're Welcome - Auto Industry
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Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Comments

[liminal67]

11:47 AM on 04/08/2009

The Daily Show makes each day pass a little easier!

http://pitchbendpost.blogspot.com/

[steelmill]

08:05 PM on 04/07/2009

I don't get it ,first Stewart supports giving GM the money,then doe's this skit,talk about a stab in the back,if you noticed the audience wasn't laughing that much.Stewart knows nothing of trade and that GM was number one until 2 years ago and that now the Japanese cars companies are also not selling.To the point that Toyota got a bail out from their government which got no media attention.Stewart says American car companies don't build cars Americans want by building SUV's and trucks,well why then were the Japanese also selling them,but thats okay when they do it,they did it because there was a large market for them.The American small cars get the same gas mileage as the Japanese do, as for hybrids the Americans only have 4 to the Japanese 3.GM also has a hybrid SUV and full sized truck which the Japanese don't.But I guess it's funny to Stewart whats happening to Detroit and it's funny so many lives are going to be hurt.So much for the voice of the working class

[SlashPrower]

10:16 AM on 04/08/2009

Holy crap, calm down. Jon Stewart, although skilled at investigative journalism, is a comedian first and foremost.

Also, point out the Japanese truck/SUV boom. C'mon, give me a link.

[steelmill]

08:45 PM on 04/08/2009

The Japanese have been trying for years to get in these markets,you don't need a link,just walk into a Toyota,Honda,Nissan,to name a few dealerships and look around,or look a car magazines,or maybe look around on the roads.The Japanese have been selling them for years,Americans didn't buy as many of theirs as the ones that were American made.But it wasn't because they weren't trying.But there's a lot of them out there.Stewart was right about wall street and MSNBC and he took it seriously because it effected a lot of people and he was right,but he was wrong here.

[Durango]

11:19 AM on 04/08/2009

Stewart and the Daily Show are equal opportunity mockers.

It is just that the Right Wing and the Media are so much funnier than the rest of us.

it is comedy.

[steelmill]

09:15 PM on 04/08/2009

Then to be equal,lets see a skit on foreign cars

[Lahonda]

04:45 PM on 04/07/2009

The manufacturing industry is being asked to embrace change while the world continues to wean itself ever so slowly off oil.

The blood will continue to run until all systems adjust.

[jerrypl]

03:51 PM on 04/07/2009

Jon Stewart's show hits the irony of daily life.

http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

[VengeanceIsMine]

03:33 PM on 04/07/2009

I like the idea of bombing Germany and Japan again. Obama wants to get rid of our nukes. Sounds like win-win to me.

[doug108]

10:59 PM on 04/07/2009

See, now that just sounds crazy.

[lovecanoe]

03:02 PM on 04/07/2009

Someone please give the very funny John Hodgman his own show!

[BearsLeft]

03:09 PM on 04/07/2009

Much funnier than Demetri Martin.

[TrnsNtnl]

08:27 PM on 04/07/2009

I second that, John Hodgman is comedy genius. His book is hillariouse too and his apperance on wait wait done tell me was brilliant.

[donniebnyc]

02:10 PM on 04/07/2009

If Americans wanted fuel efficiency, who was buying all those SUVs.

If Americans didn't buy gas guzzling, smog belching, monster trucks, then production would have stopped. Americans are mostly lemmings who fall for marketing by automakers.

The villains here are the automakers, and the spineless politicians they bought, who prevented the raising of fuel efficiency standards. And let's forget the citizens who allowed it to happen by ignoring it for years.

[chickenNgravy]

04:00 PM on 04/07/2009

I bought an F250 Lariat pickup in 2002. I have four kids and several acres so I needed room for our family of six and hauling capability for the dump. My wife has a Toyota Sienna.

My truck gets 12 miles a gallon and I was bitching when gas was 4 bucks a gallon and I had to drive my crew 200 miles to a soccer tournament.

That said, I have 120,000 miles on it without a single mechanical problem of any sort.

But most importantly, I feel safe in it with my four kids on icy and snowy roads in this Western State. Plus, if someone else is drunk or falls asleep and crosses the center line and they are driving a compact car, I feel pretty confident.

I hit a deer once going 65mph with all my kids in the car at 1AM in the morning. I didn't swerve or slam on the brakes. I took my foot off the gas pedal and hit the deer head on. Thanks to my truck and the industrial steel "cattle crusher" on the front, I didn't even break a headlight or scratch the paint, much less have a deer in my front seat or swerve and roll.

Best investment I ever made.

[Roses]

04:41 PM on 04/07/2009

I agree with you....somewhat, I had a van when my kids were small and we went places as a family of 5. My husband is a big man of 6'3" and would complain driving my small foreign car. We always tried to buy American for our family and those cars were not reliable.
That said, I think that Detroit can build a more gas efficient, comfortable auto that actually fits the average large American, has room for a family, and is reliable. My relatives live in Canada and they get cars from Europe that fill the bill. Detroit has been dragging its feet for a long time.

Just remember, as you are driving large gas-guzzling cars, Osama is sitting in the passenger seat.

[Lahonda]

04:42 PM on 04/07/2009

Point taken... Yeehaw!

[banja]

12:57 PM on 04/07/2009

John Stewart is a genius, sums up all of Detroits issues in one segment.

[plages]

12:49 PM on 04/07/2009

Driving Ms. Stewart . . way to go Hodgy!!

[ssg13565]

12:47 PM on 04/07/2009

Contrary to what Jon Stewart said, Japanese cars cost more than their U.S. counterparts, and yet we'd still rather buy Toyota than Chevrolet.

I have noticed the advertising since the start of this auto bailout thing. Detroit is still pushing SUVs and trucks. What does that tell you about the image Detroit wants to project in this new era?

[billbb]

01:22 PM on 04/07/2009

The Detroit makers are pushing the SUVs and monster trucks because that's all they have left.

Kind of the same reason the Republicans are pushing the "Obama's a Socialist" thing again. Bankrupt companies and bankrupt philosophies sort of run together, in feral packs, picking off only the weak-minded among us who have more money than sense.

[FormerReaganite]

12:47 PM on 04/07/2009

Bigger *cars?* Let me rephrase that for Hodgeman: Detroit gave them TANKS to drive (and reduce our Michigan roads into rubble.) If you've driven the bad roads here in Detroit, you would know what I mean. Along with that, a spineless state legislature too afraid to raise the necessary funds to fix them.

[davidsandiego]

12:45 PM on 04/07/2009

detroit problems explained in #5 in the 50's the other countries did not have an industry since they had been bombed, so as we can see these companies were founded on no real competition and 50 years later they still don't know how to compete.

Fix healthcare and then a lot of companies will be able to bring the employees back to the US with less costs.
Do Tax tariffs on foreign imports that don't equal the exports to their country and this fixes the problem.
Take away tax breaks for companies that export their workforce outside the US to do business in the US, if they open a factory outside the US ban them from selling their product for at least 10 years from wherever it comes.

Stop the consumer economy, we must produce something!!!!! stop this crap about high tech jobs, there is no training for these and other countries are advancing their technology so they will not want to do the labor part forever.

[TokyoCalling]

04:39 PM on 04/07/2009

Bravo! Well Said!

[pros54]

07:37 PM on 04/07/2009

The solution is easier as you would be accused of supporting boycott of foreign goods. The law should be those companies should still pay social security and medicare taxes on the salary they pay their workers outside of the US in the US.

[steelmill]

10:10 PM on 04/07/2009

It's not a boycott,it's about more better trade laws,besides we need real national healthcare

[liminal67]

12:29 PM on 04/07/2009

I love the hat and goggles!

http://pitchbendpost.blogspot.com/

[powerlift2201]

12:25 PM on 04/07/2009

"Americans wanted bigger cars. Detroit gave them bigger cars. Americans wanted more fuel efficiency. Detroit gave them bigger cars." Pretty much sums it up.

[cbates]

12:03 PM on 04/07/2009

cute