Ideally, we should only provide protections to corporations who achieve world-class quality.

Also, we should demand the same environmental, legal, human rights, minimum wage and working-condition standards of any component of any product sold in our market.

Many Asian nations taxed our cars over 100% for decades and some still do. There never was a level playing field.

Japan spent billions after the war (yes, much was from the U.S. govt to help rebuild) to totally revamp everything about their strongest industries. In the late seventies and through the eighties, there were regular interviews with Japanese businessmen asking how they became so rich.

All credited wartime quality of America’s arsenal for their defeat. They marveled that every plane flew as expected, straight out of the factory. Every jeep, every radio, every gun, every ship, every tank…all were reliable.

If they were to regain respect in the world, it would require the achievement of an industrial base second to none.

Someone in Japan recruited W. Edward Deming at over $100,000/yr to explain how we did it. Deming had worked under W. Shewhart during WWII and, together, they had pioneered quality control techniques and with the backing of the U.S. government, manufacturers did as Shewhart and Deming said. No questions asked.

After WWII, GM retained Deming for a few years at about $100,000 and just ignored his admonitions and advice. Quality quickly declined.

The Japanese found him indispensable – probably why they paid him so well.

While GM, Ford, Chrysler, Studebaker, etc, were resting on their laurels, permitting factory and equipment to decline; and while the U.S. Govt was spending billions on new weaponry for the cold war, Japan Inc. spent almost exclusively on perfecting an export-based economy. They knew that the critical factor was value for the price. And value meant quality.

Executives from Nissan admitted that, when they first introduce their cars to the U.S. market (under the name "Datsun" in case they failed), their salesmen almost refused to sell a car to young moms, elderly people or anyone who couldn’t fix the thing. In other words, they knew as well as anyone that their stuff still sucked. Their confidence changed by the mid to late sixties.

Then came the oil crunch & the rest is history.

Since the eighties, American quality has come very close to equaling that of Japan’s, though not in cameras and optics. We have spent insane amounts of money on defense (which, until recently, I was always for). Japan and Korea have had no such expenses to concern themselves with.

Nonetheless, we let them get away with exorbitant tariffs under the GATT and now the WTO.

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You are in Missouri, which is a Title holding state. What this means is that when you took out the note on the auto at the credit union, they (technically the state) will attach a lein to your vehicle. You will then givethe title and title application to the people at the license bureau who will send it all off to the state. Here’s the important part….

The state will send you the title back in your name with a Lein attached to the front.(thus the "title holding state" part) You keep this until you pay the loan off, then the Credit union will send you a Lein Release. You attach this to your title and file it away until you are ready to sell or trade, or send it off to get a new title with no lein attached.

The short answer to your question is that the dealer or person that sold you the vehicle is responsible for handing you the title with your paperwork, and you should have it by now… Sometimes the dealer will hold it if he is waiting on something from you(i.e. title to your trade-in, proof of income, etc…)

If the dealer hasn’t given you the title and you don’t owe him any of these loose ends, give him a call and ask for your title…
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5 years in the Auto Industry in Lebanon, MO

car booty
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