If Owners Look Like their Cars, Then Make Mine Beautiful

Beauty is aspirational because we all aspire to be beautiful, even if only through acquisition. The free market rewards beauty and punishes ugly, profits quality and costs crap.

A perfect example is the car industry. American cars are ugly. Japanese and German cars are gorgeous.

American cars fall apart. Japanese and German cars age very, very well, retaining their Blue Book value a decade later.

American cars make fat old man noises heaving itself off the recliner when it's just off the production line. Japanese and German cars hum at top speed and growl in idle, wanting to be challenged by the open road.

Simply put, American cars are not aspirational the way Japanese and German cars are. I think this is due solely to looks. We all aspire to be better looking and to look our best.

Beautiful people surround themselves with beauty. This extends itself to our second largest purchase - our car. There is so much commuting in America that the car is more than mere transportation, it is an emblem of ourselves.

I am Lexus with its clean lines of a lithe cat. I am a Range Rover shuttling between Town and Country. Buying American is an admission of defeat - I am an Olds because I am old.