The fact that you know what I mean when I write the two words “Big Three” points to the power of Detroit and U.S. automotive marketing in the last half of the 20^th century. The fact that they are no longer the big three in terms of sales in the U.S. points to the reality of the 21^st century.

This year Toyota will finally top GM in sales in the U.S. In 2005 GM’s market share was twice that of Toyota’s. Think Prius and fuel economy. GM recently announced the closing of four manufacturing plants in North …

The two trend lines are the decline in gasoline consumption and the decline in miles driven.  These two are obviously connected and are obviously caused by the price of oil.  For the first time in close to 30 years, we have something to be proud of when it comes to our driving behavior.

Two different reports last week documented this profound turnaround.  A report by the Cambridge Energy Research Associates documented that, should recent behavior continue, gasoline demand will likely decline in 2008 for the first time in 17 years. Over the course of the last 25 years gasoline demand in …

This will be the first of several columns on the state of transportation in the U.S. Regular readers of this column know that for years I have predicted the current high price of oil, the sales collapse of the truck and SUV markets and the need for electric cars. In addition it has been stated here that the future of U.S. transportation must include high speed trains, and a better integration of airplane, train and local mass transit. Finally it should start being clear to anyone paying attention [still too few of the population] that the now permanent high …

The time between this column and the last one posted here is the longest time between columns in the more than two year life of this blog. The reason is very simple. My father-in-law died a week ago and I have been mourning the passing of not only a man I loved, but an American Hero.

For those of you who come here for future oriented commentary on what is going on in the world, this will be a departure. However as we are now entering a new age that seems filled with upheaval and yet provides an opportunity for human …