Here's a simple idea why the US automakers are doomed to never be great and profitable again, 3X more retirees than employees

The Detroit Three's 267,000 hourly retirees and 72,000 surviving spouses
GM has 53,000 hourly employees and Ford has 41,000.

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101214/OEM01/101219920/1424#ixzz1A1Yy1Inf

So, if you're curious why a new car costs 6 times more now than in the 60's, 2wice as much as in the 80's... you might draw the connection between the increase in # of retirees and the increase in the cost of a car, I bet that would chart a straight line, lower left to upper right.