The betting here is that traditional U.S. car manufacturers will soon offer another round of "employee discounts" to get inefficient cars off dealer lots. Such discounts would not be necessary if U.S. manufacturers simply produced cars that were in demand, the cars that make energy sense in the first place.

It's worth noting that while Ford and GM are laying off huge numbers of employees, Toyota had a record year and is building a new plants in Texas and Ontario. Honda, not to be outdone, is spending $550 million to build a new plant in Ohio.

If our national economic course does not change, the impact will be profound. The Federal Reserve will raise interest rates to historic highs to attract foreign capital. Interest on the national debt will consume a far larger percentage of government revenues -- meaning there will be fewer dollars for other programs. If the government simply prints more money to pay creditors, inflation levels will soar. In such an environment there won't be 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages because inflation will be at levels normally associated with third-world countries.

We do have a choice. A slew of small, efficient vehicles; ethanol; coal conversion and oil from Canadian tar sands are some of the seeds which can lead to economic stability and political independence. We can insist on tougher fuel standards for cars and trucks -- not the fake standards riddled with exceptions that we now have.

We should have created such alternatives years ago; perhaps this time around we'll do the "smart" thing -- while we still can.

(Note: The photo above was taken in Rome, Italy in August, 2004. The "small" car shown is a four-door station wagon -- even smaller, two-door, two-seat cars are common.)