There is some hope if you look at what's happened in several other industries. Apple is eating Sony's lunch. Do you know anyone who owns or even wants a Walkman MP3 player? LG, Samsung, and even Westinghouse are also putting the hurt on Sony's FP TV sales too in terms of quality and sales volume. American bicycle companies have also stolen the show over the past decade. It's not just consumer preference, many Eurpean teams are using US bike brands now. In the camera industry of all things, good old Kodak and HP have been able to gain significant share with the transition to digital. When you shop for high quality speakers, do you even consider the Asian brands any more or do you just limit your search to US/British brands?

There's still hope for automotive too but it will take some time. It'll require a new business model (sell fewer cars but at a profit), new politicians that finally support US industry, more break-through products, buy-in from the press and image leaders, some slip-ups by foreign competitors, and a host of many other actions. When China Inc. ramps up over the next 10-years or so there's a good chance that they'll clean Toyota/Honda/Nissan's clocks before impacting the US brands.

It'll be a long painfull fight but no one in Detroit has given up yet. Look at the universal positive reaction to the Chevy Volt, if GM can get it out the door it could be a real game changer like the iPod.