So long Hummer

The oil crisis continues:  General Motors announced today that it will close four North American assembly plants including its pickup truck factory in Oshawa. It’s also thinking of selling its Hummer division (Hummer, official brand of the conspicuous consumer). With gas prices so high, demand for trucks and SUVs, the bread and butter of U.S. automakers, is plummeting. The National Post describes the dramatic decline in sales of SUVs here. And let’s not forget the ongoing fallout in the airline industry. It now costs $68,948 dollars to gas up a Boeing 777 in Toronto. With expenses like that, the International Air Transport Association  says the industry will lose $2.3 billion this year.  Ouch.