And here we just bought a Toyota:

Toyota is suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March, a stoppage of unprecedented scale for the nation’s top automaker as it grapples with shrinking global demand.

I understand the precipitous drop in demand for American cars - especially when consumers consider that GM, for instance, has said it would have gone bankrupt without the bailout, and who’s buying a care when the company is admitting it’s on the verge of bankruptcy?

But Toyota’s sales in the U.S. are actually in worse shape:

Overnight, Toyota reported that its U.S. sales in December were down 37 percent on year, a worse drop than Ford Motor Co.’s 32 percent drop and General Motor’s 31 percent slide.

Toyota last year suspended production at its auto plants in Alabama, Indiana and Texas for three months, and shut down output for two days in December at all its North American vehicle factories including five in the United States, one in Canada and another in Mexico.

So all this haggling over union issues up in Detroit - and workers at these southern factories may not be any better off even without the unions.