DOW in the Mouth

Big changes in the DOW this week: the index has dropped GM and Citigroup and replaced them with Travelers and Cisco.  That's right, an auto manufacturer and a lender have been replaced by an auto insurer and a tech-firm that actually builds hardware.

Signs of a changing economy.

One of my favorite factoids is that the income of GM was, at one point, higher than the GDP of all but 8 countries in the world.  That's a ton of money--dare I say it: a shit-ton of money (an English shit-ton, not a metric shit-ton).

It's kind of funny, because banking and cars are two industries that fill a never-ending need.  People (especially Americans) are always going to need cars.  And they're always going to need loans to pay for them.  And yet a recession is wiping out major players in each field.  Is this the end of car-buying as we know it?

No.  But I think it may be the end of conglomeration as we know it.  I think we're going to start seeing more small businesses and fewer titans.  And, frankly, I would love to see smaller car manufacturers start to make good--although I have no idea how that's supposed to come about.  I think back to the Tucker, though--an innovative car by an American startup that was bullied out of the marketplace by the big players.  But now it seems the bullies have chased themselves off the playground.  Time for the regular kids to play.

]{p