I sat in the window of a cafe this month in Annapolis, Maryland, a sailing town near Washington, counting parked cars. "Honda, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Lexus (made by Toyota), Mazda, and a battered 1970s Cadillac."

No wonder the US' carmakers are in meltdown and begging to be plugged in to the Treasury's life-support machines.

Don't be misled, though - the something that is rotten in the auto industry has nothing to do with the credit crunch, and everything to do with years of mismanagement, shoddy products and bad choices.