UK Government paying to trade in old cars

I know it is popular to beat up on the Detroit 3 right now, and some of it is deserving. However, you can not lay the blame for poor management decisions, labor costs, etc all at the feet of Big 3 and state categorically that if they were to design cars people want, bring their costs in line with their competitors, slash brands and so forth then all of their problems will magically disappear.

As I wrote earlier, Toyota, the darling of the press, was seeking financial assistance from the Japanese government and it looks like the European car manufactures are using similar methods to help boost their sales. Although this particular article is about the United Kingdom, if you read the article it states that several European governments, "most notably Germany"(huh? Mercedes, BMW, Audi, VW by all standards very good cars need help in these bad economic times) have initiated programs to get people buying cars again. Read the article here: Government to launch old-for new vehicle scrap scheme

I can not help but wonder if all of the bad press Detroit (most notably GM and Chrysler since Ford appears to be ahead of the game) gets is more about our lack of political power in Washington due to several factors, and less about the quality of their automobiles...

Just a thought