On the magical thinking coming out of Chrysler
If you watched the Superbowl , you probably saw the Chrysler ad (AKA one of two Eminem Superbowl ads.) If not, you can watch it here on YouTube. Beautifully filmed, beautifully edited, it's a love song to Detroit. Told by Eminem. And it starts with a question: What does this city know about luxury? And I've got some stats that indicate the answer would be "not much." The lead in a 2009 Wall Street Journal story goes like this: They call this the Motor City, but you have to leave town to buy a Chrysler or a Jeep. The Journal goes on to note that Borders had just closed its last Detroit store, and that Starbucks, "known for saturating U.S. cities with its storefronts, has only four left in this city of 900,000 after closures last summer." The story then points out that there are no national grocery stores in Detroit. That was then, in 2009. What about now? Well, the good news is that unemployment decreased in 2010 (according to preliminary d...