How many Italians to assemble a Fiat?

Polish jokes used to be a staple of stand-up comics, but who's laughing now? According to the Wall Street Journal the Fiat plant in Poland turned out 600,000 automobiles with 6,100 workers. In Italy, five Fiat factories employed 22,000 workers to build 650,000 cars. In short, the Poles are nearly three times as productive as their Italian colleagues.

Evidently there is still some hope for the United States, at least as compared to Italy. Sergio Marchionne is doing his best to close down factories in Italy while increasing production in North America, though the major beneficiary so far is--Mexico, where the Fiat 500 is being assembled for the U.S. market. How long, I wonder, before the illegals begin to cross the Rio Grande from north to south? Blue skies! -- Dan Ford