Who Says Ingenuity Is Dead In America?

You hear it all the time these days, especially from your older relatives, that good old Ammurrican ingenuity is dead and buried forever. They say we have gone soft, gotten lazy, and have just become generally a mediocre kind of nation, no-longer interested in sending people deep into space to explore other planets, nor even creating a better mousetrap. Permanent malaise has set in, some will say.

Too a certain extent, I believe this is true, but I suspect many innovations that could be brought about have been stifled not so much due to the lack of creativity on the part of the American people, but instead due to heavy-handed, pain-in-the-ass, nanny-state government regulations, as well as the massive herds of trial lawyers milling about, just waiting for the next Corvair, Pinto, or faulty can-opener to hit the market.

With our economy heading straight for the abyss, one of the more difficult businesses to be in right now is the automobile/truck business. With millions of Americans losing their jobs, much higher lending standards now in place, and the occasionally spiking gas prices, selling vehicles is a tough job.

I should know, because that is what I was doing up until last October. I was new to the business, and still learning the tricks of the trade, as the industry I had been in and around for nearly three decades, the engineering/land surveying/construction business pretty much went to hell here in 2007. Unfortunately, $4+/gal at the pump, the mortgage "crises," and the resulting credit crunch combined to knock me out of my new career choice.

I knew I could sell cars, as I had sold enough to convince myself that I could make it in a "normal" market, but we weren't in a normal market. As the showroom traffic soon reduced to a mere trickle, and credit started getting really tight, I wasn't able to get most of the customers I did have qualified for the financing.

Well, one truck dealer in Missouri has come up with an interesting way to boost his showroom traffic, and hopefully sales, in these tough economic times.

His pitch? Buy a truck and get an AK-47 for free.

Yep, just buy a truck from Mark Muller, owner of Max Motors in Butler, Mo., and he will hand you a voucher for a free AK-47, or the gun of your choice from your local firearms dealer, so long as it is $450 or less.

Of course, you will have to pass the required federal background check in order to receive your voucher, so there is no need for you convicted felons and such to rush upstairs and start frantically packing for the drive out to Missouri, as you will be wasting your time-not to mention a lot of expensive gas.

Personally, I'd probably go for a Glock in something like, say, .45 ACP, but that is just me.

I think this is a great idea on the part of Mr. Muller, and if I lived out in Missouri and was in the market for a new truck, I would definitely have to scope out his dealership.

After all, ingenuity such as his deserves to be rewarded.


(h/t: Mike Sargent @ NewsBusters.org)