As TATA motors buys Jag from Ford for 2 billion the transaction doesn't even register on the stock market. Ford stock is up a 1/2 percent at the moment.

Ford was once the poster boy for American ingenuity and probably the driving force behind America's rise to economic dominance of the 20th century. Now it's on the verge of insignificance. Tata mainwhile has developed what could well do for India what the Model T did for the USA and as such TATA could do for India in the 21st C what Ford did for the US in the last one.

In a country where cars are common but still owned by few the NANO promises to change the landscape by giving putting the average Indian behind the wheel for the first time. It won't be long before roads are improved and cows are trained to use crosswalks.

This is just another sign of decoupling of the US economy from the rest of the worlds. It is another sign of a realignment just as the emergence of Ford and their innovative production techniques back in the early 1900's was one of milestones of the US taking claim to the economic thrown previously ruled by great Britain. Ironic that the torch passed on to Asia is a British company.

Asia's rise in the 21st century parallels the US in many ways but mostly in the transition from an agrerian society to an urban society.