The result was a lot of job cutting, not something you might have expected from an administration elected with union support. The unions lost their generous pay for laid-off workers. To be sure, the union health plans were not treated as harshly as some creditors were, but in the end creditors and workers all paid for the sins of past managements.

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Evidence of what is going on came this week in the consumer price figures for October. The index for new autos was up 1.6 percent for the month, and 3.8 percent for the last 12 months. It has been more than a decade since that index rose by nearly that much. That is what can happen when companies focus on raising margins, no matter what the impact on volume.

The Consumer Price Index numbers need not be viewed as gospel. They are adjusted for quality, which is no easy job. (How much more is a 2010 model worth than the previous year’s? How big an adjustment is called for if the engine is larger, or the gas mileage is better, or the interior more comfortable?) But that issue has been around for a long time. There is no reason to think the government is doing a worse job on the C.P.I. than it did in years past.

Then there is the question of how the cash-for-clunkers program may have affected the numbers. That program may have allowed dealers to raise prices temporarily. If so, that impact could wear off soon.

Because of such things, many analysts have assumed that rising car prices in recent months were a statistical fluke.

“This significant price increase does not make any sense at all in an environment in which car sales are close to a 27-year low,” wrote Harm Bandholz, an economist for UniCredit Research, after the October C.P.I. numbers were released. “To me,” he told me later, “it is a statistical anomaly” that is likely to vanish in coming months.

Another possible explanation is the decline of the dollar since March. German, Japanese and Korean carmakers need to raise prices here to offset the appreciation of the euro, yen and won, and that gives Detroit some room to raise prices as well. But as Mr. Bandholz pointed out, import prices for cars are rising, but not that rapidly. “Higher import prices can explain part of the increase in selling prices, but by far not everything,” he said.