Wow. We all knew that tire pricing rose significantly in 2011. Not all of it stuck at the passenger tire level, but prices rose well into the double digits for all segments.

There are a lot of people who are very upset with Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.'s recent lock out of 1,051 workers at its Findlay, Ohio, consumer tire plant. And executives of the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW) are only too happy to let you know who they are.

Quick, what size tire will you see more than any another rolling into your service bays this year?

We live in a global economy. That is not going to change, and protectionism is not going to help our economy get better faster. Even the United Steelworkers (USW) partially agree (more on that later).