There has not been much good news coming from Detroit or the nation’s auto industry over the past year. Is the industry finally out of the woods?

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK.A) is finally starting to offload its 20% stake in ratings agency Moody’s Corporation (NYSE.MCO).

They are called the Echo Boom generation and by now represent over 70 million consumers in the United States. This year, the four-million strong segment born in 1990 finished high school and scattered across the nation’s campuses. And every year hereafter, another four million will be hitting the road… literally… in cars provided to them by the most indulgent parental generation in history.

Since bicycles are a pain, especially for cross-country drives, and part of the parental generation’ dream is to cut down on your second job as unpaid taxidrivers, I believe a combination of winter attrition, 16th and 18th birthdays, high school graduations, and college-bound freshmen will kick-start the used-car business in the second quarter of 2009.

Eli Outbids Bristol; Carmax Crashes; IBM Could Miss Estimates; Micron’s Loss; Cereal’s Sugar High; Canada Drives Toyota

Circuit City Ousts CEO; Huge MSFT Buyback; McAfee Buys Secure Computing; Buffett’s Cash Wins Out; WaMu Downgrade; CarMax Crashes; Krawcheck Out at Citi; Legg Mason Not Going Private