The automakers have come back for more taxpayer money, which is exactly what we warned would happen when the first bailout was granted last year. The restructuring plans merely represent an attempt to acheive the results of bankruptcy, with the taxpayer picking up the costs. What is needed is not more taxpayer money, but a way to make US automakers competitive again. As I said in my recent Detroit News piece, we can do that through a simple, cost-free, program that will…

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I have an expansion of my original “deregulatory bailout” plan for Detroit in The Detroit News today. I’m also quoted in their editorial on how energy policy needs to catch up with the auto industry’s - and, it seems, consumers’ (if polls are to be believed) - enthusiasm for electric cars. The Detroit News, by the way, remains the best place to get news on the industry’s design plans - see the box to the right of the editorial, for instance.

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Apple's 1984 "Big Brother" ad

An article over at Ad Age brings up an angle on the whole auto industry bailout probably not considered much before.  The fact that a yet-to-be-appointed “car czar” will have control over a multibillion dollar advertising budget for the big three.  Under the guise of “oversight,” this would effectively “Create World’s Most Powerful Marketing Exec[utive].”  

The draft rescue plan for Detroit sent to the White House by Congress yesterday calls for the appointment of a “car czar”…

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The candidates in the recent presidential election argued about whether one of them was advocating socialism.  Actually, it looks like we’re already there.  An ever-growing share of economic activity is ending up under government control.  Reports USA Today:

The government’s spending surge to ease the financial crisis and a worsening recession is increasing the federal share of the nation’s economic activity close to $1 out of every $4, the highest level since World War II, an analysis of current and projected…

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While lawmakers consider whether or not to bail out an industry they holed beneath the waterline, perhaps they could learn from the history on another once-thriving auto industry, that of Great Britain. It’s a salutary tale.

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CNN has a great story about the successful auto companies in America, namely those that aren’t named “GM,” “Chrysler,” or “Ford.”

Turns out, folks who work at and live near the Honda engine plant in Anna, Ohio don’t think the auto industry should get a bailout.  Local waitress September Quinn is quoted in the story as saying:

I don’t think they should bail them out because … obviously something’s not right in the way they’re running their business, and why should the American…

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My colleague Cord asked me about proposing a tech agenda for Congress given the ascendancy today of Henry Waxman to Energy and Commerce Chairmanship; my immediate answer was “Adjourn.”

Anyway, the big news is that Rep Henry Waxman challenged John Dingell for Energy and Commerce Committee chairmanship, and won. E&C has jurisdiction over, well, everything.

Waxman has been a member of Congress since 1975, reminding us of the saliency of term limits. What matters, one might argue, is not that…

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As the Senate prepares to debate the proposed $25 billion bailout bill for the Big Three Detroit automakers, it’s worth pointing out — as many times as possible — just what this money might be going to pay for. First, as Larry Kudlow, points out, there are uncompetitive salaries.

Here’s a stat from my friend, blogger Mark Perry: Total compensation per hour for the big-three carmakers is $73.20. That’s a 52 percent differential from Toyota’s (Detroit South) $48 compensation (wages + health…

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Ah, that slippery slope. All of a sudden, Nancy Pelosi has come to the conclusion that ensuring union retirees receive large amounts of taxpayers’ money is central to the country’s financial stability. And after all, it’s only $25 billion (or maybe $50 billion, still nowhere near $700 billion, or maybe $2 trillion). As my colleague Sam Kazman commented, even though multi-billion dollar bailouts may no longer be the rarity they once were, that does not entitle either the auto industry…

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