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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