Interesting article from Daniel Gross at Slate on the auto industry crisis:
http://www.slate.com/id/2206525/
Bottom line: it’s not just cantankerousness that makes some Southern Republicans eager to see the American auto industry disappear, with its three million jobs. They’ve become familiar with their own non-union, foreign-owned auto plants, and they don’t see why we should keep propping up a declining system.
They have a point– though it’s undercut by the fact that those states attracted foreign investment with hefty state-level tax breaks and subsidies.
I don’t know that there’s any great answer to Detroit’s problem. But I worry about losing an entire industry. Transplants are not the same thing. What does the US do better than anyone else? According to Neal Stephenson, music, movies, programming, and high-speed pizza delivery. (I wonder what the real answer is, and what if anything it’ll be in 30 years.)
