Submission + - Mistakes haunt US automakers, begging for bailout 1
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the administration should consider expanding the $700 billion bailout to include car companies. Critics say leaders over the years at Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and what is now Chrysler LLC were slow to take on unions, failed to invest enough in new products, ceded the car market to the Japanese and were ill-prepared for the inevitable rise in gas prices that would make their trucks and SUVs obsolete.
Whether this is a good or bad idea, I don't know, but I am at least a bit surprised because I had the impression that president-elect Senator Obama is very pro-environment and against CO2 emissions. But maybe this is the carrot-approach to get the big US car manufacturers to start finally producing fuel efficient cars — albeit on the taxpayer's tab.
