WSJ Opinion: The Bailout that Won't

Washington DC The AIADA newslettr reported that in today's Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins predicts disastrous results from Congress' auto bailout.

He says that to become "viable," as Congress chooses crazily to understand the term, the Big Three are setting out to squander billions on "green" cars that will have to be dumped on consumers at a loss.

None of this was mentioned at four days of congressional bailout hearings, because Detroit knows better than to suggest Congress (and its Corporate Average Fuel Economy regime) has a role in the industry's problem.

Under a law of politics, such truths were unmentionable because legislators are unwilling to do anything about them. They won't repeal CAFE because they fear the greens. They won't repeal CAFE's "two fleets" rule (which effectively requires the Big Three to make small cars in domestic factories) because they fear the UAW. They won't hike gas prices because they fear voters.

An even more massive auto wreck lies ahead when a soon-to-be taxpayer-financed and taxpayer-owned auto industry confronts a California rulemaking that, in a silly gesture against global warming, would render most of its auto designs, profit centers and tooling unsalvageable.

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