Robert L Jordon of Washington State

True enough is the fact that the old lead-acid battery wouldn’t have cut it for the EV-1; but by now, maybe GM would have found a better battery. At least, they wouldn’t look so foolish, and have to go through the painful process of saying “nice to have known you” to folks such as those at the SUV factory in Jainsville, Wisconsin.

Chrysler was poised to starting going in a new direction, with hybrid versions of its Durango and Aspen; and now, by year’s end, the factory that builds them, will be closed down. It remains to be seen as to whether or not Chrysler will survive long enough to build and (try to) sell its own electric cars.

As for bailing them out, I too try to take a libertarian perspective on this, which is probably the most defensible and sound economic perspective. But consider this. Back in the fall of 1979, the Federal government guaranteed bank loans to the old Chrysler Corporation; and by 1983, the money came back to the government – meaning us – and Chrysler survived, until now. Well, as a satrap of Daimler-Benz for a few years, it did.

As for allowing Ford, Chrysler and GM to go broke in the theory that new jobs will blossom, well it’s the same argument we get these days from Tom Freidman of the New York Times who believes that a new “green economy” will blossom, if we just allow to happen. T. Boone Pickens keeps beating that same drum.

I’m a skeptic about both schools of thought. Years of working at newspapers and magazines and following too many politicians around will do that to a person.

I’d like to believe if the Feds give the so-called Big Three some of our money, they will get their heads out of wherever you think it is, and do the right thing(s). Rick Waggoner, Robert Nardelli and the guy Ford brought over from Boeing will have to work to expand their understanding of what the country needs and wants in the way of vehicles, now that the SUV dream – or nightmare, depending on your point of view – is over.

But as Upton Sinclair once said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”