Saving the Dinosaurs

So, Detroit is crying because they are feeling the financial pinch and want Federal bailout money.

Tough.

I sympathize. I really do. Everybody is hurting, and the lure of piles of money is tempting. But what they want the money for is so that they can continue doing things the same old way.

Back in the 1980s, Japan started coming out with extremely fuel-efficient cars. Why? Because they saw what happened in the 1970s, and decided to prevent it from happening again. Detroit put up a fuss, trying to prevent the cars from being allowed in the country. Why? Because people were buying them! Rather than adapt and improve, their instinct was to circle the wagons.

Fast forward to current days. Japan retains their reputation for safe, reliable, efficient cars. Detroit continues to bank on large, inefficient vehicles it sells by waving a flag in their commercials. Toyota got so frustrated at Detroit's slow progress, that they actually lobbied for an increase in the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards.

It shouldn't have taken a collapse to show this is what the world needed, and Detroit had two decades to prepare. Part of the problem was that unions were entrenched, and it is near impossible to deal with them. When automobile leaders wanted to cut wages rather than lay off people, the unions refused, necessitating a larger bailout.

The most vivid example I have of their refusal to change is Saturn. It was touted as a new, better way to build cars, and for a while it was. It got rave reviews from analysts and consumers. Then GM brought them back into the fold, and the rave reviews stopped. Now, GM has just announced that it will stop making Saturns- the car that was supposed to save Detroit.

What do I suggest? Let them die. Let Detroit dry up and fade away into history; the environment will thank us. It will be painful, I have no illusions about that. But I think the stimulus money would be better spent starting a new company that will begin where Detroit hopes to end up. Let us put our billions into hydrogen cells, or hybrids, or vegetable oil, or solar. It will only be painful in the short run. The long-range benefits will be worth it.

And it will be a great example for the future: improve, adapt, or get out of the way.

Don't blame them; they're only human

So, Pope John Paul II excommunicated four bishops. Pope Benedict XVI reinstated them, claiming that it hadn't been done correctly. Then it was pointed out that one of the bishops was a Holocaust denier, and Benedict reversed himself, and re-excommunicated him.

So much for Papal Infallibility...