On running GM hands-off

The front page of the New York Times has two extraordinary stories that, taken together, speak volumes about another, unmentioned story: the nationalization of American life. 'Treasury to Set Executives’ Pay at 7 Ailing Firms' says one of them. And 'U.S. Takes On the Insular G.M. Culture'. The Obama administration will decide just how much money the GM chairman deserves to earn, and it will ensure that the company becomes less bureaucratic, so as to succeed in the future where it failed in the past. Quite apart from the hilarity of assigning a lawyer to tell GM how to become more nimble in the marketplace, whatever happened to yesterday's pledge to run the company without government interference?

It all reminds me of how the Labour government set out to transform British society in 1945. We all know how that turned out. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford