Friday, March 2, 2012

Has anyone heard from Dr. Glaeser recently on this topic?

Here's Edward L. Glaeser back in June of 2009 discussing why the financial bailout was a better idea than the auto bailout:
Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the public sector has spent billions saving the banks. While these decisions are certainly debatable, they are understandable. The US financial industry misbehaved badly,... but it is still a sector with a future. ... After all, every other sector in the economy depends on banks for their financing.

But what about cars? ... Does anyone, other than GM's management, believe that this company can come back? The current treatment, cash infusion and a reduction in corporate liabilities, provides a solution for a company that is broke, not for one that is broken.
That passage originally caught my attention because of the rhetorical trick of shifting from an industry to a specific company. It came back to mind today when I saw the following graph in a post from Mike Konczal :

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