Harold Meyerson

In 1949, a pamphlet was published that argued that the American auto industry should pursue a different direction. Titled "A Small Car Named Desire," the pamphlet suggested that Detroit not put all its bets on bigness, that a substantial share of American consumers would welcome smaller cars that cost less and burned fuel more efficiently.

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If you look at all of the U.S.-based operations of American International Group (AIG) -- the insurance and annuities company that our government has been compelled to take over and bail out with more than $100 billion of our money -- it's hard to see how the company got into trouble. Within the United States, AIG consisted largely of regulated insurance companies, subject to the conscientious oversight of 50 state insurance commissioners. How could such a company go wrong?

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At moments like this, it's worth remembering that Illinois gave us both Abraham Lincoln and Al Capone. Plainly, some sort of karmic balance controls the destiny of that heartland state. For every inspiring leader that Illinois produces, it must also turn out a scoundrel or two -- petty thieves in governmental office, egomaniacal monsters in corporate suites -- who share an indifference to the idea of a public trust.

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There's a scene in the 1940 film The Great McGinty, writer-director Preston Sturges' rollicking comedy about big-city political corruption (and keep in mind that the big city where Sturges grew up was Chicago), in which the mayor invites a would-be contractor to look at a photograph that is hanging on his office wall. The photograph shows a sports stadium filled to capacity.

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It's an exaggeration to say that liberals ever controlled the Democratic Party, but by any measure, holding them down to a single hour's speechifying has to mark a new low....

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The United Auto Workers' pamphlet is nothing if not explicit in criticizing the direction of the American automobile industry. New cars cost too much relative to the buying power of the American public, it says. They are oversized. Their fuel efficiency is appallingly low.

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