Car Czar

I loved the sub-head in today’s Holman Jenkins, Jr., column in the Wall Street Journal. “Would you buy a car from Congress?”
Ironically, he’s arguing that appointing a car czar might actually be a good idea. Such a person could confront Congress with how its own regulatory standards make selling marketable cars nearly impossible.
With gas at $1.40 a gallon or less, few people are going to want to buy an expensive green car.
The problem with the Big 3, then, isn’t so much that they don’t understand their market. The problem is Congress and the UAW, mainly.
This piece in Forbes is much tougher on Detroit managers, but argues that the bailout is really about regional politics more than anything.
I disagree that a car czar could be a good thing under any circumstances. Car makers, not political appointees, know how to save the car business. But I do think Congress, the UAW and regional politics stand in the way of solving this mess.