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Touring Empire's Ruins: From Detroit to the Amazon

The empire ends with a pull out. Not, as many supposed a few years ago, from Iraq. There, as well as in Afghanistan, we are mulishly staying the course, come what may, trapped in the biggest of all the "too-big-to-fail" boondoggles. But from Detroit.

Posted in auto bailout, industry

Putting Ethics Before Profits

Something new is happening at Harvard Business School. As graduation nears for the first class to complete their MBA since the onset of the global financial crisis, students are circulating an oath that commits them to pursue their work "in an ethical manner"; "to strive to create sustainable economic, social, and environmental prosperity worldwide"; and

Posted in common good, ethics, industry

Out of the Ashes of GM: the Phoenix of Renewable Energy

It may be prophetic that among the brands GM chose to kill was the Pontiac Firebird, a classic hot car of the 1960s sporting the fabled Phoenix on its hood. In mythology, the Phoenix was a colorful bird that incinerated itself in its nest, then rose from the ashes as its own offspring. GM too, says Michael Moore, could be reborn as something else. In a June 1 eulogy of sorts, he wrote:

Posted in green economy, industry, manufacturing

Who Will Be at the Table? PhRMA and the AMA Join Forces with Insurers

During the campaign, Barack Obama promised his cheering crowds that, when he rolled up his sleeves to work on health care, he would "have insurance company representatives and drug company representatives at the table. They just won't be able to buy every chair." Now is a good time to look at just what kind of seats special interest groups are having at Obama's table and what they're doing to bring the public around to their ways of thinking. This is the ninth of an occasional series of posts that will analyze their activities and how the media are covering them.

Posted in bigpharma, healthcare, industry, lobbyists, Politics

GM Nationalization: The Path Not Taken, Choices Still Ahead

Whatever the woes of General Motors -- and they are substantial -- it does not follow that the government needed to drive the company into bankruptcy. With at least $50 billion in government supports undergirding the new GM, the Obama administration auto task force deciding GM's fate could have steered the company away from bankruptcy court. If it had so chosen, it could have acquired the company outright -- a much better course to advance the legitimate public interest in rescuing GM.
Posted in auto bailout, financial crisis, industry
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