Detroit's Critics Just Don't Get It

…The Detroit that Washington loves to hate, the one that policy wonks and politicians think they can run better than industry professionals, stopped existing at least 15 years ago. It faded because executives at GM, Ford and Chrysler reached a consensus not fully embraced by Congress or the American consumer. To wit: Oil will not last forever.

Detroit’s executives aren’t stupid. Nor are they arrogant fools who care more for their own paychecks than they do for the their industry’s or their country’s future. They know that the car of the future will have to be powered by something other than gasoline or diesel — or else there is no future.

Thus, it would behoove Obama’s automotive task force to take a close look at the billions of dollars Detroit already has poured into the development of alternative fuels and drive systems. The truth is that Detroit has been working hard to develop cars that consumers will need. But that research and development largely has been financed by selling cars and trucks that consumers want now.

Washington Post