That’s Bobby Bare there, singing “Detroit City.” Can imagine any number of people testifying before Congress last week recalling the line, “Oh, how I wanna go home.”

USA Today, “Officials say auto CEOs must be specific on bailout plans”

Auto executives need to provide more specifics about how they plan to spend taxpayers’ money and crimp their highflying lifestyles if they hope to get aid from the federal government, congressional leaders and key members of the incoming Obama administration said Sunday.
“What we can’t give is a blank check for an industry that isn’t prepared to retool itself,” David Axelrod, a senior adviser to President-elect Barack Obama, said on Fox News Sunday.

“I would hope they will come back to Washington in early December on commercial flights with a plan to do that.”

Milwaukie Journal-Sentinel, “Detroit’s fight hits home in Wisconsin“:

If Congress cannot agree soon on a plan to provide taxpayer-funded loans to the auto industry, the effects will be felt far beyond Detroit, Kenosha car dealer Andy Palmen said Thursday. …[snip]

Palmen, president of Palmen Motors, spent two days in Washington talking to members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation and attending hearings at which chief executives of auto companies testified.

“I felt it was imperative to go because I didn’t want the face of this situation to be misrepresented,” he said. “It was all about the auto executives and top union officials. I wanted to make sure our congressmen and senators saw the ripple effect across the nation would be far greater than their (auto) plants.”

Frank Beckman, WJR, in the Detroit News, “Members of Congress, not auto execs, deserve grilling“:

[Auto] execs Rick Wagoner of General Motors, Alan Mulally of Ford and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler, along with United Auto Workers boss Ron Gettelfinger, were grilled by the ultimate second guessers, the politicians, most of whom don’t have education degrees in economic fields or experience in making decisions on private employment, inventory and global competition.

One wishes the four could have asked the questions instead this week.

Why did members of Congress — such as House Banking Chairman Barney Frank, Senate Banking Chairman Christoper Dodd and others — raise fuel economy standards, adding more than $85 billion in costs as the industry was restructuring itself?

If the reason was forcing automakers to deal with higher gasoline prices, perhaps the politicians could explain why they have made fuel more scarce by blocking domestic drilling for oil and preventing new refineries from being built during the past three decades.

And more…

• New York Times, “Big Three’s Troubles May Touch Financial Sector”
  Detroit Free Press, “Detroit’s new plan: Drive point to Congress“
• Detroit News, “Distressed carmakers bank on lobbying“
• Los Angeles Times, The auto industry hits home for American families“

BusinessWeek’s summary of a theme in yesterday’s Senate Banking Committee:

But it was clear from the statements and questions posed by Senators to Wagoner, Mulally, and Nardelli that many think Detroit’s problems are self-inflicted, and that the companies lack the innovation to climb out of their hole.

The criticisms come both from liberals who believe everyone should drive a little green car and the conservatives who blame executive arrogance and unions for the Big 3’s problems.

You can argue the points, but to maintain any sort of fairness or honesty in policymaking you should also acknowledge that Congress bears responsibility for Detroit’s problems as well. In their zeal to to replace the marketplace in determining what vehicles the manufacturers should produce — 35 miles per gallon?  No, 38! — elected officials* have added thousands of dollars in costs and inefficiences to each vehicle while unleashing a fleet of unintended consequences. You know, consequences like forcing Detroit to produce cars people don’t want to buy.

The Wall Street Journal makes this case in a provocative editorial today, taking on the left-leaning critics, “The Environmental Motor Company — Making Detroit a subsidiary of the Sierra Club.”

When is $25 billion in taxpayer cash insufficient to bail out Detroit’s auto makers? Answer: When the money is a tool of Congressional industrial policy to turn GM, Ford and Chrysler into agents of the Sierra Club and other green lobbies.

That’s the little-understood subplot of the Washington melodrama over a taxpayer rescue for Detroit. In their public statements, proponents describe the bailout as an attempt to save jobs, American manufacturing and the middle-class way of life. But look closely and you can see that what’s really going on is an attempt to use taxpayer money to remake Detroit in the image of the modern environmental movement. Given a choice between greens and blue-collar workers, Congress puts the greens first.

Perhaps Congress should consider lifting some of the mandates it has imposed on the industry, things like CAFE standards, or the various strings attached to the $25 billion authorized in 2005 for “retooling.” No? Well, can we at least have an open discussion of these issues after committee members finish lambasting the auto executives?

* We shouldn’t limit the criticism to Congress. Many governors and attorneys general also claim to be more knowledgeable than the marketplace. From Legal Newsline, “Automakers must cut emissions in return for federal money, AGs say“: