Earlier this week we highlighted a column by Thomas Friedman that ran in the New York Times
over the weekend. In it, Mr. Friedman proposed giving federal bailout money to start ups and inventors instead of companies like General Motors, which he called a "wealth destruction machine."
Well, not surprisingly, GM doesn't agree. On its FastLane blog today, spokesperson Tom Wilkinson fired back in a post called "Two Toms, Two Utopias". He likens Mr. Friedman to Thomas More, the 16th century author of the book Utopia.
With that in mind, Wilkinson wrote, "For centuries, Utopians have dreamed of letting the old world burn and building a fresh new world just over the horizon. In the case of the auto industry, which holds a key to solving the global energy puzzle, such dreams are a dangerous diversion from the hard work at hand."
So which Tom do you agree with?
Inside Line News: An Angry GM Compares New York Times Critic to Beheaded Saint
FastLane Blog: Two Toms, Two Utopias
jkp1187 says:
02:26 PM, 02/25/09
They're both wrong.
Why is it that people think that a crisis caused in no small part by people borrowing money that they couldn't afford to pay back...can be solved by borrowing more money that we, as a nation, can't afford to pay back?
flicmod says:
05:29 AM, 02/26/09
+1 jkp1187.
Everyone's diagnosis right now seems to be to prescribe whiskey for a hang over. Just as alcohol doesn't fix the effects of a late night drinking binge, spending more money to solve a problem that was created by spending money will have no effect, and will only serve to worsen the crisis at hand.