The heads of GM, Ford, Chrysler and the UAW met with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid Thursday to request an additional $25 billion in loans. However, we should not view our policy for assistance only in short-term lens. We need to change the way the Big 3 are run for the long term.
Without a doubt, the long-term future of the automobile is in fuel-efficient, low-carbon transportation. Rather than Detroit dragging their feet every step of the way, we need to fundamentally change the way the company is structured to make them lead the way.
Therefore, the feds should:
--> Acquire a majority equity position as part of the bail-out (shouldn’t be hard, considering that GM’s market cap is just $2.5 billion).
--> Expand the corporate charter to include the creation of clean transportation that will wean us from carbon-based fuels and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. One example of a potential legal structure is the B Corporation http://www.bcorporation.net/...
--> Replace all or part of the board of directors with innovators committed to transforming the way our auto industry is run (see poll below).
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We’ve seen the short-sightedness of Big-3 and the damage it has done to our environment and economy. This time, we need to do something different.