Pulling the Plug

Remember how we had to bail out Chrysler and give the company to Fiat because they were going to save American jobs and the environment with their awesome new electric cars? The electric cars that were going to start hitting the streets in 2010?  Apparently, now that they've gotten the money, it's festina lente; Fiat has apparently disbanded the team that was trying to rush these cars to market.

The only comfort is, I'm not sure if anyone ever bought the top-notch twaddle about electric cars; I assume the administration, and voters, mostly made the decision based on how many angry interest groups a collapse would produce.  Still.  It's worth keeping in mind every time we hear companies demanding money from the government based on their outstanding future contributions to society.  Which you hear an awful lot, these days.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2009/11/pulling-the-plug/29990/