NDN Backgrounder: The GM Bankruptcy and the Future of the Auto Industry

With General Motors filing for bankruptcy this morning, and the federal government taking a 60 percent stake in the company, NDN offers some recent thinking on the American automobile industry.

• Fuel Economy in Context by Michael Moynihan, 5/19/2009 - Moynihan welcomes the Administration's steps on fuel economy, but points out that CAFE standards are imprecise tools that must be viewed as part of a larger series of complex policies.

• Here in the Real World They're Shutting Detroit Down by Morely Winograd and Mike Hais, 4/30/2009 - NDN Fellow Winograd and Hais pont out that GM's problems come at a time when the inherent tension between the investor class and the country's manufacturing sector have never been greater.

• Should We Try to Save the Damaged Brands? by Simon Rosenberg, 4/30/2009 - Rosenberg asks if these mainstay, now troubled American brands - AIG, Chrysler, Citi, GM - can be saved by being propped up by the government or if their brands are permanently insolvent.

• The Administration Goes Out on a Limb for GM -- and the Rest of Us by Robert Shapiro, 4/29/2009 - Shapiro says that the Obama Administration's plans for General Motors are a dismal idea, except for all the alternatives.

• China, the World's Largest Car Market and the Future of the Electric Car by Michael Moynihan, 4/10/2009 - Moynihan argues that a robust American auto industry is crucial for the US to compete with China in the growing electric car market.

• Carbonomics by Michael Moynihan, 4/2/2009 - Moynihan looks at the connection between pricing carbon and the future of the American automobile industry.

• Cars, Banks and the Future of the Clean Economy by Michael Moynihan, 3/31/2009 - Moynihan argues that to rebuild the economy we need more engineering and less financial engineering.

• Lessons from Detroit: 10 Years Later, the Overhaul of the Domestic Auto Industry and Its Parallels with the Republicans' Problem by Morely Winograd and Mike Hais, 3/30/2009 - Winograd and Hais find the similarities between Detroit's failure to change and the Republican Party's woes.

• Sympathy for the Car Guys by Michael Moynihan, 12/5/2008 - Moynihan compares Capitol Hill's treatment of Wall Street CEOs to that of the automakers.

• If Detroit Goes Down, Will It Take the Economy -- and the GOP -- With It? by Robert Shapiro, 11/19/2008 - Shapiro argues that the Bush Administration's mismanagement of the economic crisis has driven the auto industry into an impossible situation.