The bailout did not stop layoffs or facility closings, did not increase sales volume, and Chrysler is still controlled by a foreign corporation (Fiat), in short the bailout was ineffective. This note suggests an alternative approach.

On the news that Whirlpool plans to move an Indiana factory to Mexico, joining so many other manufacturers abandoning America, the president of the largest manufacturing union in North America spoke to an expert on manufacturing about the crisis this exodus is causing the U.S. economy.

The gift this country needs most this holiday season is an economy built on a solid foundation, one that will provide middle class, family-supporting jobs now and into the future. Not more fancy derivatives, this economy needs basic manufacturing.

Cross-posted at River Twice Research.

The economic relationship between China and the United States is the defining issue of our day. While debates over health care are vital to American society, and while challenges ranging from Iran to Afghanistan to North Korea are real, nothing will determine the arc of the coming decades – or will shape domestic life and prosperity in the United States – more than the emergence of China as a global economic superpower unrivalled except by America.

GM plans to produce cars for export from China continues apace.

The newly announced chairman of General Motors, Edward E Whitacre Jr, led AT&T and its predecessor entities as chairman and chief executive officer from 1990 to 2007. This completely encompasses the period when telecom companies illegally acquiesced to warrantless interception of Americans’ communications.

This week’s Audit looks at a few issues that were top priorities for progressives in 2007 that are yet to be addressed, from the faltering U.S. financial system to the Employee Free Choice Act.

How not to help GM restructure in America’s interest.

The SEIU is calling for the Obama Administration to fire Bank Of America CEO Ken Lewis in the same way they forced GM’s Rick Wagoner to resign. The SEIU asks the Obama Administration to apply the same lesson to the financial sector as it did to the automotive industry: “replace failed leadership and shepherd the industry into a new era.”

How Not to Reorganize a Mega-Company