As I was reading up on the General Motors bankruptcy, I came across
this on its Wikipedia page:
Now, I've heard about this before, and I'm fairly well inclined to believe it. But regardless of its veracity, I think, now that the government has stupidly bought into General Motors lock, stock, and barrel, that something good might actually come of this, through the principle of privatization: assuming that General Motors still had some lingering interest in the street car and railway systems left over from the 1920s, ought it not be possible to begin selling off those interests to new corporations that specialize in mass transit? It seems obvious to me that the highway system Eisenhower built is hindering our ability to ween ourselves off of foreign oil. And so, now that the government has come into receivership of most of General Motor's stock, it ought to be feasible to use this as an opportunity - through privatization - to resurrect almost singlehandedly mass transit in the United States.
Probably it would be necessary to begin, little by little, by selling off portions of the highway system to specifically designated companies that could begin converting it into mass transit (sadly, in this instance, the principle of competition must give way to the greater good). However, if this is done rightly - and quickly - we may just yet get some benefit out of the financial crisis.
