A Sustainable Economic Recovery Plan is Needed for America's Future Economic Health

Andrew L. Yarrow and Michael Rose report in the Baltimore Sun: "...Instead of a simple bailout, we should be asking: How can we retool America's auto and auto-parts factories to produce goods that we need, and can sell to the world, in the 21st century? Choose your own products and industries - sustainable means of transport, including mass transit and high-speed rail; solar, hydrogen or other green-power infrastructure and consumer goods; next-generation telecommunications hardware; etc. Although continued auto production is necessary in the short and long term, we can seize this moment to rethink our manufacturing priorities. When we fail to imagine ourselves 30 to 50 years into the future, we also fail to remember our experience of 50 to 65 years ago...The auto industry shouldn't be allowed to die now." Washington "must get serious about forging farsighted industrial, energy and transportation policies that address...environmental needs and the need for a strong, new industrial base."