By Lloyd Graff
What a day for Detroit. Old John Dingell, the pugnacious congressman from Motown lost his Jewel, the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Dingell is 82, he succeeded his father in 1955 in the House — so the Dingells have been in Congress, virtually forever.
He lost his job to Henry Waxman of Los Angeles who is Mr. Environmental in Washington and a headline-hunting pain in the ass to the Detroit automakers.
The odds of the Big 3 getting a Washington rescue package were fading anyway, but the Waxman ascendancy was a dagger for the rust belt. Waxman’s defeat of Dingell is emblematic of the lack of clout mustered by Rick Wagoner’s last ditch attempt to circle the wagons.
Now the terms of the Detroit bailout will be dictated by an Obama Administration, with Henry Waxman having a significant impact. This bodes well for Elon Musk and Tesla Motors (see Today’s Machining World’s feature, July 2007), but it is curtains for the status quo. In the real world a bankruptcy filing is going to be ugly and disruptive for the supply chain and workforce. This is a very dark day for Detroit. There will be better days to come, but the Waxman for Dingell trade may mark the end of Detroit as we have always known it.
Question: Are you glad John Dingell is no longer in charge?
5 Comments
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my God, i thought you were going to chip in with some decisive insght at the end there, not leave it with we leave it to you to decide.
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my God, i thought you were going to chip in with some decisive insght at the end there, not leave it with we leave it to you to decide.
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