Getting Politics Out of Car Making

Monday's Wall Street Journal carried a report on how GM (Government Motors) "ignored politics" to select the plant where it will build its new compact car.

Try not to act surprised when you learn that the top criteria it used in its choice were "carbon footprint" and "community impact."

When it was deciding where to build its new compact car, General Motors Corp. made a point of saying it would push politics aside and use strictly commercial criteria.

So Tennessee's three top officials were astonished last month, in a meeting with GM, when they were told the first two criteria were "community impact" and "carbon footprint" -- or how the choice would affect unemployment rates and carbon-dioxide emissions.

"Those didn't strike us as business criteria at all," said Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, who was joined in the meeting by fellow Republican Sen. Bob Corker and the state's Democratic governor, Phil Bredesen. Those factors, Mr. Alexander said, "seemed odd for a company struggling to get back on its feet."

On June 26, after a monthlong competition, GM tapped an existing factory in Orion, Mich., pushing aside competing plants in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Janesville, Wis.

[SNIP]

GM declined to disclose the factors it weighed in picking Orion, but said the process was free of political meddling. "It's in the best interest of all involved to not discuss the selection criteria for the small-car plant," said GM spokeswoman Sherrie Childers Arb. "All three plants have individual merits, but when all told, the Orion plant scenario provided the best business case."

And what would be that best business case? The fact that the UAW, which forced GM to scrap plans to import Chinese-built compact cars, lobbied for the Orion plant? (And since the UAW is part owner now, its voice is bigger than ever).

Or was it over $1 billion in government incentives?

Michigan won the bidding by offering $779 million in business tax credits over the next 20 years, along with $130 million in federal funds for worker training. Local officials threw in additional $102 million in incentives.

If you divide 1,400 into $1,011,000,000, Michigan will spend $722,142.86 per job "saved or created."

That's how this government-operated thingee works.