At Bikeportland.org there was an interesting editorial (and responses) about the a little noticed "bail out" of US automakers. The short of it is that widely support $25 billion package of loans was to be used to help out the flat footed auto industry that has been hurt by government interferance. Well, that and they're just a massive industry and the ripple effects of their losses would hurt wide sections of our economy. Less certain of passage is a break for bike commuters and the general bail out of Wall Street. It is an interesting time.
One of the reasons given for the Soviet collapse was we ran them to bankrupcy. Can a top down economy last for long? Depending on your perspective we have a top down government run economy or a top down economy run by corporations. What would a decentralized American government look like? As far as a portion of the economy I generally assume this isn't the case since agriculture has been "revolutionized" and now exists a government subsidized or agri-business fiefdoms. It seems you could honestly choose your perspective (big corporations or big government ruining America) and it could paint the same dire picture, massively centralized, out of control economy. And it seems both sides would favor the same course of action to balance us again (no to bail outs of large corporations, encouraging self-sufficiency, cultivating small business). Granted the self-sufficient activity may be different in their stereotype (ranches vs. organic farms; small traditional start ups (stores, local manufacturing) vs. artisian projects (spinning wool, hand made bike frames).
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