US Lends GM Another $2B

Ex-Prez Bush says bailout his idea, and a good one

(NEWSER) - Three years ago, Mitt Romney wrote that President Obama should " Let Detroit Go Bankrupt ," instead of bailing out the struggling auto industry, in a famous New York Times column. And today? Even with the American auto industry on the rebound, Michigan's GOP primary looming on Feb. 28, and Rick Santorum breathing down his neck in the polls , Romney still thinks bankruptcy would have been better than the president's "crony capitalism," he writes in the Detroit News . "I believe that without his intervention things there would be better," he writes. More»

Gizmos proliferate amid concerns on distracted driving

(NEWSER) - Imagine cruising down the highway at 65mph while checking tweets, buying movie tickets online, or booking reservations at a restaurant. This scenario is the not-too-distant future of driving, reports the Wall Street Journal , as auto manufacturers seek to design an innovative "connected car" full of Internet-accessible gadgetry. The push for a tech-infused car comes as a national push for rules banning phones in cars seems to be fizzling out and automakers look to entice the youth demographic. More»

Chrysler ad a political football

(NEWSER) - God bless America ... and the Chrysler bailout ... seemed to be the message that left football fans misty-eyed after Clint Eastwood's Super Bowl Chrysler ad. It's "halftime" in America, and we're all pulling together for a brighter economic future, says the gravelly-voiced star. But Eastwood was opposed to the bailout that made the Chrysler turnaround possible, and now the ad has become a political football as Dems score points with it and the GOP tackles it, notes ABC News . “Saving the American Auto Industry: Something Eminem and Clint Eastwood can agree on," crowed White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer on Twitter, referring to Eminem’s Chrysler ad during last year's Super Bowl. "Powerful spot," chimed in Obama re-election strategist David Axelrod. But George Bush's political maven Karl Rove snapped that he was "offended" by the ad, which he argued was orchestrated by the administration to paint a rosy future. More»

2011 disasters knock Toyota into 3rd place

(NEWSER) - General Motors is back on top of the world less than three years after its bankruptcy and restructuring. The company is once again the world's top-selling automaker, with 9 million sales worldwide in 2011, almost a million more than second-placed Volkswagen. Toyota, which took top spot from GM in 2008, fell into third place after production cuts caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thailand. More»

Editorials largely take the president to task

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's decision to reject TransCanada's Keystone XL oil pipeline has set a lot of tongues wagging, with some of the biggest papers in the country devoting today's editorials to it. Here's what they're saying:

• "We almost hope this was a political call," says the Washington Post , "because on substance, there should be no question." Without the pipeline, TransCanada will sell to China, and US refineries will import from the Middle East—resulting in a lot more oil crossing the ocean in tankers.