Slight Presidential Correction
Last night as I was listening to President Obama’s speech, I groaned when he said America invented the automobile. Once upon a time I was a college history professor and I seriously considered having a stamp made up that read, “Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. He invented the moving assembly line that made possible the mass production of the automobile.” Since I wrote that in a couple of hundred bluebooks every year, it seemed like just being able to stamp it in the margin would have been easier.
I was all set to look up the particulars about the actually invention, but Fox News conveniently beat me to it. (Big shock there that their fact checkers were Johnny on the Spot.)
The credit for internal combustion engines generally is given to German engineer, Karl Benz, who designed and built the world’s first practical automobile in 1885. A steam-powered car was invented in 1769 by French inventor Nicolas Cugnot. Americans, on the other hand, are given credit for the mass production of cars.
Still, gaffe notwithstanding, the President did make it clear that he’s committed to seeing the American auto industry survive. He also made it clear he’s committed to alternative energy and reversing global warming. The convergence of the two goals is where I expect to see interesting things happen.
So where’s the current financial scorecard for the Big Three? General Motors and Chrysler have received $17 billion and want another $21.6 billion. Ford is still operating under its own power and hasn’t asked for government bucks yet. Henry may not have invented the automobile, but his company, though hanging on by its fingernails, is hanging on. With economic pundits saying there will be no real recovery until 2010, we’ll wait and see what we have to say on that subject after Obama’s first “real” State of the Union address.