By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Ford, Volkswagen and Daimler all took deep hits in profits Wednesday, as industry first-quarter results indicated the European recession was dragging down car sales.
China appears to be at a tipping point where surging domestic auto sales will soon drive it past the U.S. and turn it into the world's biggest oil importer, taking a title that distinguished -- and some might say hobbled -- the U.S. for decades.
The Obama administration announced new efforts Wednesday to fight the growing theft of American trade secrets, a broad but relatively restrained response to a rapidly emerging global problem that was brought into sharp focus this week by fresh evidence linking cyberstealing to China's military.
Rusty Wallace will headline the fourth class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and his famed car "Midnight" will be part of his induction.
Wallace, winner of 55 races and the 1989 Cup championship will be inducted Friday night along with champions Buck Baker and Herb Thomas; championship car owner Cotton Owens; and innovative crew chief, mechanic and engine builder Leonard Wood.
Ford is joining with Daimler and Renault-Nissan to speed development of cars that run on hydrogen, with hopes of bringing a vehicle to market in as little as four years.
It's not wise to Google the nearest gas station, compose email, or use your smartphone to check the latest sports scores while driving. But many Americans do.
Googling the nearest gas station, sending email from your smartphone, or booking a table at a restaurant: Those are all things you shouldn't do while driving. But so many drivers have grown accustomed to their on-the-go tasks that automakers are increasingly trying to make those things easier to pull off with both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road.
As Michigan prepared to become the 24th right-to-work state in the country, state Rep. Doug Geiss, D-Taylor, took to Twitter with violent rhetoric, saying: "We are going to undo 100 years of labor relations. And there will be blood."
With new leadership comes new vision. As President Obama mulls over his options for some new faces in his Cabinet, he would be wise to take a page from another revered president of the left.
GE is buying 2,000 plug-in hybrid cars from Ford for its corporate fleet.
Just in time for President Obama's second term, economists Robert Litan and Carl Schramm have given policymakers a recipe for spurring economic growth through entrepreneurship. It should be required reading for Washington's movers and shakers, both in the administration and in Congress.
Ford's third-quarter profit eased 1 percent to $1.63 billion as European losses swamped record North American profits.
The election is all about the economy this year, but neither presidential candidate has talked much about two major problems that could make or break the economic recovery in the next presidential term: housing and its broken finance system, and the European debt crisis.
Americans found plenty of reasons to buy new cars in September, making auto sales a bright spot in the economy for yet another month.
As President Ford's press secretary, he announced the final withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.
But when Ford began attacking him as a warmonger, Reagan exploded in anger during an interview with me on his campaign plane that June, calling the president "a crybaby" whose attacks threatened his "spirit of unity," warning Ford that he was "playing with fire" if he continued the "phony war ads" against him that he said threatened to divide the party.
