The legacy of Jimmy Carter assails the President elect on every side. But nowhere is the crisis so all pervading as in the automobile industry. Four years of Mr. Carter have reduced the once-vaunted Detroit machine to a near shambles, with U.S. car production now second—and the gap is widening—to Japan’s.
What will be Reagan’s initiative in the matter of Detroit? One thing we can safely predict: the industry will not be told to reinvent the automobile. And if the new President makes good his vow to bring the talents of private industry to bear on the nation’s troubles, he may find an encouraging surfeit of solutions among people who know what cars are all about. The browning of Detroit need not be permanent.
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