Not good for the world

Ahead of his visit to the US, Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt takes a pessimistic view of the plans to bail out the US auto industry with state assistance in his blog. He points out that president-elect Barack Obama is being forced into action: "This will be a landmark decision that maps out the direction of his policies. Not least the trade unions that supported him are insisting on billions in aid for the car industry. But if he is generous with aid that would show that he's susceptible to such demands and that they will influence his future economic policies. ... Structural changes are also needed. No doubt there is a surge against this in the debate in Washington and in Chicago, too, where the new policy is being formulated. They used to say that what was good for General Motors was good for the US. But we're living in a different world now. And it could very well be that what is good for General Motors is not good for the US. And certainly not for the rest of the world either."

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