How Barney Frank Intervened at GM

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George F. Will

General Motors changed its mind. Or maybe not. It is unclear that GM still has a mind of its own, so let us just say that GM changed its decision. The company first announced that it was going to close a parts-distribution center in Norton, Mass. Then it heard from the congressman who represents that community, Barney Frank.

That Democrat chairs the Financial Services Committee, which is mightily important to GM now that it is an appendage of the federal government, which soon will own 60 percent of it. Frank talked to GM's CEO, Fritz Henderson. So the distribution center will not be closed for at least another 14 months.

Is this a glimpse of what life is going to be like under the political economy of state capitalism? Heaven forfend, says Frank. To The Hill newspaper he said, "I don't think this will lead to a pattern," because, well, because the distribution facility was not a dealership or an assembly plant. If that strikes you as a non sequitur, this will, too: Frank stressed that what he did was not improper because he talked to Henderson rather than to someone in the Obama administration. Which is significant because ... never mind.

Will: How Barney Frank Intervened at GM | Newsweek George F. Will | Newsweek.com

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