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EDITORIAL: Presidential Boost: Help Promote Solar Cell Plant, Other Industries, Too

Posted on: Saturday, 18 February 2006, 06:00 CST

By Detroit Free Press

Feb. 18--Michigan's quest to become a world center for alternative energy products and fuels should get a boost Monday when President George W. Bush visits the Energy Conversion Devices solar cell plant in Auburn Hills. With any luck the sun will be shining.

And as long as he's here, the president ought at least to get a briefing from the folks who are struggling to make sure Michigan remains the global center of the automotive industry. The trials facing General Motors and Ford -- both closing plants and shedding thousands of jobs -- have not been high on the White House agenda. Last month, Bush said market forces would best determine the domestic industry's fate and urged the Detroit companies to come up with "relevant products." He rejected any idea along the lines of the 1980 Chrysler bailout; GM and Ford are not interested in such a solution, either.

But there are trade issues, some of which surfaced at a hearing Friday in Washington, that the Bush administration could address if its "free trade" policies also included fair trade. To date, the White House seems more interested in assuring foreign producers access to markets here than in leaning on other governments so U.S. automakers are treated fairly in their markets.

If Bush also grasped the full weight of the health care and pension burdens on the domestic industry, he might be pushing harder as well for legislation to address those issues, not just for automakers but the entire U.S. manufacturing sector, which has lost 2.8 million jobs in the last five years.

Alternative energy is an emerging industry with great promise. It merits the president's attention. But so does an established industry that has been a cornerstone of the national economy for decades.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Detroit Free Press

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Source: Detroit Free Press

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