Last week George Will, the famous syndicated columnist for The Washington Post, wrote a stinging editorial entitled “Bailout won’t fix the dying auto industry.” Reading on, I realized he actually meant the U.S.-owned auto industry should be shut down in America, and not the foreign-owned auto industry operating here.

Being a fan of George’s for many years, I read on with some concern as he gave reason after reason why our government should not do anything to prevent our U.S. car manufacturers from collapsing. Finally at the end of his editorial, there was the following disclaimer: Disclosure: Mrs. Will is a public relations consultant for the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.

That really made me mad. And frankly it should make all Americans mad to know that a famous columnist like George Will had been bought and paid for by the Japanese to trash their American competitors, and suggest the American car companies should be put out of business. This proves without a doubt that the U.S. automobile manufacturers, their employees, retirees, investors and bond holders have been operating in a very unfair competition situation. The U.S. government, using money taxed from the American people and companies including General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, was right there to help pay for rebuilding the Japanese, European and Korean automobile companies after their countries’ wars. Now some of these same foreign companies are trying to prevent the U.S. government from helping our own U.S. car companies to rebuild!

That is outrageous. Doesn’t the term “conflict of interest” have any meaning to Mr. Will? By writing this editorial slamming Detroit, he is providing direct assistance to his wife, who is paid by the Japanese to promote their cars.  And now knowing the Japanese have hired George Will to dump on our American companies, how many more of our press, opinion leaders and politicians have been compromised? I now suspect it is not just a few. No wonder our economy is in shambles.

But looking to the future, hopefully the U.S. car manufacturing executives will come up with a plan for continued viability that Congress can support. And if it requires the executives and union members to lower salaries and perks to survive, they should get on with it. Furthermore, since the foreign car companies are subsidized about $1,500 per car for their employee’s health costs paid for by their governments, something should be done by the U.S. government to equalize that playing field for the Americans.

David Eller,

Publisher