Have you noticed how the mighty automobile industry in the US is beginning to sound like the now infamous tobacco industry at the time of its collapse, taking cover behind the people it employed to whitewash its inefficiency and perhaps its sheer inappropriateness? The tobacco industry, in its last days of conviction, when it became clear that the science of toxicity of this leaf was real, hid behind farmers who grew it. It argued (as it still does in India) that if cigarettes went out of favour, it would destroy the livelihood of thousands who toiled in the fields, as also its workers and ancillary infrastructure. Of course, nothing like that happened. The farmers switched to another crop.

Today, Detroit