Take Me For A Ride?

The news that an extra 2.3 billion £s will be allocated to help save the car industry in the UK (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/28/car-industry-peter-mandelson) raises some interesting issues. It is certainly the case that many UK jobs are directly and indirectly tied up with this activity. It is also the case that much of the car industry is not UK owned and the demand for cars has declined by more than 20%. Cars are, of course, currently major sources of pollution and congestion. Is this an effective use of public finance? I guess it depends on how the money is used. Apparently, part of the cash is to encourage (as in the USA) the car industry to move to 'greener' products that produce less carbon dioxide etc but one could make a case for conditions signalling a potential end to the 'car owning democracy'. There probably isn't enough planet and resources for everyone to have individual modes of private transport that involve the internal combustion engine. It will be interesting to see whether the finance represents an elastoplast or a graft for the injured industry.