Bring back the streetcar!

Steve Goldman has more thoughts on the Big Three bailout, this time with historical perspective. He concludes,

If the money to be given to the Detroit Dinosaurs serves the triple purpose of (1) not titling the economy into depression by keeping a million or two workers in their jobs, (2) helps the Dinosaurs evolve into companies that serve not only the individual automobile owner but also serves the common good, and (3) indirectly amounts to a subsidy of public transit, as proposed by Robert Goodman, I say let the thing be done. But for goshsakes, let the strings be chains, gaudy, heavy, and unbreakable. With the price of gas dropping, we don’t need recidivism back into giant SUVs, and we sure as hell don’t need more AIG-style junkets. Paraphrasing Patrick Henry: Give us trains or give us GM’s death.

As an aside, it is surely no coincidence that people, like Goldman, who are good analysts of baseball are becoming ever more important voices in the lefty blogosphere. I think this is because of the fundamental nature of arguing about baseball, which requires 1.) a historical perspective -- you can't argue about who the best shortstop is if you know nothing that preceded the 1996 Yankees; 2) an appreciation for how statistics can illuminate rather than obfuscate -- TV analysts focus, for instance on RBIs, bloggers on BP know this is illusory; and, 3) the capability for passionate yet reasoned argument. Add to that their reality-based outlook and you've got a pretty good recipe for insightful political commentary.