Today vs. tomorrow

Harry Reid asks (HT: Becky Chandler):

"Isn't it a good thing today in America that we have an automobile manufacturing sector?

Maybe. Certainly it's a bad thing today to subsidize mediocre companies (GM, Chrysler) making it harder for others (Ford) to thrive. And it's a bad thing tomorrow if the costs of those subsidies turn include further encouraging companies to please politicians instead of customers.

But it's particularly bad to think that helping GM and Chrysler is good for Ford, the...