The Morning Meeting

What would happen were a major carmaker to go bankrupt? We don’t pretend to know, but we’re also not going to swallow at face value the extreme cases made by car industry spokespeople on one side, and  let-them-go-under protagonists on the other. We’re studying the potential ripple effects — from Detroit to other car-manufacturing cities, from car-parts makers to car dealerships, and on out to people and businesses with less obvious connections to the industry. Also on tap today, another Barack Obama news conference and another cabinet appointment (Bill Richardson for Commerce, as reported here yesterday); a look at how long the recession may last (we now know it’s already a year old); India and Pakistan talk tough in the aftermath of Mumbai, and we game out the next steps; the death of a music and civil rights icon; and with all the sobering economic news comes a dreadful report on the state of higher education in America. Specifically, the inability of so many Americans to afford higher education. On the brighter side, we’ll have a piece from our "Spirit of America" series — a wonderful, uplifting portrait of the fight against Alzheimer’s. Stay tuned…