Near the end of the road

I DREAD looking at Wall Street tomorrow. It's not going to be a pleasant sight,” said Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader late on the night of Thursday December 11th after the collapse of an effort to keep General Motors and Chrysler on the road with an emergency package of loans worth around $14 billion. Ford, the third of the Big Three Detroit-based carmakers, is not looking for emergency loans, though it has asked for an emergency credit line. Ford says it can remain afloat though admits that its ability to do so is dependent on the continuing solvency of the other two firms. Their collapse could bring down the car-parts manufacturing industry on which Ford also depends.