Professor Mankiw with tongue firmly in cheek suggests that instead of car czar the government-appointed person to oversee the auto industry should more appropriately be called the car commissar in deference to the ideas of central planning which were instituted after the Bolsheviks came into power. This seems a gentle enough reminder to our Washington betters that some of us are concerned by their socialist proposals. History may not repeat itself but it does often rhyme according to Kurt Vonnegut. Perhaps our representatives will design Five Year Plans too.
I think commissar might be OK as it has connotations of political oversight of the military or in this case their business counterparts, but maybe the German word gauleiter or regional leader might be more appropriate with its National Socialist background. This is what the highest authority among the residents was called in a certain Boston hospital in the 60s and perhaps still is, though I doubt it with the spread of politically correct words and phrases in recent years. The only problem is it doesn't rhyme or alliterate. Maybe "motor gauleiter." Too clumsy.Car Commissar it is, thank you Professor M. But just in case here is a nifty vehicular insignia from our friends at Wikipedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment