A Car Czar in Washington?

The talk in Washington is of billions, bailout, bridge loans, and a government “car czar” to steer Detroit out of crisis, remade and rebuilt, and into better times.

Could that work? Can a car czar do from Washington what Detroit could not do for itself?

This hour, On Point: A car czar, and what to do with the American auto industry.Guests:

Joining us from Detroit is Neil Boudette, the Detroit bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal.

From Philadelphia, we're joined by John Paul MacDuffie, associate professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and co-director of the International Motor Vehicle Program, a research consortium at MIT focused on the challenges facing the global automotive industry.

And from Washington, we're joined by David Rothkopf. Currently a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, he was deputy under secretary of commerce for international trade policy in the Clinton administration.  He's author of "Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making."