Democrats in Congress have asked the "Big Three" domestic automakers to provide a plan by early December that would return the auto industry to profitability.

The auto industry's failure to keep up with competition and adjust to new market demands is worsened by a tax structure that discourages production.

The auto industry's failure to keep up with competition and adjust to new market demands is worsened by a tax structure that discourages production.

As the president has ramped up into campaign mode, he has studiously avoided mentioning most of his signature accomplishments. One can see why. The one thing President Obama always seems to mention is the auto bailout. His implication that the bailout is succeeding-that it will not ultimately be a loss for taxpayers-is a constant theme of Democrats.

Losing money is embarrassing. And an embarrassed Jamie Dimon publicly admitted that J.P. Morgan Chase goofed. Three senior executives lost their jobs as a result. But politicians and regulators in Washington are rushing to leverage the bank's misfortune for their own gain.

In Freedom's Forge, bestselling author Arthur Herman takes us back to that time, revealing how two extraordinary American businessmen-automobile magnate William Knudsen and shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser-helped corral, cajole, and inspire business leaders across the country to mobilize the "arsenal of democracy" that propelled the Allies to victory in World War II.

Quick: How many kinds of gasoline do we use in America? Most people would say three or six: regular unleaded, mid-grade, and premium, along with the ethanol blends of the same that have become nearly universal. The actual number is somewhere above 45, though hard to pin down exactly, according...

Longstanding policies that were intended to promote confidence in the independence of regulatory decision-making have now been wiped away by the Dodd-Frank act, which has in effect placed all the financial regulators under the direction of the Treasury secretary.