Rare as it may be, Tom Friedman’s got it right today. If GM does go down the toilet, and if Toyota does step forward with the plunger, it’d be a good thing for us all. Pushing Toyota’s hybrid technology into all manner of GM vehicles, arming all the GM brands with fuel-efficient engines, the end result would be wonderful for our dependence of oil. On the other hand, it’d be reallty bad for universal health care as GM is the most powerful and important company begging for relief, and if they leave the scene, so will a lot of the business support. So in that way, GM sets liberal priorities at war. But as Kevin notes, guaranteeing business support is pretty tricky, so we’d probably be better off not worrying about it.

Ezra Klein is a former Prospect writer and current editor-in-chief at Vox. His work has appeared in the LA Times, The Guardian, The Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Slate, and The Columbia Journalism Review. He’s been a commentator on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, and more.