exactly — in the coming days, weeks, months, we may see European regulators coming forward to explain that GM (and other car companies operating in Europe) were using this excuse, and that now it’s seen as the bullshit is always has been.

The spirit of this game is a negotiation between corporations and government. The end result is the corporation being allowed to stay in business, the politicians getting campaign donations, and the politicians having something to say they gave the peasantry at re-election is what is called a ‘win-win’. The law is…