In the fall of 2007, when the U.S. economy first seemed in peril, I began answering reader queries here on the Business Desk. I still do so, but this page has expanded to include posts from eminent economists, "far-flung correspondents," and a variety of voices that have intriguing and/or useful things to say about economics, broadly defined. Please feel encouraged to respond to any and all of them.
How Funny is the Chevy Volt? The Washington Post's Professional Skeptic Gives It a Going Over
As a preview to our Tool$ Tuesday feature (spoiler alert: we'll be looking at your car's carbon emissions), here's a truly surprising "review" of the Chevy Volt, the electric darling of the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month and the subject of a piece of ours last week and another airing this week on the NewsHour.
This won't be a conventional automotive review. First, I'm not qualified to write a conventional automotive review, inasmuch as I know next to nothing about automobiles. Second, I am nakedly biased. I very much wanted to hate this car. It challenges my worldview.
Life is bewildering -- essentially, it's a fatal disease of uncertain course and unknown duration. If we are to make any sense of it, if we are to tame our existential terrors, we must gratefully cling to those few established truths on which we know we can rely: Day follows night. Sex causes babies. To lose weight, eat less. American cars suck.
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How Funny is the Chevy Volt? The Washington Post's Professional Skeptic Gives It a Going Over
As a preview to our Tool$ Tuesday feature (spoiler alert: we'll be looking at your car's carbon emissions), here's a truly surprising "review" of the Chevy Volt, the electric darling of the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month and [the subject of a piece of ours last week ](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june11/cars_01-19.html) and another airing this week on the NewsHour.
Written by the [Washington Post's humor columnist and professional skeptic Gene Weingarten,](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/21/AR2011012105347.html?sid=ST2011012707377) you're in for a riotous ride though, as the author warns:
> This won't be a conventional automotive review. First, I'm not qualified to write a conventional automotive review, inasmuch as I know next to nothing about automobiles. Second, I am nakedly biased. I very much wanted to hate this car. It challenges my worldview.
>
> Life is bewildering -- essentially, it's a fatal disease of uncertain course and unknown duration. If we are to make any sense of it, if we are to tame our existential terrors, we must gratefully cling to those few established truths on which we know we can rely: Day follows night. Sex causes babies. To lose weight, eat less. American cars suck.
