Auto industry overhaul

In case you missed it:

On the same day, GM is expected to file for the bankruptcy protection it long swore it would avoid, with its reorganization already well underway. On Friday, the company relinquished control of Opel, its German-based European arm since 1929, to a large but little-known Canadian auto-parts maker with global ambitions, German government loans and Russian bridge financing. The far-flung parts maker, Magna International, might better reflect the industry's future than GM, which will soon be shorn of other established but money-losing brands, too. Magna agreed to limit job cuts in Germany and, at the Treasury Department's request, keep Opel out of the U.S. market.

...Political complications aren't limited to emerging markets. The Treasury has imposed a condition on the Opel deal that flies in the face of free markets, but is designed to shield existing U.S. jobs; Opel must be barred from selling cars or setting up manufacturing plants in the United States. And the Treasury insisted that, at least for a time, Opel stay out of China, where GM is strong.

How does preventing a company from setting up manufacturing plants in the U.S. protect jobs here? It doesn't. It might, however, prevent further losses to union jobs -- since foreign-owned plants in the U.S. tend not to be unionized -- and that's really what this is all about.