Robert Reich obviously doesn’t understand how and why products come to market (We Need Public Directors on TARP Bank Boards, April 25). In reference to the decision between fuel-efficient cars and less fuel-efficient trucks and SUVs he says: “GM executives would have a perfect right, if not a duty, to disregard what we as citizens tell them to do in favor of what shareholders want them to do.” How does Mr. Reich think we “tell” car companies what we want? He seems to believe it’s through the political process. Not quite. We tell companies what kinds of cars we want to buy the same way we tell companies what kinds of cereal, neckties, and books we want to buy — we buy them. Basic microeconomics teaches that the more people want to buy a certain product (i.e. higher demand), the higher the price of that product. This goes a long way to explain why, as Mr. Reich reminds us, the trucks and SUVs are profitable and, consequently, what GM executives want to produce: they are what “we as citizens” really want.
Matt Hutchison
Chicago, IL
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