One of the benefits of Hope & Change has been the creation of “public-private partnerships.” Examples are the former General Motors, now Government Motors, and Solyndra.

Public-private partnerships, where government directs industry, is actually not a new idea; it is a key element of what was called fascism. Fascism, or the more extensive government control, socialism, grew from the Hope & Change promised by Hitler, Mussolini and Linen.

Unfortunately, Hitler’s and Mussolini’s Hope & Change brought about WWII and the destruction of Germany and Italy. Lenin’s Hope & Change resulted in 70 years of poverty, misery and fear for the Soviet Union.

Examples of the efficiency of their public-private partnerships in the automobile world were the duct-taped Yugo and the smoke-belching East German Trabant which competed so successfully with the privately produced Toyota, Ford and Mercedes. Even today everyone in America yearns for a beautiful Trabant.

Our Hope & Change has produced the successful entry of our government into public-private automotive business and has already delivered the Chevrolet Volt - which caught fire while sitting in a garage.

We must admit that no other American-built automobile, from Model T to Delorean, has ever exhibited such a spectacular performance. The Volt is part of Obama’s air pollution reduction program, but we must ignore the smoke it produces while burning in the garage.

Unfortunately, the Volt produced more heat than Solyndra, the solar panel company, even though our grand and glorious leader in Washington had dumped over a half billion dollars of our money into it as it was going bankrupt.

Well shucks, that’s one of the beauties of government investment. If it’s someone else’s money: Easy come, easy go.

If you’re impressed with the efficiency of our past public-private partnerships, just wait till Obamacare kicks in. You haven’t seen anything yet!

Randy Ridgel lives in Kelseyville, Calif.