Answers
1. Lang’s point is that by bailing out the Big Three automakers (private industry) and forcing them to restructure, Congress (the government) would cause American society to regress (the opposite of progress).
He is exaggerating the point of how far the country would regress — back to the stone age.
2. The reference is to the Flintstones cartoon – in Lang’s cartoon, Congress is driving a Flintstones (stone age) car.
Watch a video clip of the intro to the Flintstones at youtube.com.
