I’ve been reading MSN Blogs and commments about whether or not to bail out the Big 3 Automakers. And you can divide most of them into three categories (of extreme viewpoints):
I: Let ‘em fail they mismanaged things since the 70s Oil crisis til now.
II: Bail ‘em out, we need the jobs.
III: Bail ‘em out, Buy USA Buy USA you commie pinko bastards who don’t only buy US Cars.
I see a middle ground rather than bail out or not-bail out, but it goes against what has happened historically. Currently when a corporation gets a bail out, there is talk, but no teeth in the accountability factor. Many of the banks took the bailout and bought smaller banks and did NOT start lending (like they were supposed to, and had agreed at least in principle to.)
So, my thoughts are two fold:
1) All bailout moneys should be used specifically for alternative fuel vehicles and the parts neccessary to manufacture them. Ford showed off a hydrogen vehicle that had an SUV body back when Dan Rather was anchor of CBS news (appx 2004). He even drove it around the salt flats at over 70 mph. (So we get SUVs, we get less dependent on Oil, etc). THIS COMES AS A CONTRACTURAL STIPULATION. And as such there will be fines, penalties, etc. for breaking said contract. The contract will be signed and sworn to in a court of law, thus getting jailtime for the Board and the CEO if they break the contract. (It’s called perjury, folks!)
2) Nationally we follow the call of California with its I5 energy highway and help set up the alternate fuel infrastructure.
3) All American citizens buying American hydrogen/electric cars get a 5% discount. Tax breaks are nice and all, but you only get them come April. Get em at the time of purchase and you’ve got a greater impact.
If we don’t do this, Honda will make it happen, as will Hyundai and no calls to “Buy American” will save us. Right now, our energy dependence on foreign sources is so much more a security issue than waving a flag and chanting “Buy USA”.
And don’t give me the party line bullcrap about ‘market forces’ and the gas guzzlers. Because for every buyer of an SUV in the US, there’s 1-2 others wanting something fuel efficient. THOSE CUSTOMERS HAVE BEEN IGNORED. These people include me, my immediate family, my in-laws, most of my wifes congregation, most of my congregation, almost every school teacher I had in the 80s, a former US President, almost my entire team at work, everyone who had an Electric car CRUSHED RATHER THAN LETTING THEM BE PURCHASED OUT OF THEIR LEASE.
Yeah, right. It was all ‘market forces’. Uh huh.
