Very interesting, but I'd like to see a fact check to get a more unbiased version of the story.
Jaime On Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 8:36 PM, <relng...@aol.com> wrote: > The Rest of the Story.... > > Patrick Michaels is a senior fellow in Environmental Studies at the Cato > Institute and the editor of the forthcoming Climate Coup: Global Warming's > Invasion of our Government and our Lives, as well as the author of several > other books on global warming. > > His Forbes column on the Chevy VOLT is a case study in the nexus between > big government corruption and big business rent-seeking. > Michaels briefly recaps the well-known consumer fraud in which GM has > touted the VOLT as an all-electric mass production vehicle on the supposed > basis > of which its sales receive a $7,500 taxpayer subsidy, which still renders > it overpriced and unmarketable. > > Michaels notes that "sales are anemic: 326 in December, 321 in January, and > 281 in February." There seems to be a trend here . . . > > Michaels adds that GM has announced a production run of 100,000 in the > first two years and asks what appears to be a rhetorical question: "Who is > going to buy all these cars?" > But wait! Keep hope alive! There is a positive answer to the question. > > Jeffrey Immelt's GE will buy a boatload of those uneconomic GM cars. > Here the case study opens onto the inevitable political angle: > Recently, President Obama selected General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt to > chair his > Economic Advisory Board. > > GE is also awash in windmills waiting to be subsidized so they can provide > unreliable, expensive power. > > > Consequently, and soon after his appointment, Immelt announced that GE will > buy 50,000 VOLTs in the next two years, or half the total produced. > > Assuming the corporation qualifies for the same tax credit, we (you and I) > just shelled out $375,000,000 to a company to buy cars that no one else > wants, so that GM will not tank and produce even more cars that no one > wants. > And this guy is the chair of Obama's Economic Advisory Board? > > But of course. Michaels includes this hilarious detail in his case study: > In a telling attempt to preserve battery power, the heater is exceedingly > weak. Consumer Reports their tests averaged a paltry 25 miles of > electric-only running, in part because it was testing in cold Connecticut . > (The [GM] > engineer at the Auto Show said cold weather would have little effect.) It > will be interesting to see what the range is on a hot, traffic-jammed > summer > day, when the air conditioner will really tax the batteries. When the gas > engine came on, Consumer Reports got about 30 miles to the gallon of > premium > fuel; which, in terms of additional cost of > high-test gas, drives the effective mileage closer to 27 mpg. > > A conventional Honda Accord, which seats 5 (instead of the VOLT's 4), gets > 34 mpg on the highway, and costs less than half of what CR paid, even with > the tax break. > > The story of the GM VOLT deserves a place in the Harvard Business School > curriculum....but of course, it won't. It's a classic tale of the > GOVERNMENT > deciding what the public needs, not the marketplace. > > > What is one of the reasons for this? Why, to keep the UAW in > business, because Obama owes them for his election. Starting to make sense > yet? > > > Michaels' article in full: > > http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12892 > > Buy hey, why am I telling you. You already know about the corrupt top of > our country. But you can tell others that maybe don't. > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
