Of cars and Congress
Want to know how much we are paying to reinvent the wheel? The U.S. House recently voted to give the Big Three automakers $500 million to look into the electric car.
The first Detroit Auto Show was in 1900, 107 years ago. Most of the cars at that show were electric. Now you know why Congress is at a 23 percent approval rate, and trending lower.
James Warner, Denver
What happened to Capitalism? Since when are government subsidies part of Capitalism? Same with the largest welfare earners, corporate farms.
Posted by It's True on August 10, 2007 07:05 AMThat's $500 million right back to the UAW who strongly support Democrats. Talk about bribes and paybacks, no wonder why congressional approval is down to single digit levels.
And you can bet your bottom dollar (maybe congress already bet it for you) that foreign nameplates being built by Americans right here in the USA--without 1 single dues paying UAW member among them--will beat the UAW crowd in Detroit to the punch--they always do.
Meanwhile, ANWR is out of bounds, 85% of the outer continental shelf is out of bounds, nuke power plants haven't been built for 30 years, no new crude refinreries have been built for 30 years, our 250 year supply of coal is not being exploited and, most recently, the Roan and Vermillion are out of bounds. We are up to our eyeballs in plentyful energy solutions that are right under our butts--but they are all out of bounds.
Everything is out of bounds--except your tax dollars now being used for bribe/payola money!
Posted by Hank on August 10, 2007 08:02 AMIt's True,
the same goes for the "Embryonic stem cell issue" Where is the capitalism in that? If it were such a grand idea that would reap billions in profits and cure the millions alot of people claim it will the corporations and their researchers would be tripping over themselves to fund and research.
The automakers just realize that the electric car is a farce and will never sell in quantity so they defer to the government just to keep the enviros happy.
People have forgotten that the big 3 had electric cars in the 1990's. They leased them to people but would not sell them because their were just "experimenting". Unfortunately,
these electric cars were reliable, efficient and worked with very few moving parts. Auto makers gleam billions from gasoline engines due to the enormous amounts of moving parts. Electric cars returned no auto parts profits to the big 3 so all were destroyed and then came the hybrid cars that still have gaoline engines. A good movie to see is "Who Killed The Electric Car". Explains the business of gasoline and electric cars.
People have forgotten that the big 3 had electric cars in the 1990's. They leased them to people but would not sell them because their were just "experimenting". Unfortunately,
these electric cars were reliable, efficient and worked with very few moving parts. Auto makers gleam billions from gasoline engines due to the enormous amounts of moving parts. Electric cars returned no auto parts profits to the big 3 so all were destroyed and then came the hybrid cars that still have gaoline engines. A good movie to see is "Who Killed The Electric Car". Explains the business of gasoline and electric cars.
People have forgotten that the big 3 had electric cars in the 1990's. They leased them to people but would not sell them because their were just "experimenting". Unfortunately,
these electric cars were reliable, efficient and worked with very few moving parts. Auto makers gleam billions from gasoline engines due to the enormous amounts of moving parts. Electric cars returned no auto parts profits to the big 3 so all were destroyed and then came the hybrid cars that still have gaoline engines. A good movie to see is "Who Killed The Electric Car". Explains the business of gasoline and electric cars.
Just another part of the plan to elevate the corporations that are offshoring jobs and aiding the bankruptcy of America.
Posted by RP Mcmurphy on August 10, 2007 08:12 AMProblem with nuclear power plants is the radioactive byproducts that has an enormous lifetime. This is what worries me and don't tell me we can safely store it.
The oil in the coastal shelf is harder to get to than having it shiped here from the gulf. The oil companies have to built massive oil drilling ships that have to be able to reach the sea floor. This is not cheap.
Posted by corey on August 10, 2007 08:12 AMThe electric car is alive and proving itself in daily use.
Lookup Tesla motors, they produce a sports car that outperforms almost every other car on the market. At $100,000 they are pricey, and the waiting list is over a year long, but when consumers demand more cars, the market must supply them. The big three automakers will fail if they don't respond to demand.
Posted by Holy Reality on August 10, 2007 08:44 AMHank when the car companies are given $500 Million to look into electric cars it is hardly fair to say those funds will go to UAW union. It is the R&D department that will get the funds assuming they get past the Executives pockets.
Posted by Reality on August 10, 2007 09:23 AM08:03AM: "It's True,
the same goes for the "Embryonic stem cell issue" Where is the capitalism in that? If it were such a grand idea that would reap billions in profits and cure the millions alot of people claim it will the corporations and their researchers would be tripping over themselves to fund and research"
Hogwash. Drug companies concentrate on short term profits and don't care to take the risk of research that takes years to develop and the risk of many failures before success, and the risk that someone may beat them to it, and the risk that the discovery might not be a big money maker. So, what do they do? They leave that to government sponsored research. The drug companies are bottom line companies and long term research shows up on the bottom line only as an expense.
"The GAO reviewed all 1,264 of the new drug applications submitted for FDA approval from 1993-2004 and found that 60% of them were actually for what industry analysts call "me too" drugs—variations of medications already out on the market. Only 12% of the applications were for what the FDA classified as "priority" new drugs—that is, medications with new chemical ingredients that will have significant therapeutic benefits in treating or preventing a disease."
"Second, the pharmaceutical industry is not especially innovative. As hard as it is to believe, only a handful of truly important drugs have been brought to market in recent years, and they were mostly based on taxpayer-funded research at academic institutions, small biotechnology companies, or the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The great majority of "new" drugs are not new at all but merely variations of older drugs already on the market. These are called "me-too" drugs. The idea is to grab a share of an established, lucrative market by producing something very similar to a top-selling drug."
The drug companies are in this respect no different from companies in other industries, such as the automobile industry. American car companies were not big into small cars till the Japanese forced them into the business. The reason: short term eyesight. Profits now over competitiveness later.
Note: and some want to blame the unions. What a farce!! The unions were doing what capitalism calls for them to do. The car companies caved. Why? Profits now over competitiveness later.
Posted by Truth on August 10, 2007 01:46 PMGiving $500,000,000 to the big three auto companies which reap hugh profits is nothing less than obscene.
Posted by Allen Campbell on August 12, 2007 09:45 AM