By Marc Rose •
December 20, 2008
The Bush Administration bailed out GM on Friday, after pushing the prospect of bankruptcy as the most reasonable option. The most compelling language in the bailout agreement: A mandate for electric cars or fuel efficient models? Not at all. The government has focused in on forcing GM to get rid of its corporate jets, which drew little notice until the Big 3 CEOs flew to Washington to be upbraided by lawmakers.
The legislation had little to say about fuel efficiency, electric or hybrid cars, or the feasibility that a loan to GM will do anything to resurrect the struggling company. In regard to emerging technologies, the legislation requires merely that GM “intend” to “commence domestic manufacturing of advanced technology vehicles.”
By Marc Rose •
December 13, 2008
Editor’s Note: Marc is one of the newest additions to the Gas 2.0 writing team. Welcome Marc!
In between a heavy rotation of aspirin, Tylenol, and Motrin, washed down with the cheapest scotch I could find, I took a few minutes to stop focusing on the ever-imploding economy and my prospects for having a job in six months, to do some problem solving for the world.
According to what anyone of any authority in the United States would have you believe, the collapse of the Big Three automakers (as if they are inextricably linked) would send our economy from the thin patch of ice that it is currently skating on, into the frigid depths to drown. Job loss estimates that I’ve seen range to two and a half million, not much less than one percent of the entire population of the country. It is for this reason, apparently, that Congress will likely throw a lifeline to each of the Big Three, by printing up trainloads (a Hummer might do actually – thanks GM!) of cash and wishing it well (thanks taxpayers!).
