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Cars, Candidates, Loans, and Bailouts

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Its stunning that in a capitalistic society a honorable private company has the guts to ask hat in hand for a government bailout - not thinking of approaching a presidential candidate for getting it.

When private entities shuffle profits, the cream is usually taken via financial safe havens into very private share holder pockets - (shareholders happiness are the primary goals of companies and the basic reason there around in first place - customers are satisfied or ****ed - it doesn't really matter)

Its ok for me, I have to accept that, living happily in a capitalistic society myself - Thats how the game works...

...but when private entities fail they have to go the way of the Edsel - only got in Brezniew USSR a financial injection for state owned property / industry - only in commie countries like Cuba thats was the way to go.

Intervention with helpless taxpayers money is just delaying the inevitable. Its total foolishness to throw more money at a bunch of companies which were mismanaged to the point of extinction.

Plus, let’s not forget the taxpayer money already wasted by the Clinton Administration - handed over to the then big 3 to develop so-called Super Cars with 80 mpg (hybrids).

Funny - to which socioeconomic status the USA system tanked...
 
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50B Loan

<<<<<Finkenbusch... Its stunning that in a capitalistic society a honorable private company has the guts to ask hat in hand for a government bailout - not thinking of approaching a presidential candidate for getting it.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


It seems that the real question is: Should we give the auto industry a 50B loan? Frankly, I'm opposed, but don't know enough about the auto industry to know if it would be advisable.

We can argue that in the next 20 years the industry will go through a massive change as people switch to EV's. With EV's using less than 20 moving parts and requiring minimal maintenance, the auto and support industries have to drastically shrink in size. It will be cheaper for the consumer, but we are going to have a lot of jobs lost.

Looking at it from that viewpoint, is the loan advisable?
 
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/off-topic/1558-pop-mech-cars-candidates.html#post11973Related other articles:

General Motors (GM): We Deserve A Bailout, Too

Bailout Watch 38: GM President Does His Own Spinning | The Truth About Cars

So do we have to put up our tax dollars to ensure that the Volt gets built?
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What would happen if we loaned $25 billion to Tesla instead?!
 
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Finkenbusch said:

"Plus, let’s not forget the taxpayer money already wasted by the Clinton Administration - handed over to the then big 3 to develop so-called Super Cars with 80 mpg (hybrids)."

Well, one good thing came out of the PNGV project: The Toyota Prius, which was Toyota's response to the threat of the US-only PNGV research.

Too bad the US automakers didn't see the value of improved fuel economy.

GSP
 
The small company, AFS, does not impress me. Another undercapitalized company with a hybrid technology they're trying to get funded. I think it may use super capacitors, but nothing really new. Their "headquarters" is in Medina, WA. If you know this area, you'll know that Medina is almost all very-very-upscale residential. Bill Gates' house is in Medina. I'd be surprised if there are any office buildings in Medina. More likely it's the AFS founder's house - apparently a guy with enough money to take out newspaper ads, but not enough to get anything going.
 
They don't impress me either. The interesting part of the story was here:
What’s unclear from the ad is who supposedly stands to gain those electoral votes, in return for the government loans. The ad also muddies the water by listing 38 other small companies it says are engaged in developing electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles and related systems.

The (very) fine print at the bottom of the ad says that the ad was paid for solely by AFS, and that the listed companies are only cited as examples of innovators in the field of fuel-efficient technologies. But on the face of it, the ad looks as if it was sponsored by all those companies. Apparently that’s not the case.

Companies listed in the ad include archrivals Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, which are engaged in a lawsuit with each other over trade secrets. Global Electric Motor Cars is also listed, even though it’s a subsidiary of Chrysler.

The ad proposes that small companies get 25 percent of any loans that are funded by Congress. That might not be a bad idea, but by itself, a close reading of the AFS ad raises more questions than it answers.
Does anyone have an image of the ad?
 
oops
Palin spoke after touring Xunlight Corp., one of a handful of solar technology startup companies in Toledo, a struggling industrial city in this swing state. The city's leaders are hoping that the solar companies will create jobs to replace some of those lost by downsizing in the auto industry.
But Palin made only a passing reference to solar power in her speech and instead renewed her call for more drilling in U.S. coastal waters. She repeated her signature anthem, "drill, baby, drill," which seemed to fall a bit flat on the audience at the plant even as it's become a popular chant at her rallies.
 
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