Originally Posted by Dukeboy01
See, I thought just the opposite: It takes a huge overabundance of ego to allow such a heap of meaningless blabber to be printed next to one's name. "We already know what that future is: the plug- in hybrid electric car." Really, Chuck? What special knowledge or wisdom have you gained from either your educational experience, work history, or life experience that gives you the authority to make such a sweeping pronouncement? Why plug- in hybrids instead of cars running on hydrogen, CNG, or the wishes of children and unicorn farts? Who are you, Chuck Schumer, to state such a thing? I will grant you that plug- in hybrids might be the car of the future, but being the senior blowhard from new York doesn't give you the magical ability to see the future. Show your work, please.
This is the least talked about problem with the bailout, IMO. I believe that the bailout will happen, in one form or another, in February of 2009. The problem is that our Democratic Overlords will insist in their noses so far into the product development side of things that instead of dealer lots filled with $40,000 Silverados that no one wants to buy we'll have dealer lots filled with $60,000 generation one Volts that no one wants to buy.
What's the point in giving GM, Ford, and Chrysler any money if you're going to saddle them with an unworkable business plan that kills them off anyway a few years down the road?
Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Waxman don't know crap about cars, running a successful business, marketing, or any of the other myriad of roles that work together to make a successful car company. The problem is that they think they know better than you or me or anyone else what should be done. They will see this bailout as an opportunity to engage in a huge amount of social engineering for "our own good" or "for the good of the planet." Once started, it will be a never ending cycle of initiatives and mandates spewed forth from Washington.
Can't sell enough hybrids because oil prices stay too low for too long? Let's tax fuel until it's $6 or more a gallon. It's for your own good. Fuel prices now causing the price of food (and everything else moved by trucks) to skyrocket out of control? Let's try some price controls. We'll pass a law and everything will just be peachy. What you, the taxpayer and ripe suck living in flyover country, think you want isn't important. Our Dear Leaders will know what's best. On and on and on.
That's not to say that if the Republicans were in charge that they wouldn't be sticking their noses into the auto business too far as well. The difference is that they'd be working overtime to kill the UAW (good) and to protect the CEOs (bad). They'd still wreck GM, Ford, and Chrysler by the time that they were through.
No matter what happens, we're probably screwed.
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