Government Motors Is A Failed Enterprise
Henry Payne writes in the WSJ that much of the auto industry is thriving -- just not the government-subsidized parts. And hey, you GOP voters (and fans of the GOP's pretend small government, which is really just slightly smaller government), Bushie put in some of these idiotic and damaging ethanol mandates, too:
Predicting a breakthrough in switchgrass-based ethanol technology in 2007, the Bush administration mandated that cellulosic, or plant-cell based, ethanol production for American autos increase to 500 million gallons by 2012 and a staggering 16 billion by 2022. Washington then subsidized its fledgling industry with $1.5 billion in federal grants and tax credits. Prodded by Washington, General Motors GM +1.01% used the 2008 auto show to announce investments in cellulosic ethanol companies and flex-fuel vehicles, and a national campaign to add E85 (a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) pumps at gas stations.Five years later and the ethanol market is a bust. Fewer than eight million gallons of cellulosic ethanol were produced in 2012, E85 pumps are rare (most blends are 10% or 15%), and ethanol is rarely mentioned at the auto show.
The electric revolution is muted too. Spending an estimated $10 billion of the 2009 federal stimulus bill on battery power, Team Obama predicted a million electric cars on the road by 2015. Today there are barely 30,000, and federally subsidized auto-battery suppliers like Ener1, A123 Systems AONEQ -7.55% and LGChem are either struggling or bankrupt.
...Poor sales have dogged the electric Ford Focus, Chevy Volt and Fisker Karma as well. A $7,500 federal tax subsidy to electric-car buyers has done little to boost the market, even as it subsidizes One Percenters like Leo DiCaprio and Justin Bieber, who both own $100,000 electric Karmas; and Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, owner of a $40,000 Chevy Volt.
In an ironic twist, one of the showstoppers is the VL Destino, which strips the Karma of its electric drive-train and inserts a fire-breathing, 638-horsepower Corvette ZR-1 gas engine in its place. The result? A lighter, more competitive, four-door sports sedan.
The number of people who refuse to buy a new GM amazes me. They realize how fucked they were by the takeover. I'm in the same boat. I won't look at a GM as a car purchase. If they finally go through a real bankruptcy I might consider it.
Jim P. at January 27, 2013 5:29 AM
So Jimpers, you're saying the Chicago Wonder Child isn't a car designer?!?!?!????
How dare you! How dare you.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 27, 2013 10:34 AM
I definitely would say he is not a car designer. I have several words to describe him, but those words should not be used in polite company; or even impolite company. And none of them are racist.
Jim P. at January 27, 2013 2:46 PM
I would be much more impressed with the industry if they actually started building cars on a durability model, rather than on fashion and obsolescence. For instance, the domestic pickup truck does NOT have to have a bed 3' off the ground, with 2' of tire clearance, to do its job. The task of the pickup truck hasn't changed in decades, though, so the only way to get someone to buy new is to tout new.
I have a Nissan with 464,000 miles on it which drivetrain is finally due for a rebuild - but the factories are not interested in that. Ask the lessors of Saturn EV-1s about who wins when the factory wants something.
If you want to impress me with your frugality, you'd talk about saving someone's pristine '96 Buick Regal 3800, which would have no impact on the environment whatsoever next to the NiMH battery in a hybrid; it would have been so cheap to buy by comparison you could buy the difference in gas for 5 years.
More about cars.
Radwaste at January 27, 2013 5:41 PM
My moral/political side urges me not to patronize Government Motors, poster child of crony capitalism and legalized theft. My hedonistic side urges me to buy the spectacular new C7 Corvette to replace my beloved, but aging, C6 Corvette. Guess which side is gonna win.
Jim Simon at January 27, 2013 7:15 PM
Hope you're not still stressing over the "finite" nature of fossil fuel, Raddy... It's turning up all over.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 27, 2013 10:39 PM
Here you go, Crid.
Missed that one in whatever science classes you've taken.
Radwaste at January 28, 2013 3:05 AM
"I would be much more impressed with the industry if they actually started building cars on a durability model, rather than on fashion and obsolescence. "
The same thing is being said by people who follow the large-appliance market. The average lifetime of a washing machine these days is about four years. There's people who restore Kenmores, GEs, and Frigidaires from the '60s, and use them, and they report that these machines last longer and are better performers than anything available on the market now.
I've developed a hypothesis about this... in the 1950s and '60s, the number of American households was growing rapidly. Manufacturers had an incentive to make durable products because of word-of-mouth and because people would spend more if they thought they were getting a product that would last. The growth of households and families meant that there was always a market for new products.
Nowdays, household growth is flat. The market is mostly people buying replacements for older products. In a no-growth market, durability goes out the window to ensure turnover. Further, government regulations have sharply restricted what designers can do with the products, so it starts to become a commodity market... within a given price bracket, the products from the different manufacturers are pretty much the same. The only thing left to distinguish a product is fashion. And the fashion industry is expert in driving product turnover.
Cousin Dave at January 28, 2013 9:04 AM
> Missed that one
So you concede that your intention —
— was to deceive? Great, we're done. Otherwise, I'll keep sending you updates. Discoveries of new sources are appearing all over the globe... And in tough times like these, where government bureaucrats and their well-connected corporate types seem intent on capping the freedom of the little guy wherever possible, the promise of cheap energy is especially welcome.
Ain't it?
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 28, 2013 9:37 AM
No, Crid. Just no. Grow up.
No matter what is discovered, the quantity of oil on Earth is finite.
There must be something interesting going on with you. I can only imagine why someone of your obvious communication skills would take the position that everything is fine, burn it all.
When, not if, the Age Of Oil ends, there had better be a replacement method of food production and transportation, or roughly half the planet will starve. That's been the conclusion of every nuclear war simulation since the 1960's: more die starving than in fireballs.
I'm not being sensational, just practical. As I wonder just what about conservation is so offensive to people who label themselves "conservative".
Meanwhile, go buy a gallon of gas. That will tell you how valuable it is. I don't have to - just as I don't have to post anything for you to be wrong.
Radwaste at January 28, 2013 10:40 AM
> No matter what is discovered, the quantity
> of oil on Earth is finite.
As is daylight from the sun. You want us to worry about that, too?
There are only SO MANY musicals from Broadway. This number is FINITE, Raddy.
It's FINITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't try to be clever and deny it!!
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 28, 2013 2:41 PM
20 yrs ago the ambeint humidity of the Phx valley was less than 1% unless there was a storm moving in
Due to the influx of everyones racist and fucking retarded grandparents and a bunch of california assholes and all the non native flora they just had to have cause living in the desert they'd moved to just wanst an option the average humidity today is over 30%.
That is a 3000% increase due to nothing more than pools, water features and non native plants having the sunlight beat the water out of them.
Aquifers are colapsing, all the rivers aside from the Colordado have dried up completly.
Mrons with no apprication for desert life water their cacti more in a week then they evolved to consume in a year, and they cant figure out why their saugaros die.
So yes crid - shit is finite. You wnat more oil your gonna need to figure a way to increase the O2 content of the air so as to grow motherfucking dinosaurs - or somthing of the equivelent size, kill them all off and wait 65 million years for more oil
lujlp at January 29, 2013 9:43 AM
> You wnat more oil your gonna need to figure
> a way to increase the O2 content of the air
> so as to grow motherfucking dinosaurs
I need do no such thing. The point you guys seem congenitally incapable of taking is that there is plenty of fossil fuel. Plenty. Lots of it. More than enough. An elegant sufficiency. In no respect does this mean that every day of your life will be Christmas, just that we'll have plenty of fossil fuel from a variety of sources. No matter how many reports of this appear, you apparently just will not believe it... Or you'll whine that energy abundance doesn't necessarily solve the problems of the inner-city schools as well. 'But baseball player are still using steroids! And the amount of oil in the ground is finite!' Finite doesn't matter... We have enough, and quite probably more.
It's like hearing contemporary voters demanding an end to the Viet Nam war: Idiot hippies have been shouting the same words for so long that a change of context is incomprehensible both for them and for the people who aspired to rune them out.
Phoenix, 20 years ago no less than today, required a fantastic amount of federal support (and environmental shenanigans) to become habitable. Californians aren't the problem... There's nothing new under the (punishing) sun.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 29, 2013 8:11 PM
Crid, you've reached the point where you deny dictionary definitions and accuse me of dishonesty.
That's just not rational. It does reinforce our differences.
As the years go by, Americans will continue to be influenced by energy policies set by others. Power grabs will continue, and intensify; you may recall Japan was after oil in attacking Pearl Harbor, so we wouldn't oppose their taking "the southern resource area".
But no political maneuver will change the amount of fossil fuel ultimately available. No posturing or pretty prose will manufacture one new hydrocarbon molecule.
That's what "finite" means.
One more part of this issue is that at least half of the world population will never get a chance to pop into the drive-through for a burger. American auto consumption per capita can't be supported globally. We got the chance specifically because of the change in the balance of power after WW2 and the ease of oil extraction at the time.
You noted with me, once, that fairness is not a natural force. Competition will cause some pain at the pump while it pays for new drilling, but, again, that competition's just not going to manufacture hydrocarbons. That's not an opinion: object if you like, that windmill awaits your tilt.
Radwaste at January 30, 2013 12:35 PM
> you deny dictionary definitions and accuse
> me of dishonesty.
Being literal is no excuse. This…
> We're in the Age of Oil, and that time is
> limited. When energy costs get so high we
> can't ship anymore, I hope we can get these
> businesses re-established.
…is literally deceptive. ("Full stop.")
You won't take the point in context, and you won't take it by analogy. Or do you concede that we need not fear a 'finite' provision of sunlight (by the "dictionary definition")?
A handsome echo, that— You want people to be afraid of the dark.
Well, be cheered: Human nature is on your side, even if civilization is not.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 30, 2013 1:13 PM
> As the years go by, Americans will continue
> to be influenced by energy policies set
> by others.
Heaven forefend!
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at January 31, 2013 8:38 AM
Besides, it's not even true.
RADDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, stop.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at January 31, 2013 8:02 PM
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