Cars, Candidates, Loans, and Bailouts

Auto sales plunge to near 30-year lows | U.S. | Reuters

(This thread is turning into a twitter feed!) :redface: ... Carpocalypse now...

Taxpayers $8 Billion for Chrysler Won’t be Repaid: What Does it Mean for GM? | The New Ledger

With the news from the White House that America’s $8 Billion gift to Chrysler will not be repaid, my tongue and fingertips are erupting in blisters. And it’s not because President Obama’s decision was a surprise: starting last fall, I’ve said dozens of times in blog posts and radio interviews that the taxpayer money being shoveled into Chrysler LLC, General Motors, and Silicon Valley’s electric-car darling Tesla Motors would be purely wasted.

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There's a prompt response from Rachel protesting being lumped in with the bailout.

doug said:

There's a prompt response from Rachel protesting being lumped in with the bailout.

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Rachel's lead-in is a bit unprofessional, "uh ... sorry, but ..."

But wow, if that isn't a case for "which in this list doesn't belong", then I don't know what is.

And a response to the response:
On Tesla and Chrysler and Federal Handouts | The New Ledger

I nudged The New Ledger on Twitter, maybe others lashed-out as well But the reply article didn't seem to clarify his points very well (not for me, anyway). Seems to simply reiterate his feeling that Tesla be rolled into the Chrysler spitball.

Doesn't the gov't have a history of providing low interest loans to programs that serve the better good? Both in good economic times and bad? With decades of track record doing it? Without any rants about getting the taxpayer a better return than the standard interest plus the benefit of the public interest?

That seems like it would form the basis of a strong rebuttal.

TEG said:

And a response to the response:
On Tesla and Chrysler and Federal Handouts | The New Ledger

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Oh, I didn't realize the poster was from RedState! Aside from being complete right-wing wackos (no offense intended), they're probably going to have about as much influence over the decision-making of our current government as me. In fact, I'd venture to say that anything opposed by folks from RedState probably gives it a better than average chance of successful passage in the Obama administration.

I didn't intend this as a political commentary, but just factual -- a noted far-right wing blog posting will have less than zero influence on the overall debate in DC over the efficacy of supporting EVs, and Tesla in particular.

TEG said:

Why we should help GM, Chrysler and Ford - Feb. 17, 2009

( Darryl Siry said something similar here:
The Fundamental Issue in the Auto Industry Is Overcapacity )

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Yale's Levin, an Obama Advisor, Sees Major Auto Shrinkage | BNET Auto Blog | BNET

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