First the government buys General Motors. Then they require the company to build electric cars that the public doesn’t want and won’t buy. So how can the government paper over this fiscal fiasco? By purchasing the cars from itself, of course.
In the words of Aretha Franklin, who’s zoomin’ who?
Fox News has the details of the government-created demand for government-created products:
President Barack Obama’s administration has bought almost a fourth of the Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. hybrid vehicles sold since he took office, accelerating federal purchases as consumer demand wanes.
The U.S. General Services Administration, which runs the government fleet, bought at least 14,584 hybrid vehicles in the past two fiscal years, or about 10 percent of 145,473 vehicles the agency purchased in that period, according to sales data obtained by Bloomberg under a Freedom of Information Act request. In fiscal 2008, hybrids accounted for less than 1 percent of government purchases, the data showed.
The government is boosting investment in a technology that has failed to win broad acceptance after more than a decade in the marketplace. Consumer sales of hybrids are headed for their third consecutive yearly decline. Government agencies and businesses have said they also will purchase all-electric models being introduced by automakers including GM.
“At some point, the reality is that for this technology to be accepted, it needs to be done without a government crutch,” said Jeff Schuster, director of forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates in Troy, Michigan. “But without a huge gas-price increase or further government demand, the natural demand just isn’t to be there.”
To complete the story, it should be pointed out that Government Motors does have one other big customer in addition to itself.
General Electric, which makes the recharging stations for electric cars and who also received a big pile of stimulus money, has announced that it will buy a fleet of electric cars.
Can anyone say, “Shell game.”
Source: Fox News
This post was last modified on January 26, 2021
View Comments (14)
i love hybrid car technology
Then buy one! Just don't expect us taxpayers to pay for the thing, use your own money. Or, are you a gooberment employee who has money in your pocket because it came out of mine? If so what is the difference, I am paying for the piece of crap anyway.
So basically the public WILL be buying up these cars just by force through our tax money which IS the money that make government run. How awesome... The government will push these card down our throats regardless of what we want.
Just like light bulbs. Very few folks want to use CFL bulbs, but the gov't is gonna outlaw regular bulbs. Incandescent light bulbs will go away when led bulbs get better & can be produced at a reasonable price.
That's the trouble: the technology isn't here yet. Gas engined vehicles are still more efficient and environmentally accountable than cars stuffed with 6000 computer batteries that last for 70 miles before needing a 12 hour recharge.
That & our power grid is a long way away from being able to handle what is being pushed. If everybody had electric cars that needed to be plugged in for re-charging, there is no way the grid can handle the added capacity. Just remember that the idiots pushing electric "green" cars, are the same jackasses who oppose EVERY new power plant & want to rid America of coal fire plants & they have blocked America from building any new nuke plants for the last 3 decades. Something needs to give...
Screw GM, they are in a whole lot of trouble. I know many folks who only buy American cars & usually GM cars, who have said they will never buy GM again. My last couple of cars have been Mitsubishi, so I was already there. The US gov't, the UAW, & the Chi-Coms now own much of GM. Like I'm gonna support that.
It is sort of like making bad lemonade at a lemonade stand as a kid, and then having your mom buy it all...
You say that like it's a bad thing....
“But without a huge gas-price increase or further government demand, the natural demand just isn’t to be there.”
Hey! Jeff! Quiet! Don't give them any ideas. I'm sure that's next on the agenda, though. A top priority, you might say.
Duh! Where have you been? This was all set to make Al Gore's hedge fund and a bunch of Czars a pile of money while making Obama look like a precient genious. Then they jumped the shark with the armegedon predictions, it snowed too much and that hacker leaked the truth about the hoax.
Anyone who bought GM or GE products since 2008 deserves a kick to the sac. I'd rather send my money overseas where it will be treated with more respect.
I'm thinking it's more of a "bunny hug" than a "shell game".
I'm thinking its more of a violent snuggie to the taxpayers.
"I’m thinking its more of a violent snuggie to the taxpayers."
Or, Atomic Wedgie.