Group Of “Businessmen” Would Like The Government To Force The Taxpayers To “Invest” In Their Product
You know, for our own good.
This, by the way, is the very definition of “rent seeking.”
WASHINGTON — A group of businessmen on Monday launched a new coalition to urge the federal government to make a major investment in electric transportation, pointing to electric cars as the best way to confront the nation’s dependence on imported oil.
Top executives with more than a dozen companies, including Nissan Motor Co., Fedex Corp., electric utility PG&E Corp. and battery developers A123 Systems Inc. and Johnson Controls-Saft, announced the formation of the Electrification Coalition to lay the groundwork for millions of electric cars to reach U.S. highways.
For what it’s worth, the recently bailed-out Chrysler has dropped any plans for making electric car models. Why? Because Chrysler’s new parent company (the one that isn’t the federal government) knows there isn’t a market for them.
So, essentially, these “businessmen” want the federal government to for the taxpayers to subsidize a market for the product they want to make. Not because the taxpayers want to buy electric cars (if they did there would be no reason for government involvement) but because these business owners and the politicians (once lobbied the right way, naturally) will no doubt agree that it’s for our own good.
And remember that many of the same politicians who want to subsidize these electric cars are also no doubt in favor of cap and trade, the policy that would bankrupt the coal industry which provides 51% of the power for our national power grid. Where would all the electricity for these new cars come from while we’re simultaneously killing off our cheapest and most ready supply of it? Who knows. Which, once again, proves that you don’t have to be smart to be in Congress.
By the way, North Dakotans, Senator Byron Dorgan is totally on board with all this:
“Ultimately the consumer will make the judgment about where this country goes, but from the standpoint of public policy we can set the stage for it,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who joined the group for its announcement.
So the public may or may not want to buy these cars, but the government can certainly subsidize them until we come to our senses and decide we want them.
Tags: Asshats, Domestic Issues, North Dakota News, Politics
