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Yesterday President Obama announced that the U.S. would become a "reluctant [majority shareholder" of GM and would inject another $30 Billion into this company]. For its part -- besides closing lots of plants and firing 30,000 Americans -- GM announced that it was going to get it right this time, that is was going to be all trendily "green" and build, way cool fuel efficient cars because now it understands that that's what Americans want. Splendid. I think I figured that out and nobody had to invest the better part of $50 Billion (total) to educate me.
So this is going to "save" the now bankrupt GM. Wonderful. If it works. How about, though, the Feds investing, say, "just" $27 billion more in GM while putting, say, $2 Billion in Tesla Motors, then spread around the other Billion among other U.S. start-ups and innovators? Which would stretch a total $30 Bil further ?
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Mind you, I don't think that Tesla Motors is "the Savior" of the auto industry. Not everyone's going to want or need or be able to afford a $49,000 electric Model S roadster (no matter how cool it looks). But, with a significant investment would come significant scaling-up of production and R&D capabilities which, over the next 5-15 years, would bring to market more practical vehicles at lower prices.
Guess what? The Feds are going to "invest" (sort of) in Tesla. Sort of. The Department of Energy agreed to loan Tesla $350 Million a few months ago. So, a $350 "loan" vs. a $30-50 Billion (total) bailout. The former goes to a company that's founded on electric automobile innovation, the latter to a bloated behemoth that never saw a CAFE Standard it didn't whine about.
No, I'm not saying that the $30 Billion should go to Tesla or the GM shouldn't get any help from the Feds, I'm just saying that -- at the very least, from a "sends a message" standpoint -- the disparity between which company's, which type of company's, being rewarded for "good works" could not be more stark.
And that's a shame.
By the way, the "smart money" (well, maybe somewhat smarter money) is on Tesla.
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