Recently, the Ontario government has announced that it will offer a rebate of up to $10,000 towards the purchase of plug in electric vehicles. Although this seems like a reasonable idea there are a number of problems that should have every freedom loving Ontarian descending on Queen's Park with torches and pitchforks.
As many well know, the Ontario Government, along with the federal and US governments, recently took a stake in GM. This rebate will directly assist the purchase of GM's upcoming Chevy Volt. This comes at the expense of other vehicles that have competed in the fuel efficiency market, and have done so without such ridiculous market manipulations.
If you look at this market now, there are two main competing concepts that are attracting customers without such heavy handed silliness; Toyota with their Prius Hybrid and Volkswagon with their Turbo Diesels. There are other companies moving into this space, but these two stand out as great viable options for fuel efficient personal transport that have been competing successfully with standard gas-powered cars for quite some time. Neither of these vehicles has a plug.
The whole idea behind capitalism is that the forward thinking companies with the best products tend to capture market share from the companies who's thinking is outdated and products are substandard. Toyota and VW have been capturing market share from the North American automakers for a long time. When both of these companies were looking forward, GM was looking back. Throw in some really bad deals with organized labour and you get, you guessed it, bankruptcy.
I resent my tax dollars being squandered on a failing business model. GM and Chrysler should have been allowed to fail. I doubly resent my tax dollars going to subsidize any of these companies' new products, now that government is part owner. This is the power of government being used in its most coercive way. The conflict of interest here is mind blowing.
One also needs to look at the idea of a plug in car here. Last time I checked, Ontario had a power generation problem. Our nuclear power plants are aging and power production from these plants peaked way back in the early 90s. There has been no movement on building new facilities in years. Ontario has been making up for this shortfall using -gasp- ... Coal. Wait, coal isn't environmentally friendly, what gives? The hypocrisy here is incredible; though, considering the source, unsurprising.
Hey Dave,
ReplyDeleteGood to see that you started blogging. I enjoy your opinions. There is a lot of hate toward capitalism right now, but facts don't change. Business inspires growth, governments do not. The more of our economy that is controlled by government, the slower, more wasteful and bureaucratic the recovery will be.
Recently, with the cash for clunkers program, and Dodge/Chrysler offering double rebates, I started looking at the possiblility of buying a new car. Just because I don't like government involvement in business, doesn't mean that I won't take advantage of it. Anyway, I looked into the Dodge/Chrysler line up of vehicles and could find a single car that I would want to pay for even at deep discount. Close the factory doors already, you are not adding anything of value!
John
P.S. The Hemi Challenger looks cool, but is a gas guzzling road hog.
P.P.S. PT Cruiser sales are up 28% over this month last year, but they are selling them at nearly 50% off! OUCH!
Hey John,
ReplyDeleteGlad to here you enjoy the blog. I didn't publish last week, but I didn't find any news inspiring. Perhaps there is something that tweaks me to write this weekend.
Dave
PS I agree with the North American car line-up, there is nothing at any price point that doesn't have a more exciting import available (even with the discounts offered).
PPS I also like the look of the Challenger, but could never justify the gas mileage.