The federal government is giving General Motors, Ford and Chrysler $25 billion in low-interest loans, and the companies are asking for up to $25 billion more....
The Obama administration should ask the companies, as a condition of financial assistance, to begin shifting from being just automakers to becoming innovative “transportmakers.” ...
As transportmakers, the companies could produce vehicles for high-speed train and bus systems that would improve our travel options, reduce global warming, conserve energy, minimize accidents and generally improve the way we live.
... As part of its loan package, the government should insist on the development of “transportmaker business plans” from the car companies, with specific timelines for developing more fuel-efficient cars. The companies should also provide detailed plans to transform some of their factories into research and manufacturing centers for the development of light-rail cars and high-speed trains and buses. (In some cases, these could run on existing tracks and on the median strips of Interstate highways; in others, entirely new lanes and tracks would be built.)
.... In the early 1930s, G.M. joined with other companies to develop the Burlington Zephyr, a radically innovative train that broke world speed records and cut train travel times in half. During World War II, the auto companies converted their factories to build not only military trucks and jeeps, but also airplanes, weapons, tanks and other vehicles. Ford’s Willow Run plant built thousands of B-24 bombers, becoming the world’s biggest bomber plant....
This will never happen, but probably should:
A price floor for gasoline would ease the bailout’s burden on taxpayers. At current prices, a floor of $3.50 per gallon would generate more than $17 billion in one month — a big chunk of a $25 billion bailout. If, without the floor, gasoline averaged $2.50 per gallon over the next year, revenues would amount to $140 billion. That money could pay for a sound transportation policy agenda beyond the bailout.
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2 comments:
call me a pessimst, but...
Big Three making train/transit vehicles: The only way for them to get into to the market quickly would be to buy an existing manufacturer. First, we'd have to give them the cash for the purchase. But bigger than that, assuming they bought a well-run, profitable manufacturer, what are the odds that it would stay that way under Big Three management?
Price floor for gas - what would stop the gas companies from just never reducing the price below $3.50 (regardless of production cost) and capturing all the surplus revenue for themselves? Seems like it would require a lot of government intervention in the market.
GM's Electromotive Division has been the world's No.1 or No.2 producer (GE is the other) of railroad engines since they entered the business in 1922. They just sold off the division in 2004 to focus on automobiles.
Why should we bailout a management team who sheds it's rail techonolgy at the very moment when rail is coming back? Especially when that was one of its top performing divisions.
It's time for these clowns to be given the ole heave-ho so this dinosaur can finally evolve. That's exactly what Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is designed for. Forget the bailout and let nature take its course.
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