The proposed Federal $25, $50 or $100 Billion dollar Bail Out of the Big Three,so-called Detroit auto makers, is facing very tough sleding. Even the Democrats want these guys to have a plan. That of course has all these Country Club CEO’s all a flutter! “A Plan?”: they say! Shocking! For those that don’t know….these CEO’s are not car guys…..they might even be hard pressed to know the difference between a Mustang, a Cadillac or a Mopar Ram Charger Pick-up! They might as well, just be talking heads for those greedy Board of Directors who are eager to go Chapter 11 and not have to pay the greedy AFL-CIO Union people their demands for paying people 90% percent of salaries for 10 years when they shutter any auto plant! By going into Chapter 11 or even 7….they can sell out and still keep all their Corporate Board and Executive people paid and insulated. For everyone else?
This issue is perhaps a pivotal lynch-pin as to what our future may hold. Unless these three automakers “Merge their efforts”….”Downsize” and then “Reconfigure”….they are guaranteed to fail…with the resultant serious impact to unemployment and to the economy at large. Within this extremely important issue and the choices made for resolution are buried even more important issues which need to be addressed NOW….not 10 years from now. They have until December 2nd, to come up with a plan that makes sense to lawmakers. Whatever that means!
The International Energy Agency….which is a think tank which Al Gore might utilize as “Expert Opinion” on Energy Prices…suggests that demand for oil will overwhelm the system in the next few years. They suggest that the price of oil should stabilize at about $100 a barrel within the next 10 years. This means that a gallon of gasoline would be about double to what we are paying now….say $4.20 a gallon. That would mean that monthly Electricity for the average 1600 square foot house….would be about $300 dollars a month! By the way, China and India…..do not belong to the International Energy Agency! What happens when they don’t go along with various policies? Our belief is that the actual price of a barrel of oil will actually stabilize about $28 dollars a barrel and vary between that and $42 dollars a barrel over the next 10 years: if we start to Regulate….right now!
Maintaining low energy prices should be a Global Decree…which starts to Regulate World pricing by demanding that all new auto produced in the world…..should meet mileage standards. We acutally need a new Manhattan Project to develop Nano-Turbine powered vehicles. These vehicles can in fact power huge trucks and buses! These vehicles could get 100 Miles Per Gallon….while pushing around 22,000 lb. trucks and Commercial Vehicles. Why haven’t we done this? It could have been done 30 years ago. But why buy the cow when the milk is cheap? The ability to restrict environmental problems can be designed in from the get go…..not afterward as in the use of “Catalytic Converters” which after use: are more polluting than the vehicles that they were used for! Recycling these Converters is a joke!
The issues are not to re-regulate older vehicles! Let us repeat that in “spades”: We do not need to Regulate Older Vehicles! We need to regulate every new one that is produced. We need to demand that Global Auto Makers be responsible to both the environment and to the consumers that they want to buy their products. When all new vehicles become mileage efficient, non polluting and quality products with a five to 10 year shelf life…we finally will have something which can or will save our planet. The only way this is going to happen is to encourage energy efficient vehicles and regulate the Global price of oil. Oil “speculators” raised the price of oil from $42 dollars to $147 dollars because of “Investment Banks” dumping their Hedge and Derivative Funds…..Structured Investment Vehicles…and Leveraged Credit Default Swaps…..and put them into the price of oil. This will happen again unless we start to change the rules…..NOW!
The current desire to Bail Out Citigroup to the tune of $326 Billion Dollars..is not a good sign or a good abject lesson in how to stabilize the Real Estate or Oil Markets! This sounds like Paulson’s Folly…has reached new proportions on the way out the door! Perhaps, President Elect Obama…will be able to stop the madness by a phone call. If not, we can expect all that cash going back into the Oil markets, rising energy costs and a bad winter for people wanting heating oil on the East coast.
Leave a Reply