General Motors VP Bob Lutz green pose is a "total crock of shit"

[kgrandia]

Among the most galling visions, as U.S. carmakers stand cap-in-hand before the American people, is the site of a preening GM Vice President Bob Lutz pretending to be green.

Lutz is firmly on the record as someone who is too lazy, too ideologically hidebound or just too stupid to look at the latest robust and frightening science of climate change. He has dismissed global warming as "a total crock of shit," saying that he puts his faith in the signatories of the laughable Oregon petition.

More: http://www.desmogblog.com/gm-vp-bob-lutz-green-pose-total-crock-shit-global-warming

[DJ13]

1. Does that really make a difference in trying to save the jobs of millions?

Not just millions of workers, but workers who have collectively supported our party for decades?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Save the jobs, definitely.

But the guys who ran the industry into the ditch? Not so much. Surely, there is a young Steve Jobs or someone of the same breadth and depth of vision and love of disruptive technology who can kick these companies in the ass.

Cancel Steve Jobs. What they need is a Jay Miner. Google the name.

[gizmo1979]

6. I feel the ceo's should either have

to quit or put all their investment money in their own companies.

[madrchsod]

12. they`ll be nurtured

after jan.20 2009 it`s going to be a new deal. it took the Chrysler bail out three months to seal the deal.

they have around thirty days before anything positive happens

[kgrandia]

3. If GM listened

They would not be in this mess. The Big 3 automkaers are not valiant saviors trying to save the US economy and millions of jobs, they are boneheads who made bonehead moves i.e. Hummers and now they are begging desperately for the US government to bail them out of their own pit of stupidity.

Anybody losing their jobs at Toyota? Nope.

The most messed up irony is it is all these yahoos who brain washed the public into believing the freemarket system was the ultimate.

[kristopher]

5. Is it really the automaker's fault?

The reason Toyota et al are more prepared for high energy prices in the US is that energy prices in their domestic markets are maintained at artificially high prices through taxation.

The US, for whatever reason, has chosen to maintain energy prices as low as possible for the consumer; rejecting long term planning at the political level.

Who do you realistically lay the blame for that on? Energy companies, politicians, consumers, auto companies? All of them?

Add to that the fact the the main reason for the current predicament is much more economic downturn than it is related to having the wrong line up of vehicles and I just don't see how these criticisms of the automakers are justified.

[kgrandia]

7. These criticisms

Criticisms about US automakers being blind to the trends towards more fuel efficient vehicles are not new. The Big 3 autos themselves have been fighting higher fuel economy standards for almost a decade now - it is their lobbyist on Capitol Hill that fought fuel efficiency standards.

Over the years economists, politicians, scientists and environmental groups, among others, have provided a million reasons for why GM should move to a more fuel efficient fleet - GM and the others didn't listen.

GM has been in huge financial problems for years because nobody is buying the massive gas guzzlers they stubbornly continue to build.

If GM and the other US automakers had listened (like Toyota and Honda did) they would be hurting right now, but not going bankrupt and begging the government for money.

[kristopher]

8. I think you are grinding an ax, not making an analysis

You're factually incorrect regarding the relative gas mileage of the vehicle line-up of the various automakers; a Forerunner, Tundra or Lexus doesn't do any better than their US competition. They are all delivering to the market what the market asks for. The rules governing what the market is asking for are influenced by the automakers, but they are not the only input into the process by a wide margin. Every policy has people and interested parties pulling in a variety of directions, so the fact that there were people advocating for alternative policies (higher CAFE standards for example) doesn't mean that the blame for the current economic problems are rooted in that aspect of their business model.

In fact, I think CAFE standards suck as a means of directing social resources. A much better approach is the one practiced in Janpan and Germany, where gasoline is taxed so that it doesn't fall below a minimum level, thus forcing consumers to shape the market into a more prudent long range configuration.

[excess_3]

13. US is already using Getrmany's minimum-price approach

called 'excise tax'

no change is needed

[kristopher]

14. I rest my case.

Table 5.12-4 Vehicle Fuel Retail Price (2001 US Dollars Per Liter)

Country Retail Price ...Wholesale Price ..Taxes ..Portion Tax
UK ...........$1.08 ....$0.25 ............$0.83 ...77%
Germany ......$0.89 ....$0.23 ............$0.66 ...74%
France .......$0.91 ....$0.24 ............$0.67 ...74%
Italy ........$0.93 ....$0.30 ............$0.63 ...67%
Spain ........$0.70 ....$0.27 ............$0.43 ...62%
Japan ........$0.88 ....$0.40 ............$0.49 ...55%
Canada .......$0.41 ....$0.22 ............$0.19 ...45%
United States $0.35 ....$0.25 ............$0.10 ...29%

http://www.vtpi.org/tca/tca0512.pdf.

The US and Germany aren't even close to being the same.

[madrchsod]

10. ever seen a toyota tundra?

toyota`s production is way down in the usa.

[GliderGuider]

4. Think of them as "early adopters".

By the time this depression is fully underway in two or three years we'll be looking at over 30% unemployment in every industrialized nation in the world -- basically on a par with the current situation in Africa. That could result in the US economy shedding jobs at the rate of one to two million a month, for a number of years. Compared to the final toll of such a scenario, that could top out over 50 million unemployed, a couple of million unemployed auto workers are a sneeze in a windstorm.

If saving the jobs of a couple of million people would turn back the tide of depression, I'd be all for it. In our current situation, however, it will at most delay the inevitable tsunami by a quarter or two. I'm as against bailing out the auto industry as I'm against bailing out the banking industry. And as a victim of the tech wreck, I know what it feels like to lose one's job when a bubble bursts. Retrenchment was was the right thing for the high tech industry to do, and it's the right thing for the auto industry.

You would be much further ahead putting the money into s combination of unemployment insurance, universal health care and public works projects.

Sorry, I do not support an auto industry bail-out.

[madrchsod]

11. good for you...i`m glad you stand shoulder to shoulder with the american worker

[madrchsod]

9. who the fuck cares what he said....

gm have the highest over all average mpg across the product line than any other manufacture. they are testing the 4th generation fuel cell vehicle across the country. they have the "green car of the year". they have the "car of the year". the volt is ready to be put into production.

someone must have decided to build and develop these cars....