The Chevy Volt - A Bust
A Big Whoops
What Can I Say...
I picked up on the video shown here a while back and thought I'd save it in my archive files for further use because I knew that it would be used further in light of all of our tax dollars Obama has pumped into Government Motors, formerly called General Motors. I was right as usual about the usefulness of things coming back around to bite the buttocks of "The One." Next thing I knew here comes the Prez telling the nation that when he leaves office he is going to buy himself one of those duds called a Volt. I can only hope that we show him to the nearest showroom in January of 2013.
Since Obama is pounding his chicken chest over the Volt, may I suggest that he trade little Joey Biden in on his newest failure and have a Volt as his vice presidential running mate for the coming election. Just think how many votes he could buy with that move, or was the word I was looking for "garner?" So take a look at the commerical that should air coast-to-coast quite often as we approach November of 2012.
Fascinating Commercial For A Fiasco
I'm sure most of us remember the auto industry bailout that was one of Obama's "greatest accomplishments," according to him and the United Auto Workers (UAW) anyway. We were told what a great deal we were getting, but as usual, the dealer was a bit crooked. Then Obama started hanging his star on the now infamous Volt as being the answer to our alternative energy vehicle prayers. So what has it cost us, the American taxpayer, for each one of these 1%er vehicles that have rolled off the line?
But before I go there lets discuss some breaking news. Government Motors (GM) has announced that it will suspend the production of this rolling coffin for at least five weeks. They will be laying off about 1,300 workers during this hiatus. The reason is slow sales. Obama might be one of the few people who will fork over the kind of dough they're asking for this plug in toy car. But then again, he also just recently announced that he will extend a 10K tax incentive to buyers who are sucker enough to go into the show room and drive off with one.
Lets Do Some Fuzzy Math
Did you know that the US Treasury (UST) still owns 500 million shares of Government Motors common stock? Maybe that's why we refer to it by that name. So what is the "break even" point that the UST would need to sell "our" shares of the stock? That would be $53.00 USD. It closed the week at $26.49. Another very wise, astute investment by this administration as anyone can plainly see. Of course it wasn't Obama's money he was investing as usual. It belongs to the US tax payer, one of which I am.
Below is a good link to use if you care to track just how good your investment is doing in Government Motors which has invested heavily in the Chevy Volt. The reason for the layoff that will occur is that sales haven't reached expectations and GM now has a heavy surplus of inventory. I wonder how much that is costing us at this point since inventory is just that - inventory.
They Keep This Link Updated
- http://www.bailoutcost.com/
American Taxpayer's Loss on GM Stock Investment
If you looked at the link you would see that we are on the losing end of this whole proposition once again. Last time I looked we are out $13,276,732,493 and some loose change. Notice also that Government Motors is sitting on $34 billion in cash. If the company has that much cash on hand, why hasn't the American tax payer been paid back in full for bailing out a union busted company? Then another question comes to mind. At bailout time the company was basically handed over to the UAW and investors took it in the shorts. Why haven't those people been compensated for their losses?
So back to the Volt. Lets do some math. At the time of the bailout Obama touted the Volt as the salvation of Government Motors. After all it only was $53 billion of other people's money on this crap shoot. The Energy Department threw out the figure that 120,000 Volts a year would be sold from 2012 to evermore. Has any of that happened? It appears that the only people willing to pay $15K more than a toy is worth are the intellectually elite of the nation who want to show us how much more superior and enlightened they are than the rest of us with common sense.
So here's the way the math works. Each Chevy Volt sold to these snobs in our society amount to a cost of around $250,000 per plug-in toy. A vibrator would probably be more economical and provide a greater thrill to the driver. You see after all the government grants, subsidies, tax credits are added in the math just doesn't work out. Compound the problem by Obama's having conveniently tucked another $2.4 billion in "grants" to electric vehicle manufacturers and battery makers in his stimulus bill that he calls so successful. Keep in mind that grants don't have to be repaid. Then add in the additional $2.4 billion that the Department of Energy (DOE) has doled out to help build the plants for the manufacture of EVs and you should at least see some of the light.
Hmmm... I think I've written a few things lately about the belly ups that were involved here and how it happened and why if you want to take a look.
Obama Success Stories?
Let me close with the fact that Government Motors also just recently announced that it was going to pay all its workers a $7K bonus for there great work. Really? How can that be justified when the company still owes the tax payers all that money mentioned above and is sitting on $34 billion cash money? Is something wrong with this picture? Not a peep from Obama about any of those FACTS. All he wants to say is when he isn't in the People's House anymore he will pony up with the rest of the superior, snobbish elitist and buy one so he can show us just how superior he is. Have at it pal! Lets show him where the show rooms are located in November.
As Always,
The Frog Prince
FOOTNOTE: Since publishing this Hub a new story is coming over the wire about Obama now giving "grants" to 4 wind energy companies in the amount of $2.6 billion. Aren't we broke? Guess where the money came from besides our pockets? The now known failure called the Stimupork bill. About a billion and half went to two foreign companies, one in Spain and one in Germany. Who is that stimulating? A third got a little over half a million out in California for a wind farm. 50 permanent jobs will be created. Doing the math that works out to about $9 million per job created. Now you tell me what the hell is going on here.
See Where The Show Rooms Are Now?
Comments
Froggy
Obama's Green Agenda just keeps pumping out winners; Solyndra, Government Motors, Cars for Clunkers, and on and on and on....
Speaking of pumping; we would start getting out of this mess if His Majesty would once again allow the Gulf Oil Rigs to start pumping again but then again that would fly in the face of his Green Agenda!!!
VOLT will eventually come to be known to stand for:
Vicarious
Obama's
Last
Try
FP - The Chevy Volt proves again that some things can't be fixed even with unlimited funds. The only way Government Motors is going to get rid of 120,000 of these per year is to label them an ENTITLEMENT and give them away. Or perhaps they could bundle them with a free cell phone and give one to every 10th recipient.
I agree with supporting alternative energy projects, but on the R&D end, not just giving away taxpayer money to companies and hoping the new "Gismo" actually works.
If someone can sue McDonald's for 5 million over a hot cup of coffee, I can hardly wait to see what those lawsuits are going to look like over flaming Chevrolets.
Good job, Jim.
Jim said he
Well! It's about time. This has some good news. The fact that he said anything to do with him someday leaving office is a good thing! I'm surprised he uttered the words. Since the volt, and all of his other energy saving ideas have turned out to be such jokes why don't we just use something tried and true, wind up cars. You know like we had as kids with the little screw thing you turn and they run on spring action! The point being at least they worked, were energy efficient, and are on about the same mentality level most of his pie in the sky ideas are. You did a great job here and the video is awesome!
Peddle cars would be good. Then at least we would get some exercise.
Revolting in more ways than one.
And to think Obama wants to double down on green energy investments. I guess pissing away a trillion dollars was not enough for Obama, so lets piss away another two trillion. The Dude has got to go
I like that last pun.
You know what bites the worst in MY world? I was a lifetime Chevy fan...until the govt. takeover. Guess you could say the Volt hit the fan.
Volt + fan = electrified what?
One Q nobody's bothered to A, at least that I've seen. We're advised to turn off lights in our homes and suck into the curly fry light bulb scam in order to reduce our usage of electricity, right? Right.
So...HOW MUCH JUICE does it take to recharge a Volt a couple of times a day? Eh?
Good coverage on this hub topic. I laughed through the video. Let's see how this all turns out in November.
- Author
PP - You have the short list there. There are more and more will follow. The free market needs to determine the winners and losers. In the case of the Volt, it already is.
Mike - I hope Obama doesn't read your entitlement comment. Maybe he could package one with each bundle of free contraceptives.
poetvix - You mean one of there? lmbo
https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd...
American View - That was his answer about rising gas prices. He now wants to double down? Good grief.
fitnezzjim - :)
Fred - When Eric Bolling did his test drive week it took 10 hours to charge one of those puppies up. Check the cost out.
"Cost to operate a Chevy Volt
Eric Bolling (Fox Business Channel's Follow the Money) test drove the
Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors.
For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.
Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the battery. So, the range including the 9 gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh batery is approximately 270 miles. It will take you 4 1/2 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph.
According to General Motors, the Volt battery hold 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery.
The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned but costs around $1.16 per kwh.
16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery.
$18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery.
Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine only that gets 32 mpg.
$3.19 per gallon divided by 32 mpg = $0.10 per mile.
The gasoline powered car cost about $15,000 while the Volt costs $46,000.
So Obama wants us to pay 3 times as much for a car that costs more that 7 times as much to run and takes 3 times as long to drive across country."
teaches - I "hope" we "change" Presidents and send Obama off to the show room floor so he can put "his" money where his mouth is rather than "ours."
The Frog
It's amazing how easy it is to spend other people's money. No due diligence, no analysis, no ROI projection, no nothing. Basically, Obama's using taxpayer money to buy votes from environmentalists, unions, and corporate cronies. And these same people not only vote, but they contribute. Can anyone say "money laundering?" And all of it funded by the taxpayer, who gets nothing but the bill. I love the part about Spain and Germany. Even if these grants by some magic lead to successful companies, how does the US taxpayer benefit? Will Spain and Germany board the Mayflower and build plants in the US? Will they employ any Americans? Last I heard, Spain is near collapse, and Germany is doing well enough to take care of itself. So, in memory of Clara, where's the beef? It seems we get nothing, but companies in foreign countries get money they don't even have to pay back. When was the last time WE got any "free money" from the EU (or anyone else for that matter)? As egregious as the "out-in-the-open" foreign largesse of the US government is, really, it's peanuts. We contribute, under the radar (to use a phrase coined by a Kenyan guy in DC), hundreds of billions to the IMF, and trillions to foreign countries via Federal Reserve transfers. We get NOTHING for any of this. And what about all the money we contribute to UN agencies that goes directly into the pockets of our FOREIGN MILITARY ENEMIES? I hope Obie does by a Volt - a few minutes of getting roasted might bring him to his senses (but I doubt it).
A Volt championed by a dolt! They make a perfect couple, Frog.
Sweet Frog,
Trying to keep afloat with my reading and voting...UP & stuff...
Please double check your YouTube, hon... I think there is a broken link. Hugs, mar.
Hi Frog - and ummmm why you think the auto sales are so slow??? Hmmmm...could be no one can afford one now?!
Green Energy is a code word for a barrel of taxpayer money expressly reserved for Dem donors. it's a way of saying thank you. Up, useful and awesome.
Gee, with so many people out of work, or afraid from day to day, wondering IF they will have a JOB come tomorrow...I doubt if they are thinking...OMG I have to buy a "Volt". Buying food for my family can wait...The Volt, The Volt, I have to have one Obama, I think they're GREAT...Yes, Froggy We ALL can see NOVEMBER 2012, from our Homes. Thanks for telling it like it is my friend.
Chrysler got bailed out and didn't even have to build a boatanchor electric car. What a rip.
- Author
THE VIDEO IS WORKING NOW FOR THOSE WHO MISSED IT!
The Frog
interesting work, Frogprince.... And I'm surprised, in a community of writer's, you haven't faced more objections to your analysis? Perhaps moderates, like myself, are becoming more and more prevalent... especially when grants for writing and the arts are being cut so environmental special interests can line their pockets...
- Author
PDX - It's difficult to argue with facts. Many sometimes try though. Obama has crony capitalism down pat even though he doesn't like free market capitalism.
Hang in there Brother.
The Frog
I saw my first Volt yesterday. Looked a lot bigger than I imagined. Local dealers advertise it at full price and they list mpg number rather than mpge, which is very odd.
Very sleek and stylish design. We have to wait for the outcomes...anyways nice lens.
Here is yet another situation where "intent" conflicts with "outcome". The fact that the vehicle turned out to be somewhat less than stellar as an electric vehicle plus the potential for down stream big bills on battery replacements tied to the price coming out the door says the expectation is high. But, Obama and GM, want you to let go of that emotion and buy one anyway because what they "intended" to do was sell an affordable green machine. The primary interest for the vast majority of those who even look is the price of gasoline...take that away and you have a real bust. Apparently the term "affordable" has a different meaning in Washington and Detroit. ~WB
- Author
Wayne - I just mentioned, as part of another article, that GM is losing $10K per vehicle going out the door. The sticker is around $39K and it costs about $49K to produce each vehicle. Yes, that is Obama's example, one of them anyway, of how to save an industry. What a laugh but it isn't funny.
The Frog
In case you are wondering what exactly I mean when I say bum, take your choice of these definitions in the dictionary.
1. A lazy or shiftless person, especially one who seeks to live solely by the support of others: Tax and spend career politicians also known as limousine liberals.
2. An incompetent, insignificant, or obnoxious person: Joe Biden or how about the Messiah?
3. One who is devoted to a particular activity or milieu: taxing, spending, borrowing, lying, class warfare, creating a welfare state.
4. All of the above.
China spends about $100 Billion a year on their Military. USA around $700 Billion. China's population is 3 Billion give or take a few. USA Population about 320 million. And while the USA is spending away it's future on war China is negotiating to purchase all the worlds mineral reserves. China controls nearly all the World's lithium supply and rare earth metals. Why does this matter?
Because "Green" Technology relies on these raw materials. And there are not of them to create the number of vehicles it would take to actually go Green.
If the United States ever wants to restore prosperity and build true renewable energy sources they have got to shift away from the World Police model where they have to meddle in everyone's business and can't take care of their own at home.
The volt and every project like it are doomed to fail because they do not subsidize what matters instead handing over Billions to pie in the sky projects that simply can not succeed because they are not economically viable (Can not be sold in an existing marketplace in a competitive manner).
In order to succeed in Electric Vehicles the subsidy needs to be going to the Battery Technology. The cottage industries will be created around the batteries (Including how to dispose of them) and will eventually work their way up to the Automobile marketplace when the time is right.
Obama's brilliant plan is to mandate everything (Physics be damned). His latest boondoggle is legislation that will force automobile manufacturers to make vehicles that get 45mpg or higher by 2025. Good luck with that. I can't wait to be driving around in a 2 hp go kart which will probably be made in India or China.
Excellent article so I'm voting it up.
There are a lot of very ignorant people that think that GM has repaid their loans while all they did was make a single payment then use new loans to cover that. There is also a separate program administered by the Department of Energy to feed the "Big 3" Ford, GM, and Chrysler another $25 Billion so they can pretend like they can actually manufacture vehicles that get 45mpg.
GMAC the finance arm of GM (Now known as Ally Bank) does not meet capitalization requirements and was bailed out to the tune of $19 Billion and still owes $14 Billion.
52% of all Government Motors employees now work outside of the United States. And we are not talking just manufacturing, we are talking design and engineering jobs. Buick was bragging about how their cars were designed in Korea and Germany in a television commercial... dumbfounding.
GM stuffed their lots with Trucks in 2012 in order to pump up their books... (If it's on a lot it counts as sold from the manufacturer) and that move will come crashing down on them in 2013 when hyper inflation kicks in as a result of the Fed's latest Currency dump.
USA is doomed because of Ignorant people that keep supporting these stupid politicians that are bought and owned by Corporate America/Wall Street/The Fed.
Good riddance to Obama and GM.
Honda and Toyota are both more American than GM.
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