All In The Name Of "Green"

I been reading along on this issue and not watching the Lame Stream Media thoroughly cover the issues surrounding some of this. They never cover any of the "under the radar" stuff so I try to stroke my pen in their noted absence. As I read about what is being proposed, and who is being excluded, I had flash backs about the federal government becoming "Government Motors" and that whole fiasco. Now understand fellow tax payers, we still own a large stake in General Motors. They have paid us back some of the bailout money but are still dangling on the hook. Uncle Suygar can be so generous when you're a failure in life and the market place.

Then after the bailout along came "Cash For Clunkers." Ah yes, a walk down memory lane. That was a bit of a fiasco. What I am noticing is that these government fiasco's always seem to be on the tax payer's dime. You picked up on that too? The intentions of the program may have been honorable. It was designed to remove less-than-fuel efficient vehicles from the road by using the rebate bait. The bait was anywhere between $3,500 to $4,500 discount which was funded by - YES - the US government. Since the government has no money of its own, where does the cash come from? You have three guesses and the first two don't count. BTW, foreign car makers loved the Cash For Clunkers program.

I'm not here to rehash whether it was a success or a failure. Overall, it cost "us" some money though which we didn't have at the time, nor did the federal government have either. It also had some rather harsh unintended consequences such as selling cars to people who couldn't really afford to buy a new car but did it anyway because the of the juicy bait they eyed to do so. Reminds me of one of the causes of the foreclosure crisis - selling something to someone who had no business buying it in the first place. What we don't need is a repeat of anything of that nature, but we will probably experience more of this insanity.

Obama wants one of his stamps on history to be his "green" thumb print. How he goes about that will determine whether it is a smudged print or not. What I am about here isn't being anti-environmentalist. I'm not a tree hugger per se but a concerned tax payer once again who always watches what they do in Foggy Bottom with skepticism. It seems a bit odd to me that we have to view what is going on their with distrust but distrust it is. There is now, which Smirksalot recently announced, a new green initiative on his watch that is going to probably cost us some of our hard earned cash again, even if we don't buy a Chevrolet Volt.

"Wait just a minute FP," you say. Yes, ladies and gents, Chevrolet is a brand under the Government Motors label. Just a coincidence so lets keep going (snickers to self). Who is going to end up being on the end of the hook is the $64K question. Last time it was the American tax payer so...

Presently the bait on the hook is a $7,500 tax credit for purchasing a "green" vehicle. Boy, I don't know about you but that makes me want to rush out and buy one. But lets wave a bigger worm for your consumption. The new idea proposes not a tax credit but a $7,500 rebate at the point of sale. WOWSER! Someone lead me to the showroom floor! This proposal can be found in two places. The first is buried in Obama's $3.6 trillion budget proposal for 2012 and the second appears in Representative Debbie (The Coo Coo's) Stabenow's, a Michigan Democrat, proposed bill in the House. Michigan? Isn't that where Government Motors has built its nest? Again, just a coincidence so lets keep moving on.

Upon further examination, here's what happens. You walk into a Chevy dealership, just a chompin' at the bit, and eye the sticker price on that brand new Chevy Volt. Then you step back a bit and ask, "You want how much for that hunk of tin? That says $41K big ones!" But the smooth Government Motors salesman says, "Naw, we're just funnin' ya, have we got a deal for you." He whips out a coupon for $7,500 and places it in your meaty little paw and says, "Viola! I just marked it down to $33,500 just for you because you are you." But the end game never changed in that interplay. Who assumed the risk on the deal that was struck? In all appearances it puts the car dealers on the hook for allowing the federal government the opportunity of extending its (read - our) largess to you. Many a dealer found out the pitfalls of that during Cash for Clunkers I.

The real beneficiary of this whole plot is Government Motors, and I suppose Obama for being such a good guy once again with our tax dollars. If it didn't work out too well the first time, then lets take a different stab at it this time seems my logical conclusion when I look at it without my blinders on. That seems to be the approach of nitwits on The Hill lately. If at first you don't succeed then try, try try again. It's always easy to spend someone else's money, isn't it?

Did you also hear that the "federal fleet" is going "green?" Thass right folks! Here's what The Smirky one announced just this week up in Landover, Michigan. What the heck is he doing up there? Campaigning I imagine, that's what he does best you know. These are his words, not mine:

"I'm directing (he likes that word!) our departments and our agencies to make sure 100% of the vehicles they buy are fuel-efficient or clean energy cars and trucks by 2015. NOT 50%, NOT 75% - 100 percent of our vehicles." The brand? Take a guess. Government Motors Chevrolet Volt and its successors. Just another coincidence so lets keep on truckin' along here.

There are always caveats to his directives. 100% isn't always 100% and it is once again the case here. What are the exclusion(s)? It always amazes me how these follow up announcements follow on. Along comes the federal Secret Service to announce that there will be exclusions from the Prez's directive - the Presidential Limo being one of them. Now we can't have the President of the United States riding around in less than a gas guzzling, luxury model now, can we? What is good for the geese isn't always good for the gander. I hope you've learned that about this crowd too.

Here's Obama's explanation for that and I quote:

"Now, the reason is not because Secret Service are bad guys. It's because the cars that I'm in are like tanks. I mean, they, as you could imagine, they're a little bit of extra stuff on it. They're a little bit reinforced. So they weigh at least two or three times what an ordinary car weighs. so they couldn't get the performance, in terms of acceleration, using a hybrid engine."

Well DUH Mr. President, neither does the M1A1 Abrahms tank. Maybe you should switch over to something with a bit of firepower to it. Talk about armament and speed! That baby is the ticket!

Using that rationale I have a double DUH to add. That's the very reason I won't venture out into the "green" vehicle market any time soon. Doing what I do for a living, I need a "hauler" capable of getting me from Point A to Point B quickly. Maybe some day Obama will fix that for us too.

I sense another boondoggle of a bailout behind all of this.

Have an awesome day. Until next time...

The Frog