Hey 1,
Much to their credit, our old truck is a Ford. The hubby did buy a 78 Chev. stepside that kept us outta the ditches that horrible winter, but all in all it had problems like any other. But we still have that 85 Ford. But thanks to economics and quality along with some faithlessness, he has Japanese engeneering in the driveway also.
But not getting the word regarding that merger ?, I'd like to know more. We considered a Dodge last year and as you say, that wouldn't be good for Chrystler. Just like the GE RCA merger wasn't good for RCA. GE crapola, for us anyway.
But a ditty regarding the "green era" GM is betting on. This we know: The trolly system of California held commuters heads up all through the turn of the century and well beyond the "Industrial revolution." Americans as a whole went from place to place via rail and trolly. Then came GM and Good Year. GM waged a secret war on Consumer America by buy the entire innercity rail system in collusion with California legislators(party specifics, both sides) and Good Year they shut it all down. Thirty plus years the recognition that a need for subdivisionary public transportation would be beneficial to all. So says GM. Especially those interested in making HUGE profits from that crafty design. Enter now Good Year's stake teamed up with GM and a multitude of sneaky representatives climbing aboard. And you kiss goodbye, a wonderful, efficient and less expensive, clean source of transportation for millions of commuter miles annually, even back then. This may be well known to you and others but to most, it is not. The Green system vanished, then GM and Good Year infiltrated the California dream and poisonned it with Thousands of Gasseous fume belching busses rolling on an endless stream of Good Year Tires. GM/Good Year won, environment/ consumers lost. That trend traveled all the way through the 90's and then came 2001. More on that point later.
1996. So now comes a plan to save the lungs of the choking people of California. The plan was simple and needed more than ever. The air quality of California was then as now, the wrost in the entire United States. So C.A.R.B. decided to pass a mandate that directed those auto manufacturers that wish to sell cars in the state of California, will have to offer no less than 10% of their on the lot products/units to be Z.E.V. (zero emmissions vehicles) Easy. So you'd think. But the car makers went ballistic. They sued to stop the mandate. Didn't work. Californians much like today wanted a change for the better, what ever the cost across the board. So C.A.R.B.(Californis Air Recources Board) headed by Allen Loyd, used EPA standards and consumer desire to get the bill passed. "Make it so Number One" as our son says frequently. Viola, every car co. built their version of a car that ran on electricity. Out of the bleak perception that it might work for a multitude of entities, there came from GM the EV1. There were 1700 built and although they had limitations by todays standards, they were a great success. GM did it! They produced a car that utilized a Nickle Metal Hydirde battery that afforded the consumer no less than the average daily driving miles, 90 or more so that 90% of all consumers needed to get from A to B. Not so great one might say? But really, stop and think about it. You drive every day. You drive to work, the store, the pharmacy to the park. Very few of US drivers travel further than 90 miles every day. But one little thing. This car would go 140 to 160 miles and would charge at home. at work or even with the help of the sun. A facts that GM never told consumers in it's useless ads.
So then, considering that GM hated the mandate, they didn't promote the car as they would have aven a "go cart", they used the most absurd tactics for a much needed vehicle in any advertisement ever heard of. They left the consumer confused and in many cases even frightened to buy such a car. They leased the cars, no option to buy, they then went and put in faulty Delco lead acid batteries that severly limited the car's range to 40 miles that failed continually even though they had the batteries to make the car a great start if nothing else. Then they put Nicad batteries in the cars, that due to improper charging practices gave the car only 60-90 mile ranges. Then finally they installed the NMH batteries that they had all along, and the car was a terrific success. At least to those lucky enough to get one of the 1700 they leased. Finally came the friendly George W Bush administartion that also hated that... some bleeding heart Liberal team would have the audacity to force auto manufacturers into such a costly imperfect venture. Clean air, less oil consumed and a revolutionary techknowlegy(that would have catapulted GM to the premeire, and most powerful industrail entity on earth) be damned. So, the Federal government under GW stepped in, deregulated and weakened EPA authority to help CARB kill a mandate and such "foolish regulations." Then GW set up a research fund of 1.3 BILLION dollars to resaerch hydrogen fueled vehicles. The vote came back with Allan Loyd the head of CARB mind you, and the deciding vote that killed the California ZEV mandate in 2001. Then to everyone's chagrin, Loyd resigned his position in CARB and accepted the head of GW's Hydrogen research project. Politics and Big Oil won again. But the worst is yet to come.
GM then took the techknowlegy they said was a flop and sold it! YES BOYS AND GIRLS, they sold it after buying it from the inventor/engeneer by the name of Wochensky(might be spelled wrong) after convincing him they would keep it. They sold it to TEXACO OIL now CHEVRON, for an undisclosed sum. Then they yanked back every one of those wonderful EV1 cars and crushed them all save one. But, not before assuring every one of us and those who faught for or actually knew about the cars, that they would be used in research, colleges, museums and not one part would be wasted for future use of the electric car industry. But they LIED. GM crushed and shreded all but one car that remains in a private collection, stripped of all it's vital(secret) electronic controlling components. Useless.
Lets not forget too, that the bait and switch tactics used by GW and the 2/3rds repub congress, Allan Loyd and Gov "I'll Be Back" used to promote the killing of the mandate, is all too typical and that hydrogen is but a pipe dream. Hydrogen will never replace, much less reduce to any dergree our rampant use of crude. Hydrogen must acheive six miricles to even begin to help reduce our use of crude. One, it has no natural earthly source so must be manufactured at the cost of 5 times that of equal energy from crude. TWO, Hydrogen requires a tremendously strong storage containment system and could explode easily in a crash.(remeber the Hindenburg) THREE, Hydrogen condenses and is nearly useless in cold weather. Four, There isn't enough starage capacity on a vehicle to get anywhere of distance, Five, the refueling infrastructure we must have would cost zillions and Six, The per unit cost to owners of hydrogen cars is currently a million dollars on average.
So now we understand? GM colluded with Big Oil, The white house, Allan Loyd and our representaion (including McCain) to keep oil in our cars, trucks, ships, planes, tanks, and so on. Gm opted to make an immediate untold fortune from Texaco, to help keep the starngle hold of oil on this nation. GM had it in the palms of thier slimy CEO hands. A real viable source of alternative cheap clean energy use that would have sent GM to the pinnacle of automobile manufacturing and fame. Garunteeing that they would live beyond the next century. Allowing the millions upon millions barrels of oil used for cars and light trucks that would have freed up that much more for the big rigs, the tankers. the jets and untold numbers of construction and heavy duty vehicles that will most likely always use oil aned cutting the costs to use them dramatically. Not to mention the cleaner air and reversal of global climate change. So isn't it clear by now just where we stand in the grand scheme of things where Corporate America and government has stood? So up until and when you go vote the 4th. Try to get more of the facts and let go all the mud slinging. Cut taxes, sure, but cut mine and like Mr. Corporate dude, I'll be happy too. Vote for the candidate that wants to turn back the clock of corporate exodus. Take away thier huge tax breaks and force a return of those millions of manufacturing jobs to US soil. That would fix many of our financial woes along with stiff regulation so these corporate thieves cannot rob us again. If we think otherwise then we do not care about the next coming depression.
