red states rule
09-23-2012, 05:04 AM
It is clear Obama and the Dems see the US taxpayer as a renewable money source
Doubling down on industrial policy failure, the administration decides to bump up the taxpayer subsidy for Government Motors' touted electric car. Who said its range wasn't enough to drive us to the poor house?
Tucked away in the recesses of President Obama's 2013 budget, a budget that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he will not bring to the Senate floor, is a nugget that speaks volumes about the troubles we're in:
While delaying the Keystone XL pipeline, the administration plans to increase the subsidy for the Chevy Volt and other "new technology" vehicles to $10,000 per car.
"We give consumers the incentive to buy these cars," White House economic chief Gene Sperling said at a budget briefing where he announced the 33% increase from the current $7,500 subsidy. The budget document, titled "Investing in Our Future," includes a goal of putting "1 million advanced technology vehicles on the road (by) 2015."
So, doing the math, we're talking about a $10 billion dollar "incentive" to get people to buy the Chevy Volt and similar vehicles. Can people be bribed to buy Government Motors' electric car? Even with the $7,500 rebate for each buyer, Chevy sold only 7,671 Volts in 2011.
We wonder if people making $170,000, the average income of the relatively few buyers of the $40,000 Volt to date, really need the incentive. It is not your typical family or factory worker's car. So doesn't that make this the functional equivalent of tax credits for the rich?
As the Daily Caller notes, only Mercedes-Benz drivers, at an average $174,000 a year, earn more than Volt drivers. Their high income puts Volt buyers in the top 7% of households, according to census data, and slightly above the rankings held by households with BMWs, Lexuses or Cadillacs.
It does not seem likely the Occupy Wall Street crowd will be lining up at their local GM dealer any time soon.
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/021412-601207-obama-administration-raises-chevy-volt-subsidy-.htm?p=full
Doubling down on industrial policy failure, the administration decides to bump up the taxpayer subsidy for Government Motors' touted electric car. Who said its range wasn't enough to drive us to the poor house?
Tucked away in the recesses of President Obama's 2013 budget, a budget that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he will not bring to the Senate floor, is a nugget that speaks volumes about the troubles we're in:
While delaying the Keystone XL pipeline, the administration plans to increase the subsidy for the Chevy Volt and other "new technology" vehicles to $10,000 per car.
"We give consumers the incentive to buy these cars," White House economic chief Gene Sperling said at a budget briefing where he announced the 33% increase from the current $7,500 subsidy. The budget document, titled "Investing in Our Future," includes a goal of putting "1 million advanced technology vehicles on the road (by) 2015."
So, doing the math, we're talking about a $10 billion dollar "incentive" to get people to buy the Chevy Volt and similar vehicles. Can people be bribed to buy Government Motors' electric car? Even with the $7,500 rebate for each buyer, Chevy sold only 7,671 Volts in 2011.
We wonder if people making $170,000, the average income of the relatively few buyers of the $40,000 Volt to date, really need the incentive. It is not your typical family or factory worker's car. So doesn't that make this the functional equivalent of tax credits for the rich?
As the Daily Caller notes, only Mercedes-Benz drivers, at an average $174,000 a year, earn more than Volt drivers. Their high income puts Volt buyers in the top 7% of households, according to census data, and slightly above the rankings held by households with BMWs, Lexuses or Cadillacs.
It does not seem likely the Occupy Wall Street crowd will be lining up at their local GM dealer any time soon.
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/021412-601207-obama-administration-raises-chevy-volt-subsidy-.htm?p=full