Well, not even 24 hours following my inquiry about the Chevrolet Volt -- the car that will save GM, save US industry, and save the world -- comes news of its October 2010 release, a $40,000 price tag, and an obligatory $7,500 federal tax credit for buying the thing. Let's see -- spend billions we don't have bailing the auto industry to make them "lean and competitive," then spend billions more in clunker trade-ins and EV subsidies to keep them alive. Don't fret about giving away free money for people to buy cars while throwing temper tantrums in townhalls decrying "free" healthcare...
Now, of course, I sit here having enjoyed the benefit of a federal subsidy to install my solar panels, but I bitch about having to schlep tax dollars to help rich white people buy new cars. Well...yes, I'm going to bitch.
The subsidy for PV installation makes a direct contribution, or should I say reduction, in traditional energy use. It is a renewable energy. Driving a car, any car, ain't renewable; it's merely substitution. Trade a few thousand barrels a day of Angolan oil for a train car of midwestern coal...real fucking green, eh?
The few privileged white owners who'll be buying these, those living in energy intensive houses, driving 19,000 miles a year on freeways around Palo Alto, around San Clemente...they will be the ones the taxpaying transit rider will subsidize, along with energy frugal people who find ways to either live without a car or simply don't drive so goddamn much. They will get to help guilty wealthy non-working white housewives drive new electric cars to their Bikram yoga classes 31 miles away.
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