GM’s “green” line-up will continue as long as Obama is in office, and for good reason. How much “free” bailout money did the company get from the administration? Last I heard, GM had repaid only $7 billion of the bailout, which totaled more than $30 billion. And they claim they’ve repaid their obligations to the government in full (with no disagreement from the White House). Building a bunch of plug-in cars that don’t sell is a small price to pay for $20 billion that you’ll never have to repay. And when things get slow again (during the next Obama economic crash), they know where to go for the next handout.
It’s the new American business model, as exemplified by GM and Amazon.com. Lose money hand over fist (or minimize your profits), in exchange for good publicity about your devotion to the consumer or “green” causes. That, in turn, generates a short-term stock boost, so if you time it correctly, you can make a profit. As I recall Amazon shares went up almost 20% after their last earnings report, which showed a net loss for the quarter. But they were praised for selling items to consumers at prices that cannot be sustained. So, Mr. Bezos and other big shareholders made a nice return, while he publicly proclaimed he “doesn’t care about profit margins.”
Next time Obama has to pick a new chairman for GM, I think he’s found his man.
We really do have to get the government out of GM and let General Motors stand or fall on their own. Of course the UAW and their supporter in the WH are not about to let that happen as long as the turkey in the WH is there.