WAR, PEACE & PEOPLE

Monday, May 08, 2006

Are U.S. automobile manufacturers really and truly interested in saving energy? ‘No!’ would be a reasonable answer.

I am prompted to write about this after having seen Rick Waggoner, CEO of General Motors, on a 60 Minutes segment last night about Ethanol.

I watch 60 Minutes because it offers convincing evidence that we will shortly be able to live for ever – the male presenters are all approaching a hundred or something, and still seem to be full of vim and vigor - and because Leslie Stahl is very pleasant to look at. Also, being used to European TV, I feel starved of decent documentaries. Of course, the downside of 60 Minutes is that it is presented at an intellectual level which a moderately intelligent ten year old might reasonably feel was beneath him, or her, but maybe CBS executives have more information on the cognitive ability of the American viewing public than I have. I hope they are wrong because if they are right then this great county’s prospects are going to be grim.

Personally, I think the TV networks, led by Fox, are agents of some foreign power which is dedicated to destroying America by dumbing it down. Osama Bin Laden is really Rupert Murdoch in disguise (and on stilts). It’s a plot, folks.

Be that as it may, Waggoner was about as enthusiastic about Ethanol as he might be about legislation banning SUVs – though to be fair, he said all the right things (albeit in a tepid way). However, what did come across is that he is more interested in maintaining the status quo, in terms of car culture, than in making any radical changes in either his vehicle range or the American Way of Life (feel free to sing the National Anthem, in the language of your choice, at this point),

That is really not good because people like Waggoner are the leaders of the U.S. automobile industry and if they are not prepared to address the energy crisis with a sense of compelling urgency, we are not likely to get out of this major threat to our economic wellbeing in a healthy state.

I find all of this a little baffling because I know there are solutions out there. Further, I suspect that finding and applying them would give a much more solid boost to the economy, in terms of well paid jobs, than flipping hamburgers at minimum wage.

It is worth bearing in mind that the Energy Crisis is not a bolt out of the blue. Not only have we known for decades that oil and natural gas are finite resources, but we also had a major warning in 1973 of the political dangers to our oil supplies.

In the face of this evidence, the response of U.S. motor manufacturers has to been, through the introduction of SUVs, ever larger pickups and minivans, to increase the American public’s dependence on oil. And the U.S. government have conspired in their efforts.

For their next trick, corporations like Generals Motors and Ford and so on seem highly likely to wreak further havoc on their work forces – even if they don’t go into bankruptcy to offload their healthcare and pension commitments (costs which will then be picked up by the taxpayer).

Is this the best that this highly paid cadre of motor industry executives can do?

Rather like a horror move, it’s all kind of fascinating to watch in a horrible kind of way. Feel absolutely free to scream.

I will tell you this: Twenty five years ago I drove a Volkswagen Golf diesel which drove like a dream and got 40 mph plus to the gallon.

Modern European and Japanese diesels are better still.