The Government Can’t Sell Cars
Rory Cooper /
As President Obama and Congress are starting to learn, it isn’t easy running American businesses from Washington. This week AIG threw bonuses in the faces of their new CEO’s on Capitol Hill, after Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) specifically legislated that they could do just that. Senator Dodd is apparently wishing he hadn’t made that decision now.
Now we learn that the auto companies that American taxpayers are bailing out an alarming rate are being forced into more bad decisions by lawmakers. Their new “bosses” on Capitol Hill are forcing them to “green” the cars they build at a rate faster than consumers demand, or that prices will allow. While the intentions of clean automobiles are admirable, it is a hard sell to a struggling economy to demand that the companies that we are bailing out because they can’t sell enough cars should be forced into making cars people don’t want to buy. Logical right?
When gas prices were at $4 a gallon, Toyota couldn’t keep an expensive Prius on the lot for two days. But now that gas prices are at a more reasonable level and the economy is limping, consumers are choosing value over gas mileage. Now, most lots are carrying an 80 day supply of the expensive Priuses. The marketplace tends to work in this fashion, which is why it is never a good idea for politicians to get this deep into the everyday workings of American business.