All Tomorrow’s Corn Cars
Joe Romm observes that GM’s plan for recovery (PDF) involves terrible energy and environmental policy:
General Motors is also the world leader in flex fuel technologies, with over 3 million flex fuel-equipped vehicles on U.S. roads today. Flex fuels represent the fastest way for the United States to reduce its dependence on imported oil.
As Romm says: “Uhh, no. Corn ethanol remains the worst energy policy idea of the past two decades with very limited potential to replace significantly more imported oil. Meanwhile, scalable, affordable cellulosic ethanol is not right around the corner.”
There’s something to the logic that if AIG is going to benefit from a horribly misimplemented bailout, and Citigroup is going to get a sweetheart deal, and corn farmers everywhere are going to benefit from ludicrous subsidies, that there’s no reason to arbitrarily exclude General Motors from the “giveaways to politically connected companies” bonanza. Especially considering that as we slide into recession, the liquidation of GM would be a big anti-stimulus. But still, I don’t think Jon Cohn people should labor under the illusion that these firms have “seen the light” in any serious way. And all that is before you consider that I’m not hearing any of these executives promising to back off their constant, furious lobbying for planet-and-economy destroying environment and infrastructure policies.
36 Responses to “All Tomorrow’s Corn Cars”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
December 4th, 2008 at 11:42 am
It’s really important to realized that “the liquidation of GM” is not going to happen. Bankruptcy does not mean liquidation any more than foreclosing on a house means bulldozing the house. Certainly in the highly unlikely event that GM faced liquidation the government could step in at that point with DIP financing. There’s simply no reason to give them money before that point. Doing so only bails out shareholders and creditors.
It is also important to note that under any scenario, GM is going to have to cut production, cut jobs, cut wages, and close dealers. The only alternative is to nationalize the company and keep it as a perpetually money-losing make-work enterprise. Since all of the hand-wringing about the negative economic effects of GM going under is really about the effect of cutting production, jobs, etc., and this is all going to happen anyway, there’s simply no reason for a bail-out.
December 4th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Corn ethanol is a boondoggle. But if you don’t use it as an excuse to make flex fuel cars widely available, cellulosic ethanol will never get here. FF vehicles build demand.
(Another route is Europe’s clean diesel engines, since you can burn all kinds of stuff in a diesel engine. And, of course, nearly half the driving we do could be done in a golf cart, no super new tech needed to go a couple miles…)
December 4th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Flex fuel cars do not have to burn a flex fuel to get the cafe standards loop hole benefit. It is not what the car can burn it is what they do burn. Plus when you add in all the factors that make corn ethanol, less mpg,fertilizer,gas for tractors, shipping and processing, it does not save any co2 emissions. It is a bad idea.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
MY has a plan for everything. That is what makes reading him so funny. He cannot seem to appreciate that the world is a product of many thousands of generations’ worth of evolutionary adjustments, compromises, and innovations that he could not possibly hope to know about…nor can he imagine that there is any situation—no matter how remote or complex—that his own little mind cannot improve.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
DCReader has said what needs to be said. There are two paths to the same result, and one of them costs $34 billion while the other costs nothing. Is this even a serious debate?
December 4th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
with very limited potential to replace significantly more imported oil.
That statement isn’t supported by the links he provides. Rather those say that Corn ethanol isn’t a viable method to fight climate change, and have considerable negative externalities like rising food prices and reducing water resources.
If the question is can ethanol significantly reduce domestic oil consumption, then I think the answer is yes. In fact it probably will do that. It might not move the ball on carbon emissions, but that’s a different question.
December 4th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I say, let the big three go bankrupt. Their problem is not this economic crisis, they’ve been financially insolvent for most of the last decade, and it’s due to POOR MANAGEMENT, not a lousy economy.
Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, and Nissan have all opened factories IN THE UNITED STATES, and eventually plan on building more. Think about that: if every other car company on the planet can make money building cars in the USA, why can GM and Ford? What are they doing so wrong that they can’t even break even? It’s a long answer, one I don’t have the space to get into.
But here’s the bottom line: if you have a company with a proven, long-term track record of poor executive direction, asset mismanagement, and shrinking market share, giving them more money isn’t going to magically turn them around. They’re just going to get worse faster. Don’t throw good money after bad.
January 26th, 2009 at 3:19 am
Nice site you have!
March 1st, 2009 at 12:30 am
You are a very smart person!
March 1st, 2009 at 4:56 am
viagra
Incredible site!
March 1st, 2009 at 5:35 pm
cialis
I bookmarked this site. Thank you for good job!
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:39 am
Of course, what a great site and informative posts, I will add backlink – bookmark this site? Regards, Reader.
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:17 am
As a Newbie, I am always searching online for articles that can help me. Thank you
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Hello. Great job. I did not expect this on a Wednesday. This is a great story. Thanks!
March 4th, 2009 at 1:24 am
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also.
March 6th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so! really nice post.
March 6th, 2009 at 3:15 am
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also.
March 7th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Dies ist ein gro
March 9th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Normally I don’t leave a comment but your post was excellent, well written and informative.
March 12th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
March 14th, 2009 at 4:56 am
It is the coolest site,keep so!
xanax
March 16th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
sry i just know how to write my name in arabic
) my bad english donot help to type here but really thanks.
March 17th, 2009 at 2:17 am
I bookmarked this site. Thank you for good job!
tramadol
March 17th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I have blog about blackhat newbie. Is there anyone here that are into blackhat?
March 21st, 2009 at 2:57 am
Great job you just need to add more content and then I will keep coming back.
March 22nd, 2009 at 5:51 am
tramadol
If you have to do it, you might as well do it right
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:18 am
viagra
Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
March 24th, 2009 at 5:26 am
I am always searching online for articles that can help me. Thx
April 1st, 2009 at 1:39 am
What can be made of this debacle called General Motors? Will they survive or wont they? Will saving GM save Jobs?
April 1st, 2009 at 1:41 am
What can be made of this debacle called General Motors? Will they survive or wont they? Will saving GM save Jobs?
April 2nd, 2009 at 4:50 am
Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.
buy cheap viagra
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:58 am
I want to say – thank you for this!
cheap brand pfizer viagra
April 9th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
This topic is quite hot in the net right now. What do you pay attention to when choosing what to write ?
April 10th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
FANTASTIC!
April 14th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Thanks very much for any help.
April 14th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Hello, i’ve been browsing around your site and it looks really really neat. I’m building an automotive home page and struggling to make it look good, everytime I touch something I mess it up. How hard was it to build your site? Could someone like me with no experience do it, and add update pages without wrecking it every time?