In Oil We Trusted

by: riar

Fri Nov 21, 2008 at 08:56:08 AM EST

It is a trickle down of trust. Even though the source of this trust lies in an administration that is Wall St. friendly, (obviously), and anti-union, (prefers dictatorial management), while the rest of the industrialized free nations are highly unionized and benefit from national health care. Hmm? Meanwhile, the Big 3 blindly and stupidly followed the lead of this anti-environmental administration, and totally ignored the competition, which is odd for corporations of this size. The assurances must have been great enough to go against business sense and ignore major competition that continued on an environmental path.

 And what about the environment? The Bush administration appointed Michael Leavitt as EPA administrator in 2000. As new reports about global warming began to surface, they were either squelched or altered by the EPA. ENS reported: "The White House reversed course and rejected actions to control global warming pollution." It is one of the worst deceptions the Bush/Cheney regime perpetrated on the American public, to cause doubt about global warming for the sake of the billionaire oil industry relishing the use of gas eating American cars by a trusting America and auto industry.

 As for Michael Leavitt, he left the EPA to head up Health and Human Services. Health and Human Services under his rule turned around and issued an e-mail to some 67,000 govt. employees urging them to buy hybrid cars, when U.S. automakers had none to offer. Of course the e-mail was a mistake, so sorry, so sorry. What? As in a trial, the jury heard the stricken comment and had to question the sudden change in attitude.

Within a span of a few years Michael Leavitt at the Bush/Cheney bidding was both anti-environmental, then suddenly green conscious. Bush/Cheney purchased more and more foreign oil. The beginning of 2007, far before the economy took a real dive, the Big 3 raced to Washington when oil prices rose to record highs. The Big 3 was in trouble then. They were snubbed by the same administration that assured them early on. The oil was flowing but at outrageous prices, and now Bush/Cheney washed their hands of the auto industry. Not their problem. The Big 3 knew they had been duped, and the environment was used as a means to an end.

The Big 3 scrambled back to Detroit to produce environmentally friendly cars. Ford is unveiling a hybrid Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan that goes up to 47 mph on electric power before switching to gas. The Prius tops out at 30-35 mph. Quite an achievement for Ford in a short time. GM is in the middle of producing a viable plug-in car. And Chrysler helped produce hydrogen-powered buses for Iceland in 2003. They have the know how to use alternative energy.

But there are new problems out of the auto industry's control. The beloved Wall St. darlings of the Bush/Cheney era fumbled badly setting off a domino effect. Instead of just breaking unions, now the entire American auto industry is on the precipice of extinction. The final sword is bailing out Wall St. with $700 billion, and corps. like AIG twice, but stalling on the car companies for $25 billion citing that it will just be a cup of water on the fire.

If GM sold all 8 of its jets @ $35 million each the estimated cost of one of them, the total $280 million would by the same rationale be a thimble on the fire. If 20 execs conceded $5 million each in any perks or salary increases the resulting $100 million would be half a thimble on that same fire. But there is no real fire. The auto industries have advanced greatly toward producing hybrid cars of the future in a very short time after realizing it was sheer stupidity trusting an administration that lead us into a war with Iraq, where they've sent billions of taxpayer dollars in cash on pallets to contractors for basically nothing. Eight of twelve billion dollars on just one pallet is still not accounted for. We've been mislead by the Bush/Cheney administration many times over so that a very limited amount of people/corps. at their choosing have profited and Big Oil is at the top. T

he auto companies deserve a bailout from an oil industry that can easily afford it. In oil they trusted. They were bedfellows before. It's time for some alimony. Big Oil should return the favor to the Big 3 and float them the money to stay on the final stretch toward cars that won't need fossil fuels in the future. If Obama can appoint his adversaries, then the oil industry can boost the car companies to a greener future without them.

 I've written four hundred and fourteen environmental blogs for my local news over the past 2 years.  I've learned that all things lead back to politics through policy, legislation, and regulation. The past 8 years saw the demise of many things we've only just begun to notice. To blame unions and U.S. autoworkers for any of the problems the auto industry is currently experiencing continues to play into the hands of the Bush/Cheney regime that would like to render our entire country an "at will" entity where no U.S. citizen will have the job security most of our major competitors in the free world enjoy. Understand that unions are the last powerful voice any average citizen has against the likes of a Wall St. that will most certainly make sure nothing, absolutely nothing trickles down. In light of what has happened, we'd be fools to think otherwise.