I saw this in a blog referring to this old news from May 2001, that the Bush administration was canceling the program to develop an 80 mpg ‘supercar’.
How far would they have been by now? Seven years have gone by.
And what makes me write about it now is that Bill Richardson, who was the Department of Energy Secretary from 1998 through 2001 was asked this question by the “This Week” moderator: “Do you regret not allowing off shore drilling 10 years ago so that we could see the benefits of it now?”
Let’s ask the Bush administration this question: “Do you regret abandoning an effort to create an 80 mpg car?”
And yes there have been arguments that this was “corporate welfare,” but wouldn’t money spent on research been better than spent on now supporting the smaller 3 auto companies in the US now? Or better than having each of us spend money for $4 gas?
There are trade-offs with every government program. But the bottom line for me is: How can the government help “promote the general welfare”? Research on energy efficient transportation is definitely something that I want to be in the public domain. I want all of us to benefit.
