On her tour of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this past Thursday, Governor Jennifer Granholm told Ford and UAW executives that government needs to partner with the auto industry to create new fuel infrastructures to wean America from oil.
“That’s a role that government can play,” she said. “Other countries are partnering with their manufacturing sectors to reduce the costs and make them viable. You don’t want government dictating solutions, but you need government to be a partner in developing them.”
Of course, that’s perfectly disingenuous. Such talk is all about “dictating solutions.” Granholm and other Big Government proponents — including Big Auto — look longingly at Brazil’s nationalization of the fuel industry to dictate home-grown, ethanol fuel.
Listen to Wes Bolsen, an executive with Coskata, an ethanol firm funded by green venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and General Motors. When asked if ethanol is a viable alternative, Bolsen confidently predicts his company can develop ethanol that is as affordable as gas. Then, without missing a beat, he says government must provide massive subsidies and infrastructure mandates to assure his company’s success!
The federal government, he explains, should guarantee “that half of all gas stations have an ethanol pump.”
But isn’t this a violation of private property rights? “Oil companies are going to try and stop progress until somebody forces them to do it,” he explains.
Sounds like a dictated solution to me.
Big Oil, make way for Big Corn.