Uh-Oh! Another Electric Auto Company . . .

Quote

---

Originally posted by: arshaleign

Quote

---

Originally posted by: snidely333

Quote

---

Originally posted by: arshaleign
I don't own a Volt because I consider the purchase of expensive cars, whatever their energy mode, to be a needless expense. But that's for me; I wouldn't be so sanctimonious to criticize the choices others make.

Almost thirty-five years ago, I made a needless, expensive purchase, and spent $1,295 on a "microcomputer." My original Apple II came with 16k of ram, no monitor, and no floppy or hard drive. I'm glad that I, and people like me, financially supported that technology in its infancy, and helped make it what it is today.

Of course Apple wouldn't be anywhere near what they are today, without the substantial US government investment in DARPA, which resulted in the Internet. Not to mention government development of GPS, which is a key selling point of iPhones. So to recap, it took early adopters paying seemingly outrageous prices, plus substantial government investment, to get us where we are now.

The same will be true for alternative energy vehicles.

Note: I do hope that snidely considers this as "something intelligent." I don't want to disappoint.

---

I'm still disappointed.

Did the government give you incentive to buy that Apple II? Do you think that Apple would be a better company today than they are currently if the government did provide incentives to you for your purchase of the Apple II?

---

The government incentivizes lots of things. The mortgage interest deduction incenvtivizes home ownership. Lower taxes on capital gains incentivizes investment. The millions of government owned acres that make up our roads and our parking spaces incentivize car ownership AND the expansion to suburbs and exurbs.. Without those government investments, we'd have a hell of a lot less homeowners, investors, and automobiles, right?

So whether we're talking about electric vehicles, LED lights, or mortgage tax breaks, the real question is: which of those incentives are really good for our country and which ones aren't. And I'm sure you'll find honorable people on both sides of each of those issues.

But the people who say that the government should never incentivize anything - but then don't oppose all of the incentives like those listed above. I'd say not so honorable.

---