Detroit Asks Obama for More Money
June 27, 2008
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Global warming and green technologies is being discussed by both Barack Obama and John McCain in almost every speech that they give these days and is clearly becoming one of the central themes of the election as each candidate tries to show how they will help voters cut their carbon footprint.
To that effect, Obama met earlier this week with a group of major players in the American auto industry, including Rick Wagoner of GM, and Alan Mulally of Ford. The purpose of the meeting for Obama to find out how the federal government could help American manufacturers be greener. The answer from the corporate big-wigs was pretty straight forward: more money!
Specifically, they requested financial assistance for research and development into new areas such as hybrids and more advanced battery technology. Earlier this month, George Bush introduced $30 million of funding to be spread over three years to help in the development of green auto technology. It is a pretty safe assumption that the companies are asking Obama for something a bit more substantial.
It is not unusual for governments to help industries adapt to changes in the marketplace brought about by the threat of global warming and peoples’ desire to reduce their carbon footprint. Germany has just announced extra funding to help bring more hybrid vehicles to their roads.
The representatives from the auto companies also said it would be beneficial to the consumer if the government could offer some sort of incentives to buy greener cars. They implied that the extra costs of developing the new technologies would be passed on to customers in the form of higher prices, so assistance from the government to pay these prices would help sales.
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