IMO, big government doesn’t do anything well.
But the US government sends billion upon billions of dollars to foreign governments.  This money is our money.  It is about time the US government gives our money back to us.  I want those tax credits.  They could fund it by not giving so much away to those foreign governments.

Honestly though, no one would force you to take the tax credit.  You could always decline it or give it back.   If you do that, can I have it? 

We need to see the production car design. I was a <little> disappointed we didnt get a better view at the meeting.

The US govt (and nearly ALL others around the world) have assisted in providing an economic boost or incentive when things like this are proposed. If the govt doesn’t provide some sort of support to risky high tech ventures, why then would GM even attempt to dump billions of dollars into an "idea" that if it doesn’t pan out, may sink the company permanently? Would you do this on this scale?
Profit seeking without some control and focus gets you what is happening in Russia right now. It gets you charlatans that will sell crap to uneducated and trusting people. It gets you raping the environment like China is doing. Who chooses where to put the next big refinery, nuclear power plant, oil well? Next to you? Down the street? It becomes truely buyer beware, become an expert in EVERYTHING or else be taken advantage of.
I get tired of people acting as if the govt is the enemy. It certainly has its problems, but considering the quality of life in this country compared to most of the world, I wouldn’t change a thing. We produce more, are more productive, give away more, have more stuff, have more at our disposal than probably anyone in the world. I am not about to claim our govt hasn’t had a role to play in this success. As well as our people.

Our govt has its positives and negatives. I have no problem with people looking to improve upon the negatives. I dont accept well people that dont take a larger view. Sorry.

The govt subsidizes, or gives tax credits, to thousands of things. I probably have a problem with a majority of them. But I wont sit here and say that some of them are not warranted. I put the Volt easily in that catagory.

Lets encourage private market to do as it does best and allow it to solve Americas oil burden via profit seeking. If you want the government to solve our energy crisis tell it to stay out of private endeavors to harvest wind, drill for oil on our soil, produce refineries and perhaps progress nuclear fuel sources.

Aside from national security name one thing big government does well or with profitable results!

The concept of the Volt is incredible. When its attached to a renewable fuel source it’ll be tops. Ron

You are also correct about the reasons to buy it.
My reason for buying the car isn’t really economic.  I hate the oil companies, and I hate terrorism.  Everytime I buy gasoline and home heating oil, I am helping both.  I think about the cost of that on myself and on our society.

From ‘86 to 97′ the company was "run by the numbers" … a hodge-podge of administrators, bean counters, and lawyers making all safe decisions.  And by the end of that period, the company was almost bankrupt and their public image was in the toilet.

In ‘98 Apple got a completely new management team willing to listen to customers and make bold decisions/products. The result has been ten years of success, terrific products, and  a stock price that has increased 20x (yeah, 2000%  .

IMHO, the exact same type of thing is happening at GM.

Also of interest … with Apple it took the general press/public about five years to notice each change, so most opinions were five years out of date. The "Apple Is Dead" articles continued until about ‘02.  

IMHO, the same is true with GM.  They’ve been making good decisions for a few years now, but most people haven’t noticed that yet. So GM’s public perception on most forums (not this one) is still in the toilet. As evidence, consider the overwhelming negative feedback these videos will probably get on YouTube.

Based on this, assuming GM continues to make bold decision, I predict public perception of GM is about to improve drastically.