jeffhre:
Bush did not refuse to bail out GM. The bush Admin. logically said there is little time left and the next admin should decide.  

So you would admit that Obama saved GM, not Bush. It seems that Bush passed on the chance of success or failure to what could be seen would most likely be a Democratic Administration. Fortunately, the so called “bail out” has succeeded. Once the GM IPO is past, we, the taxpayers, will get most of our money back. That with the interest gained through the loans that have been paid back, makes the government “interference” a very sound investment in this countries future. Funny thing is: if the “bail out” failed would it have been a failure of only Obama’s Administration or would it have been a failure by both administrations? Since Obama put more into saving GM, and has succeeded, our current President should get the praise for having the guts to do so.

As for those who say that Obama’s Administration can’t claim it’s place as the first administration to really do something about getting as off foreign oil – remember all the promises of previous administrations – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides $21.5 Billion for energy infrastructure, which includes the Smart Grid, and power transmission system upgrades in the Pacific Northwest and Central and Western U.S., and another $27.2 Billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy research and investment. This, together with the support for automotive manufacturers like GM and Ford, shows us all real effort by this administration to wean us off of foreign oil.

Happy trails to you ’til we meet again.

jeff j: 150 million / 300 jobs = 500,000 per job
The Government is great at taking your money and terrible at spending it !!!!!!500,000 * 4 million =$2,000,000,000,000 to spend to get back to 2008 job levels , Trust Obama still?  

Yea, year one. Year 2 250,000 per job, year 4 125,00 per job, year 10 50,000 per job, year 20 25,000 per job. Now, consider how much oil the country will not have to buy. The plant will make between 80,000 and 200,000 batteries a year. Lets go with 100,000 to keep it simple for you. That is 100,000 cars on the road a year burning at least 50% less gas than other cars. The average person drives 12,000 miles per year. The average car gets 20mpg.

Ok, so, breaking it down we have..

6000 electric only miles per car (extremely conservative).
100,000 cars

That is 600,000,000 miles on electric power only per year from cars from this plant.

Further breakdown..

600,000,000 divided by 20 miles per gallon gives you 30,000,000 gallons of gas saved.

at $2.76 a gallon Americans will save another $82,000,000 a year.

2 years thats $164,000,000. 10 years it’s $820,000,000 more in Americans pockets and jobs are created to boot.

Nevermind batteries will be get cheaper and more efficient. Nevermind that the number will likely be higher than 6000. Nevermind many will use almost no gas.

Needles to say the return on investment from a national perspective is extremely positive. You were thinking on a mico-economic level. Need to go macro.

RECHARGE!

James

Steve: Chris C: Obama’s on the right track, so many presidents have talked about our oil addiction but he is the first to do something about it. Without him the Volt would not have been possible. Good job GM and welcome to LG Chem.  (Quote)
About as much as he did about Deepwater. You’re giving credit to the wrong person.  

Wrong Steve. BP and the big oils run the deepwater drilling show. There is nothing a President can do about a spill except to make ‘em pay. And BP is going to pay dearly. Ultimately Obama’s greatest contribution to the nation and world will be to break the US addiction to foreign oil which opens the door to 21st century energy. Especially the electrification of transportation.

There’s also medical insurance reform, wall street, consumer product reform, and hopefully an end to blunders like Guantanamo and Iraq.

DaveP: here’s some other things we as citizens care about other than just money, as our environment and national security are important, too. If helping to fund a bunch of battery plants in the US helps those out, I think it’s a good use of my taxpayer money.

You are right Dave. Investing in the electrification of transport invigorates US manufacturing, keeps cash for foreign oil at home, and dramatically improves our energy security picture. Next steps include expanding distributed energy systems to residential homes, and increasing the domestic mix of non-foreign fuels e.g. cellulosic E85, solar, wind, geothermal and biofuels grown at home. Oh, it’s also REAL good for the environment and moves us toward the big goal: energy independence.