As
General Motors finally caved this morning, waved the white flag and filed for bankruptcy, those following electric cars immediately wondered what this all would mean for the long-awaited
Volt. For
years now, GM has steadfastly affirmed that it was moving forward with
production regardless of what else was going on within the company and the economy at large. According to
Technology Review, a GM spokesperson confirmed again this morning that "the filing will have no impact on the company's plans to start selling the Volt at the end of next year." That said, we have to wonder how much such a statement really means; reports have stated that the US government may up holding as much as 60 percent of the company, and if the primary goal is to bring the outfit back to profitability as soon as possible, Obama and Company may not feel that pouring even more into the high-priced Volt is a good idea. In related news, we hear
Tesla is still taking orders...
Update: GM has pushed out
an official statement that (in a few words) also suggests that the Volt is still on track.
posted Jun 1st 2009 1:11PM
To the contrary. Obama will likely demand that the Volt remain a priority even if it means more money from the tax payers. Look at his positions on fuel economy and alternative energy...
Precisely.
The plan should be to liquidate their gas-guzzler divisions and pump the cash from the fire-sale into less environmentally damaging and more economically sustainable and possibly profitable electric and low emissions vehicles.
Of course, that would just be too perfect, I'm sure Obama will protect the vested interests, as he seems want to do with everything else.
Yes,
Obama will force them to make more cars (i.e. small ones) that the American public really don't want. Then GM still won't make money and will waste more of my taxpayer dollars.
The only American car company left is Ford. GM and Chrysler are gone. They are properties of the government.
This is Obama's (and Bush's) biggest failure. Not letting companies (such as GM and the banks) fail like they are supposed in capitalism. A companies failing allows smaller and medium companies to fill the void.
Scared shitless that one of the nations biggest industries is being run by Washington politicians. Too big to fail? Bullshit. It's not like some other company wouldn't grab some cheap investment cash, hire up a work force (sans unions) and fill in the void left by GM and Chrysler.
The only reason I would support nationalisation of anything is if it was a last resort to ensure everyone still had the opportunity to get jobs and live the American dream. If that's the case with GM then so be it.
Maybe now they can stop making such piss poor cars.
time to wake up from the American Dream, my boy. Or else it will soon be a nightmare.
I can see that each one of you whiners has a better solution (and more facts) to help fix the problems with the country.
GM is getting an additional 30 billion in tax payer money after bankruptcy. The previous 17 billion that the US government gave will be forgiven during bankruptcy. So the Volt will be built, likely with your taxes.
"The only American car company left is Ford. GM and Chrysler are gone. They are properties of the government."
Um. And how does the American gov't ownership not constitute GM being an American car company? GM is a corporate entity. The gov't gives it the privileges of being a corporation, no matter if it directly owns the company or not. You don't get to be a corporation without the blessing of the gov't. The only thing that is changing, in this case, is who actually makes all the decisions. If anything, it should become even more American. Obama has had much more focus on products being "Made in America," which GM and Ford have not been doing. They've been using Chinese parts. The only companies that have been buying up American made auto parts have been Toyota and Honda.
they would be dumb to kill off the Volt, the volt will provide the platform for many other electric cars in the GM lineup...the volt should be looked at as R&D rather than just a car...its technology will live on for decades and will become profitable at somepoint but if they do kill it, its a huge step in the wrong direction...GM may become profitable again without the volt but will again find itself falling behind on elec-technology
You make the mistake of presuming that anyone wants to buy an electric car.
Exactly and a 40K+ one at that! No thanks. I'll keep my F150! Much cheaper to operate because it is paid for. Don't need a 40K car with an energizer battery in it.
@fannman I think there are a lot of people out there who would love an electric car. The Prius sells incredibly well where I live and I don't think I have ever talked to a Prius owner who didn't say that they would be interested in a nice electric version.
The fact is, most people drive less than 50 miles in an entire day. And of that, the majority of those people drive less than 20 miles each day.
A mixture of an electric car with a nice SUV or something for traveling/camping/etc... is great for families. Save money around town and take out the big car for road trips on occasional weekends.
Surely if that were so everyone would have one. As it is now, electric cars don't sell because for whatever reason people don't consider them a good purchase. The Volt doesn't seem revolutionary enough to change this.
Please, don't pretend the Volt is much more than a niche product.
It is, however, an important niche product, and is good press. The Prius isn't a volume seller for Toyota, but it does give them green cred, which is important. No matter how many trucks Toyota sells, they will always be associated with hybrids, and people will assume they're green. GM needs that kind of press, and the Volt is how they get it.
The reason people aren't driving electric cars is not because they don't want to but because they CAN'T.
All the electric car models on the market are way too expensive, unsuitable for most people (i.e. all those "neighborhood" models that cant go on the highway/freeway) or both.
The Volt is good, it has the petrol engine for when the battery runs out, its cheaper than the alternatives plus being a GM/Chevrolet car, service and parts will be available from GM/Chevrolet dealers all over the country (not like Tesla where there are only a few places to get it fixed or serviced)
Some might argue that a pure electric is better but most people wouldn't be willing to take the risk of running out of battery juice when they are too far away from a power point to charge it up.
Me, I just wish GM would do something smart and stick a Holden badge on the car and send it down under, the Volt is much better than the Prius or the new Hybrid Camry Toyota are talking about.
Oh and unlike the Prius and others, the Volt is not a Hybrid car, its an electric car with a petrol engine powered generator to charge the batteries (or as GM puts it, an Extended Range Electric Vehicle) and can be run without a single drop of gas in the tank. (even the latest plug-in Prius models Toyota has in the labs cant run solely on electric power AFAIK)
Oh come on. Seriously? You call the Volt "high priced" and in the very next sentence mention Tesla which is MUCH more expensive?
You do know the difference between models and makes...right?
Well when a manufacturer only makes one product, does it really matter? Even their less expensive sedan model will still be more than the Volt. That and it's entirely impractical for the average person.
"That and it's entirely impractical for the average person."
Yes, we all need a gas-guzzling Hummer!
Volt = practical
Tesla (Roadster & S) = impractical
I'd like to see you take a road trip in your all electric vehicle. Good luck with that. Forgot to charge your car? Oh well... have fun waiting for it to charge. Charging the battery takes just a few minutes more than filling up the gas tank.
to anyone doubting electric cars check out betterplace.com
"Well when a manufacturer only makes one product, does it really matter?"
Yeah, it really matters.
Tesla is a new company that chose to start with an expensive model for the high-end of the market, with plans to introduce less expensive products as the company grows. Their ultimate goal is to make and sell easily affordable electric vehicles for the rest of us. So to complain about the cost of the Roadster and the Model S as though Tesla refuses to make something more affordable is kind of silly.
It's also silly to complain about taking road trips in electric vehicles, since they are not designed for that purpose. The vast majority of the driving we do every day is commuting between jobs and homes. That's the kind of driving electric cars are designed for.
Welcome to the USA.
Its that place where you get a loan from the government bank to buy a car from the government Car maker.
Mmm the sound of conservatives topping themselves.
I wont buy it, or any car from this state-run auto maker.
Time for some young turks to do an automotive start-up that's centered in free enterprise, and in manufacturing in the U.S..
They stand to make billions
We still have those. It's called Ford, European, Japanese, and Korean automakers.
GM and Chrysler are dead to me.
@ kjb434, that's a nice listing of companies hosted by countries where the government takes care of all the health care and retirement benefits. Somehow I think you'd howl if the US did the same and allowed the car company to just be a car company.
excluding Ford of course
@ kjb434,
Agreeing with Aqua here, Japan gives Toyota and Honda gov't handouts on a yearly basis. This is of course coming from a country that won't buy foreign makes even at huge discounts. GM couldn't sell the cavalier there because it wasn't a toyota/honda. Toyota bought them and put there badge on with a couple other cosmetic/regional changes and they sold great for 6 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Cavalier#Toyota_Cavalier
Sell the Volt to another company, you Great Morons.
The messiah will never allow the Volt to fail. Never fear, followers, never fear.
Don't get me started on Obama and alternative energy. Nuclear energy is a solution for today and needs to be replace in the future with the wind and solar alternatives that aren't ready today.
But that's not what where discussing. GM needs to be bought out not bailed out I'm sorry for the stock holders but when a company dose stupid things they go under not get bailed out and given another chance by the US. If someone wanted to invest in the company that's fine but they should be long gone by this time.
yeah! Give us the nuclear Volt! One million miles to the proton!
Replace nuclear with wind and solar!?! That might be a dicey idea. I appreciate wind and solar, but the maintenance, upfront investments and land space required for these to replace nuclear would be tremendous. Nuclear is the future. Held back prematurely by a restrictive policies drafted by unfounded fears from a ignorant representative government. Nuclear is the cleanest and cheapest form of energy generation we have. And with a substantial energy load about to be transferred from millions of internal combustion engines to a centralized grid in the coming decade, we need an infrastructure of stable and reliable power generation more than ever.
Uh, you do know that the GM stockholders are not being bailed out. They are being wiped out.
nuclear plants take years and years to build, they are an eyesore and wind and solar is much easier to implement. Also a large area must be cleared to make space for a nuclear plant whereas wind turbines and solar panels can be installed on already existing buildings.
sorry, but nuclear is not the answer.
nuclear plants take years and years to build, they are an eyesore and
wind and solar is much easier to implement. Also a large area must be
cleared to make space for a nuclear plant whereas wind turbines and
solar panels can be installed on already existing buildings.
sorry, but nuclear is not the answer.
Didn't we just bail them out...? so do we get our money back???
No, those 20 billion have been forgiven. We now get to pay 30 more billion to get GM through the next 90 days.
Typical... How about they just give every american citizen that pay's taxes a free Volt and then we'll call it even....
Oh yeah... wait I almost forgot that as americans we're not supposed to notice that were getting screwed by our government...
Guys, do not question CEO Obama, him and his "experienced Auto Task Force" know best.
What does GM stand for again? Government Motors?
I wonder which car will sell more. Chevy Volt, or Tesla Model S ...
I think I read that the Volt will start around $40K and Tesla S at $50K.
So would people buy the Volt at 40K? or pay 10K more for the Tesla?
They have different advantages and disadvantages.
Actually, the Tesla S is $56,400 and the Volt is $40,000. After the $7,500 tax credit, they drop to $48,900 and $32,500 respectively. And at that price, the S gets 160 miles per charge. So basically the S is dead for the day after 160 miles, but the Volt can go on gasoline indefinitely.
I'm not sure you can really say how much the Volt costs right now, because they don't exist in production, and won't for another year.
Oh, and additionally their parent company just went bankrupt. But I'm sure all of the information that they threw out won't change a bit.
I for one will never buy another GM car as long as its owned by the government. I refuse to support socialism and everything the government touches turns to crap. Wait till the Barry takes over health care.
Unfortunately, as long as the government owns GM us tax payers will be keeping them afloat no matter how few cars they sell. The government runs the company into the ground? Oh well there's plenty more bailout money in the taxpayer's pockets!
That my friend is a GREAT conservative stand you take. You are truly thinking outside the box and I like it. Yes, I too will not support the government owned GM at this point. I'd venture to guess that conservative American's consume more GM vehicles than the liberals do. Barry the mesiah may have won the election with 52.9% of the vote but good luck turning a profit with your new car company when you need a lot more than 52.9% of the nation to support this new disaster you've created. What will a liberal fool like you do next...put a 100% tax on every car not made by GM until people buy your crap?
if you refuse to support socialism you should never have bought any car, as they all provide health care benefits, retirement benefits, job security, etc.... besides, GM has long been known as a health care company with an auto business attached.
I agree with with comrade @shootingblue.
Lol you conservitards amuse me every day.
Sure boycott "socialism" (though I don't think that word means what you think it means)
Don't ever call the police, or the fire dept, or send your kids to school, or visit the public library
Or hell don't ever drive your car on public roads.
@he highest of Defs
I think your the confused one. There is much difference between "public works" and a "For Profit--Corporation"
Aqua, you do realize there is a difference between a company using its revenue to give employees benefits, and the government taking your tax money and giving it to those they deem worthy, right? Big fuckin' difference.
You do realize, of course, that the only way for GM to get the government out of its business is if it sells enough cars to be profitable so that someone wants to buy the government's share? So by intentionally avoiding GM cars (assuming they have one that you'd be interested in), you're just perpetuating the 'socialist' situation that we're stuck in right now?
@matt
or maybe if people refuse to buy cars from GM, folks will realize that socialism doesn't work and will elect officials who have a philosophy of capitalism and free market.
I dream of a world I can drive my Chevy Volt to the store to buy Duke Nukem: Forever, while listening to Chinese Democracy on the CD player.
um chinese democracy came out last year
Ugh, the Volt sure has taken a turn for ugly since some of the earlier concepts.
Yeah good thing they put the stubbed nose and that big wind catcher
fake grill on it. That wont decrease performance or battery life at
all.
Remember? bigger is better!
It looked ok before, but they just had to Chevy / GM / Americanise it .... it looks absolutely hideous now.
In 1986 my dad routinely got 40-50mpg on his 1986 4 cylinder Toyota Celica GT.
Keys to high MPG, being lower to the ground, aerodynamics, smaller engines. These days the roofs of cars are about where trucks and minivans were in the 80's, they have snub noses instead of chisel noses, and 6 cylinders is considered to be underpowered.
@ Aqua:
You can blame the government for each of those issues.
Roofs too high? Government has regulated tougher and tougher rollover and roof strength requirements.
Don't like snub noses? Governments around the world are bringing in tougher vehicle-pedesitrian collision requirements.
6 cyl underpowered? If safety requirements were what they were 25 years ago, cars these days could easily get the same MPG as that Celica GT. All this extra safety equipment is heavy. Heavy cars and small, low powered engines = terrible MPG.
If the geniuses at GM had not killed off (rounded up, hauled away and crushed) the EV-1 over 10 years ago, these guys just might be in a no fail leadership position today.
Anyone remember the 1st gen Honda Insight? 80mph. The 5th gen is now being promoted as having 40mpg... the same as my dad's 1986 Toyota Celica GT.
While riding around in a fuel cell Equinox this past Wednesday (which was a hoot btw, those suckers can move), the driver (a GM employee, yes) raised a point regarding the EV1s that I'd not considered - crash worthiness. It seems that it was not quite up to par. What GM may have intended was saving themselves from collision lawsuits. (see: Ford Explorer, Firestone)
@aqua
some first gen insight drivers have even reported over 100mpg on flat highways, traveling at an average of 60 mph.
The EV-1 was killed because it wasn't viable.
C'mon, to this day, no one (including GM itself) can make an inexpensive, practical (in terms of speed, distance, and comfort) electric car. You really think GM, of all companies, had one 13 years ago??!
And let's say they did have such a car... GM has been losing market share since the 70's. If they had a viable electric car, they would've saved the company. And no one, not even the oil companies, would be able to offer an incentive powerful enough for GM not to put the car into production.
OK, so 1,000 or so EV1s were made available (with heavy subsidies) in a few warm-weather cities, and some of the people who had them liked them. The cars never had a chance to get old, never dealt with cold weather, were used by people favorably predisposed to them, and were heavily subsidized. You can't conclude from that that it was a potentially successful car.
@Bob Alexander
How do you measure viability and subsidies on a vehicle that was NEVER SOLD? THE EV-1's were all leased, which is why GM had the legal ability to recall them all to be destroyed (in a secret location in the middle of the desert). Maybe you should invest the time to watch "Who killed the electric car?"
The EV-1 was destroyed because it went against GM's master plan of bigger/better. Saturn went the same way.
So the government gave GM $20 billion in December to avoid bankruptcy, and here we are, with GM bankrupt.
Next the government is going to give GM $30 billion as an "investment". The taxpayers are now on the hook for a $50 billion "investment" in a company worth less than $1 billion on the market.
Bernie Madoff swindled people for $50 billion, but it took him ten years to do it. Obama has done it in 6 months.
What I don't understand is why this isn't being trumpeted as a colossal government failure and and example of government idiocy. No, wait... I guess I do understand why. :-(
Is it just me, or did you just blame Obama for what the U.S. government did in December?
I figure that we can pay the company to have several tens of thousands of people work with some chance of getting some of the money back in the future, or let GM go under and pay those same several tens of thousands of people to not work and not getting any of that money back.
@Aqua, those first 20B we're already not getting back.
Yup, I'm aware of the 20B that were "forgiven", but when you follow the supply chain that's well over a million jobs at stake if GM simply folds its tents. If the economy were good I'd say go ahead, cut our losses, some other strong company would take those same resources and keep going. But in today's economy once gone, likely stays gone. Take a good look at our ship building industry for example. We went from best and most productive in the world to being one of the worse and least productive due to a gap in ship building which we never recovered from.
Please...tell us why?
Yes, I just blamed Obama for actions done in December. He, as President-elect, urged Bush to bail out GM and Chrysler. See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27657613/
Obama shares responsibility for this fiasco.
I'll take two with foodstamps.
I love how everyone is blaming Obama for the failures of GM, oh wait he IS responsible.
Obama made the horrible diesel engines in the 80's that produced more noise and smog than it did miles per gallon!
Obama killed the EV-1!
Obama bought Hummer!
Obama pushed SUV's when the world was asking for hybrids!
Obama is the one that released something with a slightly better build quality as my most recent bowel movement for the past quarter century!
Obama ran GM into the ground with bad management and giving in to insane union demands!
Obama ignored the changing market for nearly 30 years and gave lush bonuses to executives while the company was crumbling from within!
Yep all Obama's fault....blame the one who inherited it all, it is after all the American way.
Obama step all over the constitution and is putting a private company under the control of the federal government.
He is also going to pump more cash into it.
The private sector can be a stupid as they want. They have that right. The feds on the other hand have this thing called the amendment 10, where they are FORBIDDEN from doing what just happened.
UM..... nobody is blaming Obama for GM's failure. They suck, they failed on their own. We are blaming Obama for trying to rescue a company that....umm... failed on its own. The government should NOT be involved here with taxpayer money. We are blaming him for being involved and taking over the company. THAT he did do...and cannot be refuted.
Obama step all over the constitution and is putting a private company under the control of the federal government.
Sorry but no that's not against the constitution, and in fact has happened in history, for a recent example see Chrysler in the 70's and 80's
He is also going to pump more cash into it.
God forbid he save AMERICAN WORKERS!
The private sector can be a stupid as they want. They have that right. The feds on the other hand have this thing called the amendment 10, where they are FORBIDDEN from doing what just happened.
Too bored to google it
@Shelbz
The point is, GM was given $20B, and that did nothing. In fact, he criticized Bush, saying "no more stimulus bills!' He was dumb, and decided to give an extreme amount of money to a company in a very socialist way. In capitalism, there isn't supposed to be much intervention between government and company. In fact, I'm betting we would be in a better situation right now if he hadn't given bailout money. $20B better, in fact. All that taxpayer money is now gone, forever. Poof. The government took your money and spent it irresponsibly, and it is never going to work for you.
And BTW, if you didn't notice, that bailout money didn't help american workers, it paid for CEO bonuses and buying assets to sell after the recession. Very little actually went to helping the employees.
@ Brian:
"The point is, GM was given $20B, and that did nothing."
Sure it did. It prevented GM from going into Chapter 7 at the time. If GM had gone into Chapter 7 at the time, so would have Ford and a whole host of other tier 1 suppliers. It would have affected every major automaker on the planet. The 6 months since the initial payment has allowed the auto industry to make moves to prevent catastrophe when GM filed, and allowed GM to stay out of liquidation.
How much more wrong can Aqua be? 1st generation Insight got 61/70 mpg, EPA rated. The 1986 Toyota Celica got 20/26. Buying a car from a car company does not support socialism. Socialism is government paying for health care benefits, retirement benefits, job security, etc., not a private corporation.
You are right that GM became a health care company that happened to make cars though.
laughing boy, I have a friend with a first generation Insight, he routinely gets over 80mph. And my dad also routinely got 40-50mpg highway and 30-40mpg city with his Celica GT. True, I've never seen either of them go over speed limits and they haven't had a fast start or passed anyone in their lives, but it just shows how much you can do with conservative driving.
So, you aren't opposed to corporate socialism, just government socialism. Any safety net, any public service, anything where many people pool their money together for a benefit for society is socialism. It's just a matter of degree and which types you support or oppose. Enjoy your privately owned dirt roads fella :)
google is your friend. Use it. EPA ratings are estimated, they don't test those numbers with a light foot either.
my above comment was directed at Laughingboy
Um Timoh, until recently, yeah they did.
EPA estimates were generated on a test bed using no air conditioning or accessories, and really conservative driving.
The numbers that were generated were unrealistic with what people were finding in the real world. So recently, the EPA changed how they do the estimation again. (The estimates were already changed once in the 80's) Now they are generated using faster acceleration, faster speed, and the use of various accessories, including air conditioning.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/the-truth-about-epa-mileage-estimates/
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/FEG/ratings2008.shtml
Now, obviously, people can use hyper-mile type driving or even just more conservative type driving to get maximum efficiency out of their vehicle. Judging my the figures reported by Aqua regarding the others he spoke to, that sounds like that is what they are doing.
haha the Obama administration caring about profits?!!! funniest thing I've heard all day. Thanks for the laugh.
PS... by the way, remember this is the same President who was elected having never held a job in the private sector. Might I paraphrase a something Mitt Romney said once, "Barack Obama has never signed the front of paycheck." Think about that, the man has never owned a company, never run a company, never had to succeed in the private sector economy. To this guy, profits mean nothing......agenda means everything.
I'm 35 , I've only purchased 5 brand new cars .
Californian am ready to buy 2 new cars .
I only buy Japanese or euro n never American .
Maybe I'm at fault ,.but still won't even consider buying American .
Why?
if only engadget had a clue, the volt will sell out immediately
@ the highest of Defs
The one part of my taxes I pay and feel good about it is that portion of my tax dollars that do go toward supporting police and fire protection for my community. But what i don't agree with is the following...
1) Public libraries that our tax dollars pay for that have become known as the poor man's Blockbuster video store. When I go to the library I don't want to stand in a line of 10 people because eight of the nine people are checking out DVDs filled with inappropriate movies that they'll toss into their DVD players so they can then slam their children down in front of the TV they refer to as the babysitter. These children grow up to run in packs through the shopping malls where they put their rudeness and disrespect to others on display for all to see. We don't need that.
2) Public schools that our tax dollars pay for that are filled with liberal teachers and their liberal agendas. I'd like my kids to be able to pray in school is they're so led to. No, I don't want them to come home with a pocket full of free condoms. It would be great if the public schools my tax dollars paid for made the news for something other than the latest gang fight that broke out yesterday.
3) Prisons that our tax dollars pay for...with televisions, internet access, iPods, etc. Give them bread, give them water, then stop.
4) Public roads that our tax dollars pay for that are always under construction because another federal grant was made available by this stimulus plan or that federal program that is making the money available to pay for the projects. The local politicians talk up how great the situation is because all this expensive work is being done with federal (not local) money. Where the F@%$ do they think the federal government gets the money in the first place?
5) Light rail projects that our tax dollars pay for. Again disguised in the form of federal grants.
6) Thousands of other dumb liberal pet projects across the nation THAT OUR TAX DOLLARS PAY FOR that are again disguised in the form of federal grants.
7) BAILOUTS...need I say more?
"Public schools that our tax dollars pay for that are filled with liberal teachers and their liberal agendas. I'd like my kids to be able to pray in school is they're so led to."
Damn those liberals! Seems like all they want is a clean enviroment, a good education for all, and the possibility that your religion won't be shoved down our throats by uneducation pricks like yourself. We must get rid of them!
Seriously though, noone is really happy about this whole bailout scenario. On the other hand, atleast we have a president who seems to be looking out for the common good and not just the rich folk. Kind of a nice change if you ask me.
By the way, home school your kids so they can serve me french fries (or Freedom Fries as you probably call them) later in life. The country is always going to have a need for morons like yourself to serve us our food while in transit to our next Liberal clan rally.
I noticed that you didn't mention excessive militaristic spending, perhaps fox news didn't tell that or perhaps you're ok with running a 9 trillion dollar deficeit. None of these things will matter much to you when you're old and wondering where your pension is. Then again you obviously have all the resources you'll ever need in life since every thing but the saintly police and fire departments are considered wastful spending. These rote, short-sighted opinions really worry my outlook for the future.
I consider myself to be conservative but MY GOODNESS MAN, you need to calm down and open your eyes some. No wonder so many people see conservatives as nut jobs right now. Read up on history, you will see that the separation of religion and state is a GOOD thing. There is a time and a place for beliefs and a time and a place for keeping those beliefs to yourself. Otherwise, there would be no hope for being able to coexist and work together towards common goals and advancement at all.
There are always other options for some of the things you are unhappy with. Don't like the school? Speak to the school administration or look into sending your kids to another school, or even a private school. Don't like what you see at the Library? Don't be afraid to inquire from the library on what their policies are, or just go to a different library. Who cares what the other people you see are doing? As long as you make sure you are raising your kids well and being active in their life, you shouldn't have anything to fear from them in regards to how they turn out as adults. Don't like how you see taxpayer money spent? Start writing! to your local representative, your congressman, or even find a group of like-minded people to get a larger voice heard.
Sitting there and griping about what you don't like doesn't do a thing towards changing anything, and will even present a bad example for your kids to follow when they become adults.
@Eh?
It it the teaing down of these beliefs and the turning from God that has brought us to where we are today. And you want me, a Christian, to turn my head from all the wrong in the world too. I will not. That's the problem with our society...we have to many Sunday Christians. It is times like these when we need to stand even stronger and hold tighter to our beliefs.
Moving kids from a public school to a private school is not the point. I'd still be paying for the public school through my property tax dollars. The same would apply to visiting a different library, etc.
Now as for the direction you've suggested I take. "Start writing! to your local representative, your congressman, or even find a group of like-minded people to get a larger voice heard." Exactly, exactly why I am responding on this engadget blog in the first place. To be heard. Heard by all the fools who have voted for this liberal mess of a government in the first place. They don't understand why they're losing their jobs. Oh really...last November you voted to lose your jobs. I get a kick out of one small business owner's way of deciding who he fires to cut payroll during these tough times. He drives into his parking lot and simply looks for the Obama bumper stickers.
Who cares about this vapor car? You know its never coming out - the company can't get its act together, its been stuck dealing with spending billions on retired coat tail riders that expected GM to just keep paying and paying for life. That's not the way to be competetive.
I would never buy a GM, not even if this crap can got 100mpg. you know its gonna break down, and you know it was made by unskilled labor in factories where they get paid $100/hr to put bolts on and then wonder why no one wants their cars.
GM will do whatever Obamas TelePrompTer tells them to do.
As for Tesla and thier success, is that a union shop? Does the UAW have it's hooks in there yet?
I would never buy volt even at $20000,.
I always felt that GM and Chrysler's '09, '10lineup were very good.. they got caught up in the downturn.. i would buy a chrysler 300 rather than a camry/accord if i had the money...
... the timing did not click for GM and chrysler...