Australians See Through Bailout Window Dressing

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

By taking a quid-pro-quo (cash for a new model) approach to its automaker bailout, the Australian government and Holden have opened themselves for significant criticism. And it’s starting to pile on. From The Australian we have reports of backlash from, among others, Australia’s Green party. And their scathing remarks are centered on the GM Cruze variant that received specific subsidization. Greens senator Christine Milne questioned why the “green car innovation fund” was being spent on something that was “neither particularly green, nor in any way innovative.” Says Milne of the SubsiCruze, “even if it is an efficient four-cylinder car, that is hardly green innovation. This is keeping the Australian car industry on life support instead of giving it a new lease of life.” Sound familiar? Getting tired of that question? Apparently Australia’s Greens expected something more revolutionary than a boring ICE compact. According to Senator Nick Xenophon, there is “nothing green about a petrol car. You can make it more efficient but that is just fiddling at the margins.” Incidentally, Xenephon goes on to destroy his credibility by suggesting Australia’s government subsidize a local version of GM’s Volt. Now we’re getting realistic! In other news from the exciting world of The New Mercantilism, Canadians are beginning to worry that their own bailout “is a very difficult situation, because we’ve got a financial plan without a business plan, and that’s the wrong way to do things,” according to Joe D’Cruz, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. How did nobody see this coming? Oh wait. (Thanks to JT for the tip)

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

More by Edward Niedermeyer

Comments
Join the conversation
 2 comments
  • Tesla deathwatcher Tesla deathwatcher on Dec 24, 2008

    Look to history and I don't think you can find a single example of where any government has successfully invested money in an industry to promote technology. Japan's government gets credit for doing that. I don't think they deserve it. All this money that is supposed to go toward building green cars will not, in my opinion, help at all.

  • Kevin Kevin on Dec 24, 2008

    They have a senator named Xenephon? Who's the prime minister, Herodotus?

Next