| Dave Blume Says:
OBAMA CAN USE AUTO BAILOUT TO SPEARHEAD ALCOHOL ENERGY REVOLUTION & REBUILD AMERICA
It’s all but a foregone conclusion that a government bailout of the auto industry will happen, to save the millions of direct and indirect jobs generated by the Big Three. But unlike his predecessor who bailed out the banks, the new President ought to make sure that those receiving tax dollars use them in an accountable way to power a viable industry.
Buried in this debacle are possibly the seeds of a powerful wave that can regenerate not just the auto industry but the entire nation, from cities to farms. We can learn from, and follow, the example of how another major country saved its economy by transforming its automobile industry.
In the early 1980s, Brazil, like all other developing countries of the day, was having its economy destroyed by skyrocketing oil prices. Most countries chose to borrow money to buy the oil they needed, but Brazil took a different tack. Its government mandated that General Motors and other companies making cars in Brazil produce vehicles that were to be powered by alcohol-fuel engines. The government’s thinking was that alcohol fuel can be produced domestically and inexpensively, avoiding the crushing payments for foreign oil.
The auto companies resisted, saying that they would never retool their factories for a pipsqueak developing nation. They were global companies and didn’t make “boutique” engines for anyone. So the Brazilian leaders said, “Read our lips. It’s alcohol engines or leave the country.” Miracle of miracle, six months later, high-compression, high-performance alcohol-only vehicles began rolling off every car company’s assembly line. After all, the changes from gasoline to alcohol engines were simple: longer pistons, a modified carburetor, and different tuning, plus a cheap device to start the cars on cold mornings. Read the rest of the article.
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