In a recent issues of Newsweek [via Truthout], Fareed Zakaria interviews Al Gore about environmentalism and the auto industry. Gore supports a “bail out” only so far as it allows GM to stay competitive — i.e., technologically and and economically.
This is telling:
When I was vice president, I initiated a program called the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles. The federal government invested over a billion dollars in partnership with the Big Three to focus on the accelerated development of advanced high-efficiency vehicles. But as soon as they felt they were off the hook at the end of 2000, they pulled the plug and walked away.
And now they want a bail-out. I’m glad we didn’t fold so easily this time. We cannot keep up this American business-as-usual practice wen it comes to the environment. The cost is just too high.
