Are you making America better?
Is the DOE technologically incompetent?
Over the last few days there has been a good bit of press regarding the General Accountability Office’s assessment of the Department of Energy’s monitoring of the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle loan program – a program created to help automakers become more fuel efficient. In a nutshell, the GAO has found that the Department both lacks “sufficient expertise” as well as quality metrics to ensure that the goals of the ATV loan program are actually being met.
Ironically, in recent weeks I’ve suggested a much larger government led program to fight foreign oil dependence, yet I can’t help but wonder, would the government be a good driver of such a program?
Thus far, I’ve only skimmed through the report a few times, as it isn’t the most enjoyable read, but it’s obvious the DOE could do a much better job.
Unfortunately, when it comes to an issue like US energy independence, however, $25 billion is chump change. Yet, if the government can’t ensure the proper bang for the buck regarding a minuscule $25 billion loan program because of insufficient expertise and the inability to quantify that the money is being spent correctly, how well would it manage a program that might cost a trillion or more?
Without question, the government needs to be a leader when it comes to US energy independence, but the path to energy independence seems that it would have to be as simple and as transparent as possible, at least using the ATV loan program as a metric for government performance regarding such issues. Otherwise, government waste might be the biggest expenditure of any plan for action.
That begs the question, is a realistic path towards US energy independence even conceivable?
My gut says gas tax, but the kind of gas tax necessary to achieve timely US energy independence seems politically untenable. At least in the interim, I’d bet a lot of carrots for both consumers and automakers would be required – yet a lot of those carrots would go to waste it seems. That’s just the nature of the corporately funded political system I guess.
But I can’t help but wonder how many carrots big US auto corporations deserve when huge parts of their businesses are being developed more and more outside of the US.
To me it seems that if someone deserves carrots, it has to be consumers, particularly lower middle class and below consumers. Therefore, is there some way that consumer tax credits could trickle down to corporations, instead of the other way around?
Others are certain to say, just let free markets rule.
But with so many regulations in US government, let alone the many foreign governments that are critical to US corporate success, the idea of free markets seems like one of those talking points that just doesn’t really mean anything.
Quite simply, it is up to WE the people. But, who are WE?