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June
1
2006
12:18 pm
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Chris

GM Compared to a Crack Dealer by New York Times

I read an excellent article about GM by Detroit News today in which GM is heavily criticized regarding its gas guzzlers and more. An interesting read at the least. Here is an excerpt:

While GM has stepped up its promotion of alternative fuels, critics say the new gas program is a cynical attempt to keep selling gas hogs without regard to the environment and America’s dependence on foreign oils.

“It says a lot about GM and their dire financial straits that they are so desperate to sell the gas guzzlers that no one wants, that they are paying for the gas to drive them home,” said Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club’s Global Warming Program. “When did you ever hear about a junkie giving up his subsidized fix?”

Influential New York Times columnist Tom Friedman — author of the best-selling book “The World is Flat” — took on GM in a sharply worded column Wednesday.

“Is there a company more dangerous to America’s future than General Motors? Surely, the sooner this company gets taken over by Toyota, the better this country will be,” Friedman wrote, comparing GM to “a crack dealer looking to keep his addicts on a tight leash” by offering the fuel program.

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who oversees the automaker’s product development, said in an e-mail that Friedman “is so ‘over the top’ that it borders on psychosis.”

Lutz said his hope “is that the majority of Americans, not being extreme liberals, and harboring a deep-seated distrust toward the media, will see his piece for what it is: the product of an unusual, but not altogether well, mind.”

Opinions anyone?


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June
8
2006
10:39 am
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Comment

Lame, simplistic, and fluff. I wrote a post addressing this issue: http://www.thecarblog.com/rant.....arget.php. Briefly, I pointed out virtually all car makers make “gas-guzzling” vehicles, not just GM and they’ve all offered gas rebates in one form or another on such machines. I ask why he didn’t mention the plastics industry which, too, uses petroleum. Finally, people WANT cars with many not giving much squat to either pollution or gas prices. Why doesn’t Friedman attack them instead of the automakers? Reminds me of the Prohibition.

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