Worst. President. Ever.
After tripling the national deficit and watching unemployment surge to 10%, Barack Obama now believes that paying twice as much for a truck is good business.
Even Obama supporters can see that his polling numbers are about as weak as his economic policies.
(Reuters)
The Smith Electric Vehicle manufacturer makes trucks that cost twice as much as normal delivery trucks. The company only survived this year because of a federal grant. It did not hire any new employees.
This, of course, counts as a success story for President Obama.
The Christian Science Monitor reported:
President Obama visited one of America’s first makers of electric delivery trucks Thursday, touting the job-creating advantages of reshaping the US automotive fleet with an emphasis on running not just cars, but trucks, on batteries.
Entering a hangar-like building at Smith Electric Vehicles in Kansas City, Mo., Mr. Obama was shown a rack of lime-green batteries the company now installs into delivery trucks, converting them from diesel to electric power.
A nearby Frito Lay truck had “Good fun – powered by electricity” plastered across its exterior. The private company, which received a $32 million Department of Energy grant in March, is the US offshoot of a British parent that does the same thing.
“They ought to tell the workers of Smith Electric that we’d be better off if your jobs didn’t exist,” the president said, taking issue with critics who oppose his program to provide government funding to promote electric vehicles. “They ought to travel across America and meet the people I’ve met at places like Navistar in Indiana, where folks are being hired to build new electric trucks.”
…A traditional FEDEX-style delivery truck might cost about $50,000, and the hybrid version about $95,000, Van Amburg estimates. But a plug-in or all-electric version could cost $100,000 to $130,000.
Fleet buyers can justify a premium of 20 to 30 percent over the base cost of a truck. But incentives are needed for perhaps the next four to five years. A bill pending in Congress would restore some tax incentives that have lapsed, Van Amburg says. Meanwhile, there are indications that battery costs could drop by as much as half over the next five years.
More… Amity Shlaes asked today: “Is Obama Spurring Growth, or Knocking It Down?”
…I think we all know the answer to that.
Left Coast Rebel has more on Smith Electric.
