Real shocker

When the Obama administration took over financially ailing General Motors, more than one observer dubbed the resulting enterprise "Government Motors."

Since then, GM has geared up production of pricey "hybrids" that supposedly cause less pollution, until one considers battery disposal.

Critics complained the central state was mandating production of a kind of car that truck- and SUV-hungry American consumers don't want. The Obama administration responded, in effect, "Not so: Lots of the hybrids are selling."

But an examination of just where those sales are coming from gives the "Government Motors" label new relevance. President Barack Obama's own administration has bought almost a fourth of the Ford and GM hybrid vehicles sold since he took office, Bloomberg News reports, accelerating federal purchases to make up for waning consumer demand.

"At some point, the reality is that for this technology to be accepted, it needs to be done without a government crutch," comments Jeff Schuster, director of forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates in Troy, Mich. "But without a huge gas-price increase or further government demand, the natural demand just isn't going to be there."

Not only that, about 3,100 of the hybrids purchased by GSA were paid for out of $300 million that the agency received from the 2009 economic stimulus package, said Sara Merriam, a spokeswoman for the agency.

So the government brags of creating "green jobs" by giving the "stimulus" money to itself, and then using that tax loot to buy cars from a bankrupt auto giant the government itself is now running, so it can claim it's manufacturing a "popular" product?

"The lesson learned is that it isn't easy to make these vehicles mainstream," comments Brett Smith, who specializes in alternative propulsion vehicles at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. "They are still not near the point where they are cost-competitive in the market."

As Bloomberg notes, "The government is boosting investment in a technology that has failed to win broad acceptance after more than a decade ... . Consumer sales of hybrids are headed for their third consecutive yearly decline."

In Washington, that message doesn't seem to have sunk in. The Obama administration says they're getting ready to purchase lots of the new all-electric models being introduced by automakers including GM, plug-ins which some wags have already dubbed "coal-powered cars."