Hybrid Car Review

Hillary Clinton told GM workers she wants to "have a strong and vibrant manufacturing sector in America." She, as president, is promising to create 5 million "green-collar" jobs, which includes

• $2 billion in battery research money for automakers,
• $10,000 tax credits for purchasers of plug-in hybrids, and
• $20 billion in low-interest "Green Vehicle Bonds" to help retool old auto plants.

Hillary also wants to

• Raise fuel economy standards to 40 mpg by 2020 and 55 mpg by 2030.
• Opposes the Korean free trade deal worked out by the Bush administration and currently before Congress.
• Her universal health care plan would help GM and them by reducing overall health care costs.

Auto maker insiders are already warning that whoever the next president is, a more 'vigorous' regulatory environment is likely to occur.

All three of the leading candidates, McCain, Clinton and Obama, favor a mandatory emissions cap that would affect all sectors of the economy. All three have come out in favor a global agreement to combat climate change. They have also all come out in favor of states being allowed to enforce their own greenhouse gas rules.

It may that a move into the white house will curb some of their enthusiasm for these and other mandates, but it's very likely any of the three will be more enthusiastic than their predecessor.

Clinton was visiting the GM plant outside of Baltimore which produces the hybrid transmission used in the new Tahoe and Yukon Hybrids from GM.

Update: Barack Obama, while visiting a GM plant in Wisconsin, promised he would invest $150 billion over a ten year period, creating 5 million new jobs over the next 20 years. And just to be sure, he'll add funding to retrain workers.

Prosperity hasn't always come easily. The plant shut down for a period during the height of the Depression, and major shifts in production have been required to meet the changing times. Tractors became automobiles. Automobiles became artillery shells. SUVs are becoming hybrids as we speak, and the cost of transition has always been greatest for the workers and their families.

That's quite a sum of money. I wonder how he's going to pay for it? But then, he was referring to the Energy Sector, not just the automotive industry.