Car czar, 'green' plan will fail

The new Congressional Visitor Center was originally budgeted at $71 million. When completed, four years behind schedule, the center's final price tag was over $700 million. A cost overrun of 1,000%, if it occurred in the private sector, it wouldn't get close to happening, but hypothetically would rain down scorn, firings, lawsuits and I daresay Congressional oversight. Any of that happen with the Visitor Center?

Now we are being asked to believe that this Congress in its infinite wisdom will be able to oversee the restructuring of the Big Three auto industry under the auspices of a 'car czar' beholden to ... Congress. The mandate will be to produce energy efficient green cars. With gasoline now estimated to cost $2.00 a gallon through 2009 does anyone believe, given credit availability that the American public would not once again turn to SUVs and other gas guzzlers?

Congress needs to back up their industrial policy by setting a meaningful gas tax that coercises U.S. car buyers into buying the 'green' cars because gas would once again be $4.00 or more a gallon, with the increased gas tax. Without this cohersion, Detriot can produce all the green cars they want, that nobody will buy. Congress won't do that ... they'd rather spend billions of dollars on an industrial policy to nowhere hoping we taxpayers won't notice when it collapses, then back up their convictions by attaching a true cost to their policies.

Steven Sarich

Grayslake