Don't ditch gas engine, improve it

I recently had the opportunity to hear Sen. Christopher Dodd on national television stating that he feels the chief executives of the "Big 3" should resign for their failure to lead their corporations. In my opinion, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. I feel Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank should also resign. But for their incompetence, we would not be in this economic situation. They were the two most adamant pubic officials who promoted the sub-prime lending mandates that forced banks to issue loans to people who could not afford to pay the loans. These two individuals have caused this nation the greatest financial jeopardy since the Great Depression. They should be ashamed of their conduct, and resign, as they demand of the executives from the "Big 3" auto manufacturers. As far as a car czar is concerned, my problem with that is the government has proven to be such a failure in managing any program, why should we trust them to dictate to the car manufacturers how they should operate their business? Left to government, they will mandate carbon emission restrictions, elimination of gasoline-operated vehicles, which will mean electric vehicles.

Have you ever asked yourself, what would American citizens do if hit by a Katrina-force hurricane that knocked out electric plants, so that no regeneration of electric batteries could be performed? How would people in electric cars travel? It does not seem that government thinks about such circumstances. Even in areas where hurricanes are not prevalent, how often have you heard on the news that an automobile accident has knocked down electric poles knocking out power? Those people in that specific area would not be able to charge their car batteries. If electric cars are to become a thing of the future, obviously, they would need another souce of energy to recharge the battery. That probably would be gasoline powered generators. If gasoline is going to be needed, why don't we drill in this country, so we can provide the means to regenerate electric car batteries? No matter how you look at it, oil is going to be needed to operate vehicles.

In my opinion, what we need the "Big 3" automakers to produce is a gasoline engine that will generate 100 mpg. Their sales would zoom across the world. Further, we should initiate drilling in the United States, not only as a means of weaning us off foreign oil, but as a national security issue.

The 100 mpg engine is probably a lot more likely than an electric car from a practical matter. Let's let Yankee ingenuity develop it.

Steven R Heuberger

Libertyville