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Comment on GM cuts thousands of EV and battery factory workers | TechCrunch

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

If a product can only exist with huge government subsidies, it’s probably not ready for the market. These cuts are because of the government cutting federal tax rebates for purchasing an EV.

I love EVs, and my next car will likely be one, but if you can’t make an EV at a price point that people will buy them at without the government essentially using taxpayer money to discount them, then you shouldn’t be making EVs.

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Dadifer@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Maybe you’re right! I wonder why all the oil industries get such huge subsidies 🤔

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- FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Because corruption, mostly.
  
  Oil however is a bit different as the world would literally collapse without it. We have no replacement for it. We need it.
  
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Soup@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Yes and no. Sometimes government aid is a good thing. Public transit is a good example of something that should actually be free because of the returns it gives in taxes. The issue is that corrupt governments are subsidizing profits and trying to help the companies when they should be simply aiming for the betterment of society. I don’t care if GM goes down, they’re awful, but I do care if hospitals and clinics can’t stay open because they’re providing their services for free.

Subsidies to get people onto renewables as soon as possible are good things but not if companies just raise the price by the amount of the aid.

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- FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Public service spending isn’t a subsidy.
  
  Nothing about EVs are “renewable”. The government subsidies for “renewables” are one of the biggest examples of corruption we’ve ever seen.
  
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  - Soup@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    There is always going to be a need for some people to have personal vehicles and electricity is a damn sight better than gasoline. Used correctly, a subsidy is an incentive and a support for something which may not be able to be very profitable on its own but which is still worth having around and investing in.
    
    The problem is that they are so often misused especially by two North American countries and things go south.
    
    Public service spending isn’t a subsidy but I also didn’t directly call it that and I think you missed the message I was sending. The point is that sometimes you want something that cannot be directly profitable but which is of a certain benefit to society.
    
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    FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    
    There is always going to be a need for some people to have personal vehicles and electricity is a damn sight better than gasoline.
    
    When that electricity is generated from solar panels and wind turbines that require endless mining of non-renewable sources, and create endless landfill, no, it’s not a damn sight better than gasoline. It’s causing significantly more environmental damage than gasoline is.
    
    The point is that sometimes you want something that cannot be directly profitable but which is of a certain benefit to society.
    
    You want that to be publicly owned, not lining the pockets of private enterprise. If a private company needs subsidies to exist, it should be left to fail. If it needs subsidies, it should be publicly owned.
    
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BCsven@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Well the government subsidizes the oil and gas industries too, so what is good for the goose is good for the Evs

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- FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  They don’t subsidise the purchase price of petrol cars.
  
  Should the oil industry be subsidised? Absolutely not, they would still be extremely profitable without the subsidies. It’s pure corruption by politicians who want to help their mates, help keep the donations flowing, and want to position themselves for cushy exec jobs and board seats when they leave politics.
  
  The EV market is different though, as this situation shows. The oil industry doesn’t need subsidies. The EV market, as well as the “renewables” market, do.
  
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  - BCsven@lemmy.ca ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    In a way they do, the price of gasoline is artificially low in North America compared to Europe. And if you search gasoline subsidies you will see how many billions countries pay to prop up fossil fuel.
    
    The cost of car ownership for a petrol cat depends on government.
    
    For us our petrol is manipulated in another way also: We we paying around $1.80 a liter a while back, but an election happened so they removed some of the taxes on petrol as a party incentive, so now we are paying $1.50
    
    While not a direct subsidy, that ooerating cost did have an impact on car purchase choices.
    
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