Will the American Oil Industry Backfire and Allow the Chinese to Emerge on Top of Electric Car Market?

JACQUELINE MARCUS FOR BUZZFLASH

Last month, I saw a cartoon in the Economist that mocked President Obama for giving a speech to Uncle Sam on changing to clean energy alternatives.  Uncle Sam cheered and then said, “Great—I’ll go get the car.”   It was an idiotic cartoon in the first place, but the message was clear:  Americans don’t have a choice; they must rely on gas.   What the cartoonist failed to mention is that Obama owns a hybrid-electric car.  Big oil investors have brainwashed Americans into believing that there are no electric cars; there are only gas-fueled cars.  

American tax payers have now paid over $1 trillion for the oil wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We won’t see a dime of that money for our schools, jobs, college grants or anything else.  It was reported that “after a take-it-or-leave-it vote by the Senate, House Democrats faced little choice but to drop billions in aid for schools, college students and others that they had hoped could ride on legislation paying for President Barack Obama's troop surge in Afghanistan.”

Democrats had full control with 80% approval ratings when Barack Obama entered the White House.  He had, in Bush’s words, “capital” and what did Obama spend that capital on?—the same Bush oil war policies: It’s obvious that occupying the Middle East is primarily about U.S. oil companies stealing foreign oil.   

I guarantee that it wouldn’t have cost one fourth of what this government spent on the oil wars to build electric highways with the promotion of electric cars, which would have produced a lot of new jobs.  The future is now.  We can’t afford to stay stuck in the 1800s. 

Don’t expect our corrupt government leaders to end the oil wars. Since 1860, our government has been by and large a plutocracy, a government for the wealthy industrialists, starting with Standard Oil. We must end it.  We must end it by killing the oil industry—and that is exactly what China’s electric car market is going to do.   

Do you dream of a near future when oil is nothing more than a dark history of a time when global warming nearly destroyed us and our planet because the oil barons forced our reliance on using the most polluting form of energy so that they could maintain their monopoly, wealth and power?  Do you dream of the day when oil is obsolete? Let’s make that dream a reality: buy an electric car. 

The more we learn about the deadly Gulf oil disaster, BP’s gross negligence, the perpetual lies about how wonderful and caring BP is—the more we should do everything in our power to buy and promote electric cars.  As for the BP TV ads and corporate media reports—gee, what extraordinary heroes they are for their grossly negligent actions, for polluting the Gulf with crude oil, methane and toxic dispersants for decades to come.  Ah, such nice, caring guys as seen through their billion dollar TV advertisement campaign.

If you read Antonia Juhasz’s The Tyranny of Oil, you would see behind the veil of commercialism: the cruel and sickening history of the oil industry: the inhumane and unspeakable crimes they’ve committed will turn your stomach.  If there is an Anti-Christ, the oil barons represent it: they destroy everything and anything that is Godly. Switching to electric cars will be the most effective way of ending our dependency on oil, and, once and for all, this evil empire known as Big Oil.  

I’m familiar with the lie that electric cars are not affordable, as if they were double the price of gas fueled cars.  New electric cars are not only priced the same as most gas fueled cars, they are far cheaper depending on the model. This lie has been perpetuated by the oil industry to fabricate the false belief that electric cars are not in high demand.  The U.S. auto and oil industry have deliberately limited the number of electric cars, creating a shortage to make it appear as though no one wants them—when, in fact, Americans want electric cars.   

Most Americans don’t know how much oil we consume in the United States: 

  The United States is by far the largest per capita contributor to global warming—releasing 30 percent of all energy-related CO? emissions in 2004…primarily from our cars and trucks...On average, each American uses nearly 3 gallons of oil per day. (Antonia Juhasz, The Tyranny of Oil, p.15) 

Although petroleum is used in many products, cars dominate our oil consumption.   

I absolutely reject the idea of buying gas from the Big Oil polluters; giving them my money is a painful experience.  I don’t want to support an industry that is killing this earth with its destructive pollution from drilling to CO? emissions.  I don’t want to give money to an industry that wages wars, that hires thugs who torture and kill innocent people for their oil profits.  We should have made the change to electric cars twenty years ago, but the oil monopolists blocked that from happening by paying the elected whores off at the on-going auctions in Congress; they’re extremely determined to stop the auto industry from moving to all electric vehicles.   

Has anyone seen one TV ad on a single electric car?  I haven’t.  Even Toyota’s most popular hybrid, the Prius, is rarely if ever advertised on TV commercials. And yet, they’re available for prices far less than gas-fueled vehicles.  Also, check the used car market for hybrid/electric cars.  At EBay Honda Hybrids are priced at $5,100. Hybrids were a good start, but we must move to all electric and not use a drop of gas. On new electric cars, Ford’s 2011 Fusion is priced at $26,545.00.   

The fact that there are no TV ads on electric cars proves that our U.S. auto industry is in bed with Big Oil.   

But China’s electric car company, BYD, is going right over the oil industry, and it can’t be stopped.  BYD's plug-in, called the F3DM (for "dual mode"), goes farther on a single charge - 62 miles - than other electric vehicles and sells for about $22,000, less than the Prius and Chevy Volt are expected to cost when they hit the market in late 2010. (Fortune) Warren Buffett has invested in BYD because he believes it has a shot at becoming the world's largest automaker, primarily by selling electric cars, as well as a leader in the fast-growing solar power industry. The BYD e6 is an all electric, luxury 5-door hatchback for those who are shopping in the $40,000 market, which is less than most gas fueled SUVs.   

More wealthy individuals are joining Warren Buffett to invest in electric cars, solar and wind.  It’s unprofitable for Wall Street investors to gamble their money on oil, pollution, global warming and wars. It’s a losing investment.  The top world financial leaders are leaving the industrialists behind; they know that the Industrial Age is over; oil & coal are no longer economically viable or sustainable; they’re wisely moving ahead to green investments, and they will make billions of dollars from these non-polluting energy investments. The oil industry cannot stop what is fashionable and popular.  In the same way that mobile phones became a popular necessity, electric cars are quickly becoming the “in” vehicles to drive.     

I’d like to support our auto industry, but if they want to cling to the 19^th century, antiquated, polluting oil age, then China will win this battle by selling and advertising affordable electric cars.  Some BYD electric car models may sell as low as $12 to $15,000. At that price, they’ll sell like hot cakes.  

Imagine the elated feeling of never having to pay a dime for gas again, and knowing that you’re helping to make the oil industry obsolete.  No more pollution.  No more global warming.  No more oil wars. And no more engine noise.  Just clean air and silence… 
 

Recommended reading from Buzzflash’s market:

The Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry and What We Must Do to Stop It [Paperback]: A timely must read about how the Oil Companies are more insidiously powerful than any government and are predatory profiteers and destroyers of the planet. By Antonia Juhasz.