The BIG 3's Ceo's paycuts?

I also think it is ridiculous that they flew in private jets...at minimum, they could have jet pooled.

Now for their business practices. They built what the consumer wanted. These trucks and SUV's also happened to have huge profit margins. They built small fuel efficient cars, not many wanted them and there wasn't much profit. I don't know, maybe the workers on less profitable cars could make less money? It's hard to compete with the foreign manufacturers who build cars in non union plants; even here in the U.S.

The average American won't buy a hybrid. There are several reasons, the first being the cost. Aside from the original higher purchase price is the cost of ownership. While less is spent on fuel, there are higher insurance costs and then there will be trade in value. What can you get for a used car that will need thousands of dollars in batteries eventually? It just doesn't make sense for the average consumer.

Electric vehicles are pretty much in the same boat. Add in the fact that many areas, especially metropolitan areas where electric cars would be best suited, already have strains on their electrical systems. Add in the fact that the President elect says no more coal or electrical generation plants-then we are still using fossil fuels to power the cars. Hydrogen is probably the best long term option, but without cheap electricity, no a viable one.

Why not build small displacement turbo diesel cars? That seems to be the best answer with today's availability of resources.

Then there is algae to fuel. Imagine turning the arid and uninhabited deserts of the southwest into a fuel making gold mine. It's estimated it would take 15,000 square miles of algae to fuel production to replace all of the petroleum used in the US. Interesting reading, I accidentally came across it.

Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel