After today’s bankrupcy filing, the United States of America will own more than 60% of GM. Following is a letter from Michael Moore to President Obama (and the Country) on what we should do with our new company.

Goodbye, GM – by Michael Moore
June 1, 2009

I write this on the morning of the end of the once-mighty General Motors. By high noon, the President of the United States will have made it official: General Motors, as we know it, has been totaled.

As I sit here in GM’s birthplace, Flint, Michigan, I am surrounded by friends and family who are filled with anxiety about what will happen to them and to the town. Forty percent of the homes and businesses in the city have been abandoned. Imagine what it would be like if you lived in a city where almost every other house is empty. What would be your state of mind?

It is with sad irony that the company which invented “planned obsolescence” — the decision to build cars that would fall apart after a few years so that the customer would then have to buy a new one — has now made itself obsolete. It refused to build automobiles that the public wanted, cars that got great gas mileage, were as safe as they could be, and were exceedingly comfortable to drive. Oh — and that wouldn’t start falling apart after two years. GM stubbornly fought environmental and safety regulations. Its executives arrogantly ignored the “inferior” Japanese and German cars, cars which would become the gold standard for automobile buyers. And it was hell-bent on punishing its unionized workforce, lopping off thousands of workers for no good reason other than to “improve” the short-term bottom line of the corporation. Beginning in the 1980s, when GM was posting record profits, it moved countless jobs to Mexico and elsewhere, thus destroying the lives of tens of thousands of hard-working Americans. The glaring stupidity of this policy was that, when they eliminated the income of so many middle class families, who did they think was going to be able to afford to buy their cars? History will record this blunder in the same way it now writes about the French building the Maginot Line or how the Romans cluelessly poisoned their own water system with lethal lead in its pipes.

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In a very interesting article in today’s NY Times, the full cost of ownership of various vehicles is compared. The difference in the cost of owning a Ford Focus and a Ford F-250 pickup (over five years) is $60,000! This is equal to the annual pretax income of a typical American family.

The most telling part of the article was this:

The company [General Motors] is also considering selling its Hummer brand, an emblem of the megavehicle. Rick Wagoner, G.M.’s chairman, explained the moves by saying that he thought the shift toward more efficient cars was “by and large, permanent.”

So GM has finally gotten the message loud and clear, about 35 years late.

According to the article, last month the Toyota Corolla and Camry and the Honda Civic and Accord all surpassed the F-Series trucks in new vehicle sales. “It was the first month since December 1992 that a car — not a truck —
was the country’s top-selling vehicle.”

That, plus Barack Obama clinching the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. The times they are a changin’.

I get frequent questions about the best way to filter oil. After three years of filtering oil, I have tried many different set ups and arrived at a pretty simple setup that works well for me. Here is a short video tour of how to set up a do-it-yourself system for filtering waste vegetable oil.

Note: The clicking sounds you hear are from a woodpecker just outside the barn. I’ll try to redo this video to improve the quality.

One popular question I get is how to set up a home fueling station. Here is a short video showing my home filling station for filtered waste vegetable oil. It is powered by solely by gravity.

Note: This is a do-it-yourself project. Vegcar.net doesn’t sell any products at this time, nor do we have plans to do so in the future.

I’m heading to Riverside today and just booked my rental car with Budget. It is a great sign that the Toyota Prius is sold out. It is a Tuesday and a typical week so I think the cars are likely booked by business travelers like me. This demand will likely drive Budget and the other rental companies to order more hybrid vehicles.

I will book my car earlier next time to get the hybrid.

With Super Tuesday fast approaching, it would be good to know:

• Which candidate would do the most to reduce our dependence on petroleum for fuel (domestic or foreign)?
• Which candidate would do the most to promote alternative energy and conservation?
• Which would do the most to reduce our production of greenhouse gasses?

I have invited all four remaining candidates (McCain, Romney, Obama and Clinton) to be interviewed here on vegcar.net. What questions would you like to ask them. I’ll let you know when I hear back from them. 

Do you notice anything interesting about this Budget Rent-a-Car page? (Click the image to see a larger version)

For quite a few years now, we frequent travelers have heard the agent offer, “would you like a free upgrade to an SUV?” as if this was a gift! Today, while booking a rental car, I noticed that the cheapest vehicle offered by Budget is an “Intermediate SUV!” A “standard SUV” (aka land yacht) is less than $1 more than a compact car! These gas-guzzling, air-polluting behemoths are cheaper to rent than an intermediate sized car.

I hope this means that they are having trouble renting these SUVs. Perhaps they will cut back their purchases of these vehicles from the manufacturers, leading to less production of them.

I can only hope that gas prices climb another dollar or two. This should get more people (and policy makers) to wake up and demand more fuel efficient cars.

If you haven’t read about or used Zip Car you must. Once you join Zip Car you can reserve a car online and go pick it up, in your neighborhood. Their cars are located in the city, not at some distant airport location. In San Francisco you can rent a Prius for $8.75/hour or $65/day (INCLUDING GAS AND INSURANCE!). They offer many hybrid cars as well as trucks.

This, from their website:

Zipcars live in your neighborhood! Drive MINIs, VWs, cars that haul and more. By the hour or day. Includes gas, insurance, and parking. Simply reserve online, walk a block and drive away.

I am looking forward to seeing this film when it comes out at the end of this month. While I don’t think electric cars are the ultimate answer to our energy problems, it would certainly be a significant step in the right direction.

I added another decal to my car. In addition to the one on the rear windshield that says, “Runs on Used Cooking Oil”, I added a smaller one next to the license plate that says, “Cooking Oil, No War Required”.

I was hesitant at first to put this one on the car. I live in a very conservative area and was concerned about the response I’d get. It is ironic since it is people who are truly “conservative” who are most opposed to war, or who see it as a truly last resort. It is obvious that this war was not a last resort by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, I have gotten thumbs ups, and “right-ons” from many people in the area. I truly believe that the current political climate (fostered intentionally by those on the far right) has intimidated many people from any kind of dissent. People believe the foolish premise that if you criticize the US Government you are unpatriotic! It is so preposterous, but has become entrenched in the psyche of the country.

So, I think that my decal has helped a few people open up and express their true feelings, just a little bit. I’ll post photos soon…

Dan