[quote=flu]$300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million). Again, WTF???? I guess this is for ford and gm… But again, wtf??? $300 million for new cars???[/quote]

Flu, I mostly agree with your post, but I have an issue with your demonization of upgrading the federal fleet. I posted this in another thread, but I’m curious how modernizing the federal fleet of vehicles is not good for the long term stability of our country? Lets say we replace every federal vehicle with one that gets 10MPG more. How much fuel will that save the country? How much will it save over 5-10 years? How much will it save when gas is $4, $6, or $10 per gallon? Our fleet is pretty big. How much do you think we pay fueling those vehicles over 1 year? Over 5-10 years? Less or more than $300 million?

Additional side effects are less greenhouse gasses, and the saving and/or creating of jobs on the manufacturing side in order to fulfill such a large order.

If you were advising a large New York taxi company that owns thousands of 15-year old fuel in-efficient taxis, would you advise them that it’s not in their best interests to modernize their fleet with more fuel efficient cars? Seems to me that in today’s environment, that’s one of the best pieces of advice you could give that company.

Flu, can you explain why upgrading the national fleet 1) is not stimulative, 2) doesn’t help lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and 3) is not beneficial to the long term stability of the nation?