The government of China continues to make bold moves to move the country off of oil, announcing $15 billion in seed money for its electric car industry. Meanwhile, the US is mired in an intractable, expensive conflict in Afghanistan. If it's all about picking your battles, then the future is bleak for US industrial growth.
In the newly-redesigned Opinion Pages of Sunday's New York Times, bestselling author Thomas Friedman ("The World Is Flat") discusses Chinese versus American "moon shots," or multi-billion dollar, game-changing investments, warning that the US needs to act now to stimulate a market for electric vehicles.
How? According to Friedman, only one thing will create the consumer pull needed to build a viable domestic EV industry: raising taxes on gasoline.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
Read Friedman's piece here.
Photo: The all-electric 2011 sedan from Coda Automotive.