Special interest Groups

I am copying a post from our internal discussion board which I thought would be of interest, when looking at the interest groups around this project of ours. The original comment came from Jean Louis from Belgium-France (Is that a new way to state you are from the side of Belgium that will soon become France??)

I will post his original post as a response to my post...but check out the discussion board at www.projectBetterPlace.com

My answer
------------

Guys,

Here are a coupld of observations on the special interests as I met them these past few months extensively

1) Car guys - need any way possible to get cars simpler to make profit. The myth that they want a car to have more replacement parts is not true - they would like a car that assembles in less time. Plus - they want all the used car guys to buy a new car which they will not do unless there is a newer cheaper way to use the car.

2) Big Oil - divided these days into national companies and global companies. The global ones actually see their business as "transportation energy companies not just oil" and they see their wells starting to dry up within 10-15 years. they get no new wells, and as a result they would love to find a better way to energize cars. can you say partnership?

3) Countires - while they collect tax on gasoline they lose a lot on their trade balance due to oil imports. Countries manage overall money markets (macro) not just taxes from one commodity (Micro). Plus, remember mel brooks always said "It's good to be king" - if you run the taxes for a country you can always add a tax somewhere else as long as the money stays in your country. If you import oil the money goes away and you never get to collect the taxes afterwards....

Finally consumers - especially in Europe - if you drive the average used car in Europe it is 7 years of age, making it worth roughly 3,000 Euros (which is almost a million dollars at today's exchange rate, right?). Think for a second - your "replacement threashold" has now become 3,000 Euro or less than the gasoline you pay for one year. At the pace things are going right now, you will probably be paying 1.5 Euro to 2 Euro a liter for the next year or two...in other words you can get 1,500 liters in exchange for your car. So anyone giving you more than 20,000 km of free drive will convince you to get out of your car...That makes the consumers the most important factor in this game...no longer silent becuase they can vote with their wallets.

Comments

[dan mcweeney]

Link is broken in the second paragraph.

[NAFTOLI]

שלום שי
אני במקצוע משווק ויש לי פטנט עולמי למכונית חשמלית ללא צורך במצבר ויצירת חשמל בעוצמה
בלי שיעור
זה לא דמיוני
אם אתה מעונין לדעת עוד פרטים צור קשר בפלאפון שלי
00447852183340
בברכה
נפתלי
לונדון

[Oded Roth]

Yes. Machiavely scripts should be compelled reading for this project.

[Mike Harrigan]

Another special interest group (at least in the US) is car dealers. They are a very powerful and wealthy group that controls the OEM/consumer relationship. They have 5 profit centers: new car sales, service, parts & accessories, used car sales, and finance/insurance. Service & parts is a big part of the profit equation for dealerships and electric cars will need far fewer parts and service than ICE powered cars (e.g.: no scheduled oil/filter changes, engine rebuilds, transmission rebuilds, etc.). It may be necessary to rethink the distribution and service model for electric cars.

[Itzhak]

שלום שי אגסי
מעוניין להשתלב באיזשהו אופן בפרוייקט אני בא ממדעי החברה עם רקע בתחום הטכני. מתעניין במשך השנים בנושא הרכב.
יודע בעיקר לחשוב וללמוד.
יצחק

[Jean louis Ropers]

Hello Shai

Hello everybody

I just noticed, you switched my remark to your blog. Thanks for your interest but it lobbys we have to count with.
By the way Belgium-France is unfortunately no more a joke even you in the US you are aware of that.
I live between Brussels Paris and Luxembourg, here is the reason behind
let s keep brainstorm on your ideas and let s change the world
Jean Louis

[נעמי דרום]

הי שי
שמי נעמי דרום, אני עיתונאית ואני כותבת כתבת סיכום שנה בעיצוב למגזין את.
אחד מהמרואיינים שלנו(עידו ברונו מבצלאל) הזכיר את המיזם שלך למכונית חשמלית בתור דבר מעניין שקרה השנה
ורציתי לדעת אם יש לך איזשהם ויז'ואלים שקשורים לפרויקט: למשל, הדמיות של המכונית המתוכננת, שניתן לשלב בכתבה
ניתן לפנות אלי באימייל
naomidarom@gmail.com
או בטלפון
050-8729705
תודה
נעמי דרום

[נעמי דרום]

שלום שי
שמי נעמי דרום, אני עיתונאית ואני כותבת כתבה של סיכום שנה בעיצוב למגזין את
אחד המרואיינים הזכיר את מיזם המכונית החשמלית שלך, ורציתי לדעת אם יש לך ויז'ואלים כלשהם שיכולים ללוות את הכתבה
(למשל, הדמיות של המכונית המתוכננת)
ניתן לפנות אלי בטלפון
050-8729705
או באימייל שאת כתובתו ציינתי למעלה
תודה
נעמי דרום

[Rak Yitsik]

שי שלום. שמי יצחק רק, אני מהנדס אלקטרוניקה מאז סיום לימודיי בהצטיינות במסלול עתודה אקדמאית לפני 16 שנים. בן 38, תושב כפר-יונה ומועסק בחב' י.ב.מ
בניסיוני התעסוקתי, עבדתי עד לפני שנתיים, במשך 8 שנים בחב' סרגון. גדלתי עם החברה, למדתי שם רבות בתחומים שונים ומגוונים באלקטרוניקה
לפני 3 שנים פיתחתי רעיון בתחום סוללות אלקטרו-מכאניות, שזכה לעניין ומימון מהמדען הראשי
בחודשים האחרונים אני מקדיש הרבה מזמני ללימוד ופיתוח רעיונות הנדסיים טכנולוגיים בנושא מערכת הנעה-חשמלית
שמעתי וקראתי רבות על המיזם שאתה מוביל ויש לי עניין גדול לפנות אליך על מנת להשתלב במיזם שלך, להוביל ולקדם את נושא הרכבים החשמליים בארץ ובעולם
אשמח מאוד אם תוכל לנדב לי את האינפורמציה המתאימה, או אל מי עליי לפנות
מודה לך מראש על זמנך היקר,
בברכה,
יצחק רק
yitsik.rak@gmail.com

[Chris Boeres]

Hi Shai Agassi, your system for re-charging the electric car shows permanent installations with the battery change out equipment underground. Would it be more manageable to have mobile charging units were the cars drive up a ramp, have the battery changed out, than down another ramp to road level? Good luck with your electric car deal. Chris Boeres

[John Wallace]

Special Interest Money is Nothing More Than Bribery

Members of Congress have managed to create a seemingly lawful system whereby they can legally accept money from lobbyists or other persons who represent special interest groups that are actively involved in trying to influence those same politicians in future votes. The special interest groups that contribute large sums of money to political campaigns want and expect “their politicians” to enact (or help in some way) legislation that favors the group that provided the money. In America today, we are living under a political system that not only allows, but encourages and condones the legalized bribery of members of congress. That is why I believe “America has the best congress that special interest money can buy.”

Compare these two examples:

1. If a known drug dealer gives a police officer in a narcotics enforcement unit a $1,000. “Contribution” for the policeman’s ball and says “I hope you consider looking the other way when I’m selling drugs on the corner.” Whether or not the police officer takes any kind of official action that benefits the drug dealer, if he accepts the money, he commits the crime of bribery, right?

2. If a lobbyist or member of a special interest group gives a member of congress a $1,000. “Contribution” for his campaign and says: I hope you consider our position on any upcoming votes that affect us.” Whether or not the congressmen or Senator takes some kind of official action that benefits that person or organization, if he accepts the money, isn’t that still bribery?

Neither of these public servants should be taking money from people or organizations to influence their decisions they will make during the course of performing their official duties. Shouldn’t both situations be considered illegal conduct by those involved? Well, not if you are a member of congress. Bribery is defined as “a corrupt activity in which a person offers or receives goods, money, services, etc. to sway a person’s opinion, action, or decision.” Merely accepting the goods, money, services, etc, is a crime. It is immaterial whether or not the person receiving the benefit, does anything. In the case of members of congress, however, receiving money is only considered to be bribery if the briber explicitly says to the politician (the one being bribed): "I'm giving you this money as payment for a yes or no vote on the house floor tomorrow."

The reality of political life in America today is that politicians are being bribed every day by special interest groups that want them to legislate in a way that benefits them and not the American people. Americans are bearing the brunt of this horrific situation in ways that affect us all every day of our lives. The current campaign finance laws are built on a legal fiction. The legal fiction is that campaign contributions from special interest groups are considered to be legal and within the law even though they are actually bribes. Money given to members of congress by special interest groups is nothing more than "legalized bribery." Through bundled contributions and PAC giving, industries, labor unions, and other special interest groups pay to persuade lawmakers to vote their way on the issues.

No matter how it is said, Special Interest dollars buys votes and it also buys elections. The real scandal in the nation’s capitol is that this everyday bribery remains legal. Candidates who please their special interest money donors through their votes, are usually rewarded with more bribes, I mean more campaign contributions. This legalized bribery system has created a “Privileged Oligarchy” made up of selected members of congress and big donor elites from wealthy special interest groups. This oligarchy is currently governing this country and making decisions that oftentimes are not in the best interests of the American people, but rather in favor of the special interest groups.

Our elections should be about what American citizens want, not about what big special interest donors want.

I will support any legislation that defines the receipt of special interest money by members of congress as bribery and therefore illegal.

I also will support legislation that removes the monetary limits on individual contributions to campaigns, as the US Constitution does not give Congress the authority to set such limits because it limits the citizens’ free speech rights.

I support the continuation of legislation requiring the full and immediate disclosure of all contributions to Federal election campaigns. No exceptions or loopholes allowed.

Although I do not fully support the concept of government financing of campaigns, the following two pieces of legislation, currently introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives, are a step in the right direction and I would support them as well. They are H.R. 1614 “The Clean Money, Clean Elections Act of 2007” and S.936 “The Fair Elections Now Act.”

By:
JOHN W. WALLACE
Candidate for Congress
New York’s 20th Congressional District
www.johnwallaceforcongress.com

[Sam Milton]

Electric cars will be a welcome addition to dealer's showroom floors. I welcome them and can't wait to be selling them. Today's consumers are demanding a less expensive, more environmentally friendly vehicle. I'm looking forward to the day when the hit critical mass and we can effect real change on the planet.