Name: William MeurerCompany: Green Motor Works Inc.,...
Name: William Meurer
Company: Green Motor Works Inc., the first U.S. dealership for electric cars.
Position: President
Registration: Green Party
Q: Who are you going to vote for?
A: Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
Q: Why?
A: I’m not voting for Clinton, I’m voting for Gore. Al Gore’s awareness of the impending collapse of many of the ecosystems that we depend on to support human life is the one ray of hope for some meaningful leadership from Washington. Even though Republican administrations have typically been more supportive of healthy economic programs, the Bush/Reagan leadership hasn’t been able to control the destructive deficit spending that has been blamed on the Democrats. We’ll all be muddling along with this bad economy for awhile. Developing new business objectives that protect and heal our planet is something that Al Gore understands and supports.
Q: What are the main issues for your business?
A: We Americans buy more cars than anyone else in the world. Electric cars should be made by Americans and built here at home. Initially, electric cars will require government price support until the economies of scale can catch up with that of traditional gas cars. Just as the Southern California economy was propped up with government defense dollars, why can’t those dollars help us to jump-start a world-class electric vehicle industry here? We are a world economy and we’ve got to look at why the Japanese auto industry has done so well. As the Japanese have done, U.S. manufacturers, government and labor organizations must work together if we want to compete on the world market’s terms. U.S. electric vehicle technology is ahead right now. Our business must roll up its sleeves and work with all of the players if we want to achieve primary market dominance.
Q: What needs to be done to right the economy?
A: We’ve got to produce products that can be sold into the world economy, and that means working hard. Barriers to our ability to compete globally include: a federal budget 49% of which is made up of entitlements, excessive Social Security costs, insurance fraud and an under-educated middle- and lower-class citizen. But if we take care of our own and reduce the free breakfast/lunch/dinner, the economy will take care of itself. We should stop the corporate feed trough in Washington and redirect money into education and the development of U.S.-based global businesses.
