DETROIT PRODUCES ANOTHER GENIUS – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  It is hard to make this up.  From the Detroit News:

Detroit — General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson wants the federal gas tax boosted as much as $1 a gallon to nudge consumers toward more fuel-efficient cars, and he's confident the government will soon shed its remaining 26 percent stake in the once-bankrupt automaker...

...And while he is eager to say goodbye to the government as a part owner of GM, Akerson would like to see it step up to the challenge of setting a higher gas tax, as part of a comprehensive energy policy.

A government-imposed tax hike, Akerson believes, will prompt more people to buy small cars and do more good for the environment than forcing automakers to comply with higher gas-mileage standards.

"There ought to be a discussion on the cost versus the benefits," he said.

COMMENT:  I don't know what this captain of industry's salary is, but I'll bet five-dollar-a-gallon gasoline wouldn't dent it at all.  But for the rest of the peasantry out there, it's an outrage, and would do great damage to families.  It would also kill any economic recovery.

Great thinking has rarely come out of the auto industry.  I guess they want to keep that tradition alive. 

June 8, 2011