Read here. Soooo, China and Japan get in a dispute about a Chinese fishing boat and the next thing the world knows, China has put an embargo on rare earth metals. These chemical elements are essential for the manufacture and maintenance of green vehicles, which especially rely on the state-of-the-art batteries and electronics that rare-metals make possible. For the unaware, China produces about 95% of the world's supply of these elements.
As this most recent example illustrates, for the U.S. government to push electric cars onto the auto produces and consumers, knowing China could easily strangle the global market with a stroke of a pen, is the height of big-government stupidity. Of course though, when it comes to stupid and moronic ideas for businesses and consumers, the liberal-left Democrats are in a class of their own.
Previous C3 postings on electric autos: here, here, here, here, and here.
Update: Here's a great piece on why rare earth elements are not really a rare resource but are indeed "rare" in the global marketplace. In a way, the U.S. is responsible for manufacturing a shortage in rare earth elements, which will likely continue.