The Auto Writer

Is Ralph Nader Vaporware?

Executives at Chrysler LLC, the Ford Motor Company, and at General Motors are quaking in their boots today, having convened emergency sessions of their respective boards to figure out how to handle the pronouncement by consumer activist and presidential hopeful, Ralph Nader, that he is opposed to helping the Big 3 automakers.

In an article published in Monday’s The Detroit News, Nader said that “The taxpayer should not be played for a sucker,” as he responded to a reporter’s question about a $50 billion loan package sought by the automakers.

Nader, whose two-prong platform is gaining steam — “I’m the only candidate running who is older than John McCain and I’m even further to the left of Barack Obama” — has long been a critic of Detroit. It was his 1965 book, “Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile,” that shook up the US auto industry having been widely credited with changing the way cars are designed, particularly from a safety aspect.

Since then, Nader has been active in blowing the whistle on nursing homes, corporate lawyers, pointing out environmental violations, and has been a major force in the anti-nuclear power movement. Nader is making his fifth consecutive bid for America’s top political post and has chosen Matt Gonzalez, an activist attorney from California, as his running mate.

The Nader-Gonzalez independent candidacy is on 38 ballots so far; the campaign expects to be approved in 45 states before the September 20th deadline.

What The Major Candidates Say

Congress has already agreed to lend the Big 3 automakers $25 billion as part of an energy package, but lobbyists, working on behalf of the auto industry have been pushing for an additional $25 billion. Auto industry reps descended on the Democrat National Convention in Denver in August and the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last week to make their case.

Both Barack Obama and John McCain have already expressed their support for the initial package while Senator Obama has said that he is willing to expand the plan to $50 billion.