Yesterday, candidate McCain called for “a $300 million prize to whoever can develop a battery that will leapfrog the abilities of current hybrid and electric cars.”
On page 199 of Real Change, Newt Gingrich says “There ought to be a billion-dollar tax-free prize for the first hydrogen car that can be mass produced for a reasonable price.”
Observations:
If you’re going to jack somebody else’s ideas, give them credit — especially if the ideas are whacky. This one meets both criteria — jacked & whacky.
At least McCain showed fiscal restraint by making the prize only $300 million — but why $300 million? In marketing jargon, that’s not a “price point” — he could have gone down to $250 million and not lost any impact, or gone up to $500 million and referred to it as “half a billion dollars” — that has some punch.
If Obama also cops the idea, it certainly won’t be tax-free. In fact, anything over $250,000 would probably get hit with payroll taxes …
The posted reward for capturing Bin Laden is $50 million. By inference, it must be 6 times as tough to develop a hydrogen car — and will take at least 7 years (and still counting).
The Homa Files 
June 24, 2008 at 1:34 pm |
First, great site, Ken! To your point… as a political professional, I’d argue the “300MM” price point was selected more for its symbolic value. Within a certain range (as you suggest $250-500), the amount itself is not important. My guess is the price point was “populatition-driven” for easy public consumption, i.e., derived via putting a premium on being able to say “300 mil is not that much — it’s $1 for every man, woman, child in the U.S.” Conversely, any amount OTHER than that invites more questions for the 4th Estate: “How did you derive the number $400 million, 500 million, etc.?”