Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Bolivia's Secret Shame


No, I'm not talking about the fact that lefty good guy president Evo Morales admits he drinks beer mixed with cola - I mean the fact that Boliva is lithium rich and these Jetson-esque energy efficient cars are powered by (yup) lithium.

Evo Morales has already nationalized the oil and gas industries of Bolivia, in theory making the profits benefit all Bolivians equally. Perhaps he has wants to change the idea that Bolivia is “a donkey sitting on a gold mine of natural resources,” because he is also a fan of the idea to make Bolivia a major exporter of lithium. In fact, according to an article published recently on www.hybridcars.com he would like Bolivia to be the world’s leading producer of lithium. But the article also reports that Morales has rejected offers from at least 4 auto companies to buy from Bolivia, including Toyota and Mitsubishi, saying that they simply want to take the lithium away for little compensation.

So what does this mean? They're gonna horde the lithium, build shit loads of these cars, and become the smugest nation in the world. That's what it means.

Seriously though, Bolivia has a few more pressing issues than energy efficient cars, no? Such as, o I don't know, a large, powerful and influential portion of the country trying to secede.

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