Good post. Maybe other than stay the F out, the Feds should be pulling on the demand side, instead of trying to pick favorite companies. If the feds need 100,000 cars (or jeeps or humvees), they should REQUIRE that they be clean, efficient, safe, reliable, etc. Set the bar high. Let the marketplace figure out how to get there. Pretty clear from EnerDel, Solyndra, Evergreen, etc., that picking winners is hard business. By the same token, not a single bank in the US would guarantee a loan for construction of a nuclear power plant. The only way Nukes can realistically be built is through federally backed loan guarantees. So, perhaps again the feds need to step back, and articulate the objectives of clean, sustainable energy -- perhaps with some demand-side insentives, but stay out of the business of picking favorite companies and favorite technologies.
I think if Feds stay the F out altogether, then countries where the markets work with the government, and government with the market...well, they'll fricken bury us. Shopping can only prop up our economy for so long.
