When You Play With The Puma, You Gotta Take Your Lumps

Sorry, Mr. Flaherty, you're a bit late to the party. Though you more than made up for your tardiness (via Newsmax (Insider):

Peter Flaherty, president of the conservative National Legal and Policy Center, is sharply critical of an experimental vehicle being developed by cash-strapped General Motors.

The vehicle, called the Puma, is an odd-looking two-wheel, two-seat scooter that runs on batteries and can reach a top speed of 35 miles per hour.

Flaherty appeared on CNBC on Tuesday after a prototype of the Puma was unveiled and declared: “I question what GM is doing. They have days and weeks to figure out how the company is going to survive. They don’t have years. What in the world are they doing working on this experimental project?

“Perhaps it has something to do with the availability of federal funding . . . meant to encourage electric cars. That’s what you get when you introduce government money — you get unintended consequences, and in this case, very weird results.”

Flaherty continued his attack on GM, which was granted a $17.4 billion loan by the federal government in December and is seeking additional funding to avoid bankruptcy.

“How long is the taxpayer going to have to fund this process?” said Flaherty, whose organization monitors abuse and corruption in the public and private sectors.

“I want them to build cars that they can sell at a profit to consumers who want them. In a capitalist system, in order for companies to survive at some point they have to turn a profit. When is GM going to turn a profit?

“What I’m worried about is that the 'anticar' activists, who are really behind things like this Puma, want us all riding bicycles. They want us riding bicycles to light rail so that we have socialized transportation.

“And what’s with this name, 'Puma'? I thought the puma was an endangered species. Is it because GM is an endangered company?”

Golly, he didn't leave much for me to add, did he? So I guess I'll have to leave the finish in the capable hands of Bugs Bunny:

Pete Puma: Well, I think I'll have to be goin' now.
Bugs Bunny: Oh, no, you can't leave yet. You got to have a nice cup of tea with me.
[Drags Pete to a table]
Bugs Bunny: Here we are.
[Serves tea]
Bugs Bunny: There's nothing as sociable as a nice cup of tea, I always say. How many lumps do you want?
Pete Puma: Oh, three or four
Bugs Bunny: [Bugs bunny whacks Pete on the head with a mallet 5 times and 5 lumps appear on his head] Oh dear, I gave you one too many. Well we can fix that.
[whacks the 5th lump back in his head]
Bugs Bunny: There, and here's a cigar for you.
[Bugs shoves the cigar in Pete's mouth and lights it; Bugs runs away; 3 seconds later it explodes]