[wakawaka28]

The country you grew up in was rich from the spoils of war as other countries had to rebuild everything. It's not merely because of spending that we were world leaders. We had the biggest manufacturing base in the world, and not so much debt. Now the situation is opposite. We have an epic amount of ever-expanding debt, plus most of our manufacturing has been outsourced. What we're left with is a country with 5% of the world's population and one with little capacity for self-sufficiency. Can spending more help us become leaders in something? It could happen. But look at the competition, look at the degredation in our capabilities, even the degredation in our culture. Most of the wealth in our world comes from natural resources and manufacturing, and our manufacturing is about the most expensive in the world.

>Obama’s stimulus act funded loans to clean energy companies and was pilloried when bets failed.

When the results don't match the investment, it is natural to cut back. Keep in mind Obama also presided over the global financial crisis of 2008, and the government had a number of urgent things to take care of. Incentives for clean energy never stopped, and in the case of EVs they are becoming annoying. We don't need an EV mandate. If they want people to use EVs, they need to make EVs that don't suck. That seems to be a lot to ask for, and the tech just isn't ready.