As the $16.5 BILLION that VW
As the $16.5 BILLION that VW has already agreed to payout includes settlement money to all 50 states and a huge sum to the CARB and EPA to fund their efforts to install charging stations and reduce diesel emissions in large trucks, at what point is enough enough? I appreciate that all of these government entities are embarrassed to having allowed this to occur for so many years, but $16.5B is a sum that would have killed most other auto companies. VW is one of the largest employers in the world at approx 650,000 people and there are at least twice that number who rely on VW thru vendor and supplier relationships - will putting them out of business teach anyone anything? And is what VW did really 165 times as onerous as GM choosing to ignore their crappy ignition switches for 10 years while teenage girls with lots of dangly junk on their key chains died? What VW did is stupid, wrong and they deserve to pay deeply - but let's get real here...