Still, the position of Andrew Taylor, whose father is a Washington University alumnus and the founder of Enterprise-Rent-A-Car, is interesting. The current Chairman and CEO of Enterprise, Andrew wants the government to raise gas taxes to near-European levels in order to establish a floor price that will make small cars more attractive. It would also make renting cars a more cost-effective solution and increase the demand for Enterprise’s hybrid vehicles. The point of the piece, and it’s a point always missed by Republicans, is that progressive government can be very beneficial to business:
Taylor cops to some self-interest in pushing for higher gas prices. Enterprise runs an 800,000-car rental fleet and already offers hybrid cars—which are in demand when gas is $4 a gallon but not so much when it’s $2.50. But there’s a larger explanation for the emerging cleavage between progressive big business and the Main Street economy the Chamber of Commerce purports to represent. Large firms are likely to have more exposure to overseas markets, and they can see which way the wind is blowing. Enterprise has a significant presence in the United Kingdom, where high gas taxes provide price stability without killing the market. “Our vehicles there are smaller; they’re more likely to be manual,” Taylor says. “But people still drive like crazy.”
Above all, the new business progressives are pragmatists. They know Obama is going to be around for four, possibly eight, years. In wartime, there are no atheists in the foxhole. And during this deep recession, there are few global-warming-denying libertarians in the boardroom. Or, to use a metaphor the Chamber of Commerce might embrace, there are fewer William Jennings Bryans and more John T. Scopeses.
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