This post is dedicated to my good friend Chip B. whom I got into a big discussion about a month back on this very subject.
This is a picture of my brand new car. We bought it in the middle of March and it is our third car, The gas mileage on it sucks. Right now we are averaging 19 miles to the gallon, but for all you tree huggers out there - we've only filled the tank up once.
I love driving this car. It is so much fun that I've never run so many errands in my life. In case you are wondering - it is a 4 seat, Toyota Solara Sports Convertible with an in your face bright red paint job. Mary and I loved this car so much that we took a ride in March when it was 44 degrees outside - yes we had our winter coats on.
Anyway back to my post dedicated to Chip. A month back late night at his house we got into a big discussion on fuel efficient cars. My argument went like this...
- Only tree huggers want these small crappy fuel efficient cars; the vast majority of consumers don't want them.
- The car companies can't manufacturer these tree hugger match boxes efficiently
- Without Government intervention these cars are more expensive to buy when compared to similar match box crappy oil burners.
- The Government will have to use tax dollars to bring these cars down in price - again using the wealth distribution process.
- When the US Companies (exception is Ford) blew themselves up, the Obama Administration used this opportunity to swoop in and save these companies to put other tree hugging loons in control to build the cars that not enough people want unless you're in the Obama Administration or your last name is Pelosi.
- If car companies built powerful, beautifully designed cars that people wanted and they were fuel efficient - that would be a win. However, the only way today to get fuel efficient cars is to build them no bigger than a shopping cart.
Now on May 19th, Obama introduced new fuel efficiency standards. As a goal I think they are good ones - I believe the timing is terrible. I also think standardizing them nationally is good too. I don't agree with tax subsidizing them. I don't agree with increasing costs of car manufacturing. I don't agree with forcing consumers to buy crappy little cars because that's what the Government wants. If car manufactures can build cars like my new one above and make it fuel efficient - than great but that ain't happening by 2016.
For my friend Chip, here are links to Wall Street Journal articles backing up my argument. This standard is nothing but bad news for consumers - unless you were planning on buying these crappy cars anyway...
Obama Says New Car-Fuel Rules Generate Certainty - A good summary of this leftist agenda item with this great line that proves my point about how the Obama Administration now controls these American Car companies so they can do their bidding "But the rules also will raise the cost of manufacturing new vehicles at
a time when the auto industry is struggling, and Chrysler LLC is in
bankruptcy, where it may soon be joined by General Motors Corp. Still, car makers have signaled support for the new standards,
Obama Would Support Auto Incentives for Consumers - This article includes a few tire busting nails like these all based on wealth distribution and ignoring true consumer needs:
- We fought for the $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of advanced
technology vehicles in the Recovery Act," the official said, and "our
administration remains committed to policies to help bring the costs
down" for consumers.
- The administration estimates fuel-economy regulations will add $1,300
on average to the price of new cars by 2016, but President Barack Obama
on Tuesday said fuel savings would offset those costs for the typical
motorist in three years
- If prices are $4 per gallon, I think the math is pretty straightforward
for consumers," said Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers, a Washington-based trade group that
participated in the negotiations that led to the fuel economy
agreement. "If we don't have prices like that, government is going to
have to provide more incentives to help overcome the upfront cost
differential of this new technology
Obama's Official Remarks - It includes of course well written lines that slip by the average voter like this one "If you buy a car, your investment in a more fuel-efficient vehicle as a
result of this standard will pay off in just three years" - yeah? At what price per gallon and how many miles driven?
Anyway these new guidelines are so filled with bad agenda items that you should have woken up and dug a little deeper before you voted this guy into office. Sure, it sounded good cheering for change in the fall when he painted great pictures of fuel efficient SUVs and Sports Car, but that's not what you are getting here. You are getting shopping carts with engines, more expensive cars, and wealth distribution so folks can purchase cars that nobody wants right now. Thanks (yes I'm bitter in this post).
PardonMy "Low Carbon Footprint" French,
Eric
