Free Republic

In the race for more tax money-- and government solutions-- the Feds and the states are invading your privacy with increasing regularity. Several states, including Colorado, Oregon and California are studying proposals today to equip cars with GPS tracking devices so that they can tax drivers by the mile they drive. In part this is happening as gas tax revenues are going down because the government insists on: 1) raising the gas tax to discourage driving and 2) establishing fuel efficiency standards that have people using less gasoline. So states, which use gas tax money to build roads, now claim...

On a day in which the international news cycle was dominated by the Islamic terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, President Obama traveled to Wayne, Michigan, to deliver a pre-arranged speech celebrating his rescue of the U.S. auto industry. Ironically, the Ford Assembly Plant that Obama visited is closed temporarily this week because of lack of demand for the small cars and hybrids the plant produces, with 2014 sales of the Ford Focus down 6 percent and the C-Max hybrid down 22 percent. […] Obama, in his speech, neglected to note Ford did not join...

The Obama administration announced Monday that it intends to require new cars to include technology enabling them to communicate with each other, a step that transportation planners have said could significantly reduce crashes. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told reporters that he hopes to finish the mandate before President Barack Obama leaves office. That would allow time for DOT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to work out issues including security and privacy.

Progressive Insurance wants its insurance agents to take a 30-day ride-along with its customers. While the agents themselves are not physically in the vehicles, the Progressive “Snapshot” device -- which functions much like a car’s Event Data Recorder, or “EDR” (also known as a “black box”) -- constantly monitors and records every move a driver makes; including how often drivers slam on the brakes, how many miles they drive, and how much time they spend driving at high-risk hours (Midnight to 4:00 AM). Progressive claims collecting such data will save money for “safe-drivers,” but in actuality it is simply a...

After bringing America’s automotive industry to the brink of complete collapse, union bosses have set their sights on foreign auto companies with manufacturing plants in the United States, specifically targeting Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The United Auto Workers (UAW) has launched a concerted effort to unionize the Chattanooga plant’s workers, but have decided to strategically use non-traditional methods to obtain unionization. Last month, UAW representative Gary Casteel poignantly told The Tennessean, “We are not seeking a vote necessarily … We know if we go for a traditional election where the outside organizations could campaign against us, we’d probably...

The problem with bad ideas from Europe is that they eventually become bad ideas in America too. And so it goes with the latest nitwit scheme from Britain’s Liberal Democrat Party, which is cousin to our own liberal Democrat Party, separated not ideologically or by a vast ocean, but only by accents. The Lib Dems want to outlaw gas and diesel powered cars from the United Kingdom with a goal to create a “zero-carbon” UK by 2040. No word yet whether they will allow people to “breathe,” which-- incidentally to Lib Dems it seems-- also pushes carbon into the atmosphere....

The agonizing death of Detroit is cause for celebration. It’s the first of the liberal-run big cities and states to fall, and we should welcome its collapse with glee. Yeah, liberals, eventually you do run out of other people’s money. The blue state model is a terminal disease, and Detroit is its poster child. Only this is one telethon where we should pledge that we won’t pay a single dime to keep the progressive party going a single minute longer. Detroit represents the epitome of the blue state, Democrat machine liberalism that Barack Obama represents. Well, not one damn cent...

Fifty years of Democrats running the city of Detroit led to it filing for bankruptcy last week. Unsustainable demands from its 48 unions gradually drove out private industry, as government became the largest employer. Its shrinking tax base can no longer support the massive pension debt obligations and still provide a minimum level of city services. Nearly half of the city’s debt is to underfunded pension plans and retirees. Mitt Romney presciently warned in 2008 that if the government bailed out the automakers, it would ultimately destroy Detroit. “Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it,...

The cars roll endlessly off the local assembly lines of the industry’s biggest automakers, more than 10,000 a day, into the eager hands of Brazil’s new middle class. The shiny new Fords, Fiats, and Chevrolets tell the tale of an economy in full bloom that now boasts the fourth largest auto market in the world. What happens once those vehicles hit the streets, however, is shaping up as a national tragedy, experts say, with thousands of Brazilians dying every year in auto accidents that in many cases shouldn’t have proven fatal. The culprits are the cars themselves, produced with weaker...

Since the Motown sound went silent -- except on oldies stations -- and General Motors and Chrysler (but not Ford) required life support from Washington, there has been little to recommend Detroit, Mich., to visitors, much less its residents. The recent conviction of Kwame Kilpatrick, the former mayor of Detroit, on multiple charges, including racketeering, fraud and extortion, adds another insult to the city's injury, increasing its misery. During the mid-20th century, Detroit was a vibrant city with a population of almost 2 million. Today, it stands near ruin. The number of residents has now been estimated at just over...

It isn't often that you get reading suggestions from a United States senator, but that's what happened this past weekend for those who attended the National Review Institute's summit meeting in Washington, D.C. The three-day conclave, part election post-mortem and part revival meeting (that is, reviving conservatism and America), featured a bracing dose of conservative intellectuals along with activists, campaign professionals and office holders. Newly minted Senator Ted Cruz of Texas spoke in his characteristic fashion -- fluidly without notes or podium. Cruz, while praising Mitt Romney in general and acknowledging that anyone can have a slip of the tongue,...

Bypassing Congress, the Obama administration has issued a proposed administrative rule, which if adopted, would mandate the installation of “black boxes” in all automobiles and light trucks beginning in 2014. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed the regulation on Dec. 7, which it said “would capture valuable safety-related data in the seconds before and during a motor vehicle crash.” The proposed standard would require automakers to install event data recorders (EDRs)—so-called “black box devices”—to collect specific safety-related data in all light passenger vehicles beginning Sept. 1, 2014. …

Barack Obama is LYING about Mitt Romney's position on the automobile industry. Hear THE TRUTH for yourself on CNN

DO YOU APPRECIATE THE LAW OF PHYSICS? From an Automotive Engineering Newsletter A very big thanks to Michigan member M.P. who sent in this bit of humor, which was forwarded from a senior-level person at Chrysler. The date on this note was Sunday, July 19, 2009: Monday morning, I attended a breakfast meeting where the speaker/guest was D.C., Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR and Professor at U. of M.). you all have likely heard CAR quoted, or referred to in the auto industry news lately. Mr. C., who is an engineer by training, told many stories of...

Legislators and regulators need to observe a fundamental Golden Rule: Do not implement new laws if you have not considered or cannot control important unintended consequences. A perfect example is the Obama Administration’s plan to increase new car mileage standards, from the currently legislated requirement of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 to 54.5 mpg by 2025, as an average across each automaker’s complete line of cars and light trucks. Carmakers reluctantly agreed to the new requirements, to avoid even more onerous standards, or different standards in different states. But the deal does nothing to alter the harsh realities...

Q Do you think Romney abandoned the Detroit and the auto industry? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Yes No Unsure

GM Boasts Strong June Sales — But Is That the Whole Story? General Motors announced this month its auto sales increased by 16 percent in June, its best monthly sales gain since 2008. Considering all the company has been through, and the fact that it still owes taxpayers approximately $25 billion in TARP repayments, a 16 percent boost in sales sounds like good news, right? Who knows? With consumers buying up all these cars, maybe GM can reestablish itself as an auto heavyweight, shareholders will finally get to see a return on their investments, and President Obama will have something...

President Obama told automakers Monday they should focus on making smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Another breathtaking show of arrogance from a Harvard Law-trained social activist? Call it a breathtaking show of ignorance. “You can’t just make money on SUVs and trucks,” Obama said at a Minnesota town hall. “There is a place for SUVs and trucks, but as gas prices keep on going up, you have got to understand the market.” Automakers know their market just fine. It is Obama who needs a lesson. In claiming to have “turned around” the U.S. auto industry, Obama apparently has no idea that...

The Obama administration has reached a compromise with automakers on a new fuel economy target for cars and trucks, ending months of negotiations on this pivotal mandate for the auto industry. Automakers' fleets will now have to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, according to people familiar with the plan. Chief executives at the major automakers could sign off on the plan as early as Wednesday night, one of the people said. President Barack Obama will officially announce new guidelines on Friday, the White House said.

The Obama administration is considering a fleetwide average of 56.2 miles per gallon for all new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. by 2025, two people briefed on the matter said. The proposal would roughly double current fuel-economy targets, and would likely raise the price of some cars by several thousand dollars. The proposal isn't final, and could be adjusted over the next several weeks as regulators prepare a formal draft to send to White House budget officials. The administration has said previously that it is looking at requiring cars average between 47 and 62 mpg by 2025. The...