Posted on 01/10/2008 8:23:33 AM PST by shrinkermd
Verbal bouquets are being thrown by presidential candidate Barack Obama at the ideals of bipartisanship, nonpartisanship, post-partisanship. You may want to consider some recent handiwork before buying in.
Take last month's fuel-economy legislation, deemed "a nice little Christmas present" for the American people by Nancy Pelosi. President Bush wore himself out singing the bill's praises. Mr. Obama, who has been hell on the auto makers, practically called it America's salvation. But its only redeeming feature is that it's unlikely ever to take effect, at least in current form.
We won't try to list all the built-in fudge factors. No two companies, or even vehicles, will have to meet the same mileage target. Domestic auto makers will be favored over foreign ones, "trucks" over "cars." Biofuel-ready vehicles will receive additional credit, even if they never see a drop of biofuel. Etc.
And lobbyists will surely descend on Washington during the long years before implementation begins, changing the rules beyond recognition, especially if gasoline prices drop. Don't be surprised if the courts, and even Congress itself, also ultimately balk at a program that treats each auto maker differently, while relying on the Gosplan-like discretion of federal regulators somehow to conjure into being a new national fleet that averages 35 mpg, a 40% increase, by 2020.
What's more, Detroit could always just ignore the rules and pay the fines as Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen have done for years.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Those who surrender personal liberty to lower global temperatures will receive neither.
Very good!
I wish those global warming nuts would come up here and spend some time in this ice rink.
I ain’t surrendering my incandescent light bulbs, that’s a fer shure.
Perhaps in a future utopia we can identify the sociopaths who will choose a career in politics and place them in a Virtual Reality World where they can make policy to their heart’s content without hurting anyone.
MSM economics lesson #1: Auto makers don't pay the gas guzzler tax. CONSUMERS pay the tax.
Are they making BMW pay the tax just because their stuff requires premium? Because I had never seen a Bimmer that got less than 20mpg hwy..
The polar bear listing on the North Slope was severely criticized by Sen Stevens today since it might kill the Natural Gas Pipeline project. Today it is -5 here in Fairbanks and it has been about there for a month. That will change this weekend. -40 is predicted, which is where it was before it warmed to -5. Other villages have been getting -40 all along. Global Warming appears from here to be a psychological disorder.
Nice line.
Enviromentalist are a bunch of socialist pigs trying to send us back to the dark ages
Gas Guzzler Tax: Program Overview
The IRS collects the tax directly from the manufacturer or importer of the vehicles. The following table shows the gas guzzler tax rates which have been in effect since January 1, 1991. The manufacturer or importer must pay this amount for each vehicle that doesn’t meet the minimum fuel economy level of 22.5 mpg.
| Combined fuel economy of: | Amount |
|---|---|
| at least 22.5 mpg | No tax |
| at least 21.5, but less than 22.5 mpg | $1000 |
| at least 20.5, but less than 21.5 mpg | $1300 |
| at least 19.5, but less than 20.5 mpg | $1700 |
| at least 18.5, but less than 19.5 mpg | $2100 |
| at least 17.5, but less than 18.5 mpg | $2600 |
| at least 16.5, but less than 17.5 mpg | $3000 |
| at least 15.5, but less than 16.5 mpg | $3700 |
| at least 14.5, but less than 15.5 mpg | $4500 |
| at least 13.5, but less than 14.5 mpg | $5400 |
| at least 12.5, but less than 13.5 mpg | $6400 |
| less than 12.5 mpg | $7700 |
I have another theory. They are Zero Population Growth eugenicists trying to implement their program through triangulation based on global warming and sex ed.
Global Warming and carbon dioxide were mentioned in the 1972 Club of Rome publication ‘Limits to Growth’ in case anybody still doesn’t know where this came from.
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