Start to think outside the box.
Posted on 05/20/2009 5:55:11 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Can you hear that? It's the sound of the final nail being hammered down onto the coffin lid of the U.S. car industry.
President Obama wields the hammer -- in the form of a massive uptick in federally required fuel economy standards that will require each automaker's lineup of new vehicles to achieve an average of 35.5 MPG by 2016.
But what could be so bad about forcing the automakers to make cars more fuel efficient? Dig deeper and you'll see.
Even the Obama people concede the new mileage standards will cost American consumers about $1,600 per vehicle by 2016 -- in effect, a massive tax increase in the middle of a neo-Depression. The difference is this tax increase will be optional. People can avoid it by avoiding new cars -- which will make it that much harder for the car industry to recover from the catastrophic state it finds itself in right now, with sales down anywhere from 30-50 percent depending on the make.
Pure genius!
Boosters of the 35.5 MPG standard talk up the fuel savings (current cars must meet a 27.5 MPG average), but if the car costs $1,600 more to buy, the roughly 8 MPG uptick is probably a net wash, at least until the car is several years old and the fuel savings amortizes the considerably higher up front costs. Obama and Co. are millionaires, so this is small potatoes from their point-of-view. But ask most Americans whether they think $1,600 is chump change.
But all this is secondary. The real killing aspect of CAFE (the federal government's cutesy acronym for the fuel economy standards) is that it will mean the summary execution of perhaps one-third to one-half of all the vehicles in GM, Ford, and Chrysler's product lineups ...
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Obama needs to go.
and all those Captains of Industry stood there at the WH yesterday, behind the pontificating jerk TOTUS, smiling for the cameras ....
thus another episode for future history of “how liberty, capitalism, and democracy died in America”
If they plan to force us into tiny death trap mobiles they should first take the 18 wheelers off the roads. I have seen SUVs that were in a wreck with 18 wheeler and often the SUV makes it OK, the people are protected. Saw a safety crash test with a “Smart Car” and they said the people in the Smart Car would be DEAD.
When voters wake up and realize the only car available is Obamachev’s yugo, I think the polls will start trending our way.
Even sucker moms like the convenience and safety of SUVs.
SUVs were convenient when our kids were little. The mom with an SUV could take the whole gang to camp, to the ballpark, etc. They could hold so many kids plus their luggage and equipment. You can’t even get the equipment into a “Smart Car”
Amen. My daughter was in a wreck with our Pathfinder and she walked away. That’s why I bought it for her in the first place.
And it not just an Ace Hardware or Home Depot hammer we are talking about... its a hammer and sickle type of hammer.
Any savings in gas costs will be eaten up by increased insurance rates.
No, American Spectator is a great site for conservatives, and it has always been free.
“Boosters of the 35.5 MPG standard talk up the fuel savings (current cars must meet a 27.5 MPG average), but if the car costs $1,600 more to buy, the roughly 8 MPG uptick is probably a net wash, at least until the car is several years old and the fuel savings amortizes the considerably higher up front costs. “
So naieve, there’s more to this, more coming. Gas will be around $6 a gallon in the near future. It’s what Obama and the greens want. Add to that the new taxes on older “gas guzzlers” and you’ll find your new smart car is quite a bargain.
I’m convinced Americans are not just sleeping, they are in a coma, and Obama is free to do ANYTHING without fear of Americans being upset.
Is this what they mean by “Burning down the village in order to save it”?
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That’s the message I get.
There are so Many o stickers on suv’s
Brilliance in motion
Guess this moron missed when gas was $4/gallon how the MARKET responded by increased hybrid/small car sales...less SUVs/truck sales, etc.
Of course we’re dealing with a Marxist here.
No I can't afford to purchase a new car just to please Obama and the Greens...what these people are doing to the country is insane.
The liberal agenda is just a weapon used by the left to attack conservatives and get into power. Most RATS know that it is unworkable and if actually enacted would devastate the country. Thats why they never really do anything when elected. Unfortunately, Obama is stupid enough to believe the nonsense and will DO IT.
This was their plan all along. This Administration is executing the plays called by enviromentalists who viewed “Big Oil” as the “Big Bad Wolf” for decades.
How do you stop “big oil”? You go after how its used.
Make no mistake about it. This administration wants to destroy the car industry in America, or at least reduce it to non-entity status. The plan was to eliminate all SUV, private Truck ownership, and muscle cars, and replace them with european sized autos, mass transportation and smaller, urban centers.
Chrysler will be selling the mini Fiats. GM will be selling the small Chinese cars.
Mission Accomplished.
I can’t wait to see one of those Smart Cars under an 18 wheeler. How smart is that?
PRay for America
I'm just sayin..
sw
I just cannot understand how this one man? can just do anything he wants. It is like we are under a dictatorship. This kind of crap must end.
America has vast distances - and far more resources (drill here! drill now!) than Europe.
People will not buy these cars. We will become like Cuba, with a whole industry of people painstakingly restoring “vintage” cars from the pre-Obama days. But of course Obama will hike gas taxes too, and probably think of other ways to force us out of our cars.
Unless, of course, America comes to its senses and rejects such authoritarian collectivism.
He is the worst thing to happen to America.
They will be replaced with electric rail transport.
And Truckers will be forced out of business by insane fuel taxes passed to fund the start up of a nation wide ERT system.
“He is the worst thing to happen to America.”
Obama is the symptom, an opportunistic infection. The disease is several generations of Americans who lack the ability to think critically. Americans who are uninformed, and uninterested.
The loss of the public schools is the worst thing to happen to America. That is the disease.
one day an azz atty asked me when I was going to get rid of my SUV. I looked him full in face and said, “I have 3 kids.”
Geez, we drive to CO to ski, we don’t take a jet everywhere, we drive to the beach, we drive to soccer, skating, football practice, volleyball, Scout camp, church, youth group, to check out colleges...if those limp wristed dorks want to drive smart cars and think they are better than me, I really couldn’t care less. I think they are entitled to their loser opinions. I am entitled to think they are losers.
Sadly, those of us who are over 50 years of age have seen the best of America...we are free-falling without a chute...
Back in the 1960’s and 70’s, liberals and leftists used to fantasize about the U.S. becoming more like the Soviet Union. Now they’ve realized their fantasy. Except there’s no more Soviet Union. It was rejected by the Soviet citizens. But facts like this never seem to impress the members of the “reality - based” community.
Obama needs to go.
I’ll second that.
For starters, it doesn't seem possible that the increased mileage can be possible, without making cars lighter, smaller, and less powerful. These attributes can only increase the number of highway fatalities.
Then, how much of our way of life depends on our ability to travel, and travel with things; e.g., people, home-building supplies, groceries, sporting equipment, etc?
I don't personally own one, but what will this do to the RV industry? Here in Indiana, we have regions within our state that (used to) manufacture RVs. (Isn't it ironic that some of these areas were visited by Obama, and appeared to actively support him?) What will this do to people who like to go camping, fishing, and hunting? How will they carry their equipment? Boating seems out of the question, in anything larger than a canoe.
What about the handyman or woman that enjoys weekend projects around the house? How will they get lumber, drywall, bricks, and other supplies home? Wait for a delivery service? That'll really cut into the business of home improvement.
The list is endless, but make no mistake about it. These new standards are an assault on our freedoms, not to mention our pocketbooks.
Soon, you will have to add in front of your statement, “Remember when we used to drive to......”
You are so correct-I have been saying this for years. We now see the result. We need to keep yelling, writing, faxing, e-mailing this over and over and over again.
If less fuel is used, the price of fuel will just go up to make up the difference. Even when the government takes over control of the oil companies, because of the fuel tax involved.
Go Ford!!!!
You have the most basic point down pat. I congratulate you. Long ago I realized that FUEL COSTS are only a small part of the cost of owning a car, especially a car that meets MY needs.
I agree, my fuel consumption is nothing to brag about. Yet, my other costs are minimal. Insurance in just plain CHEAP despite quite high coverage for injuries I may inflict on others. My excise tax is so LOW I draw a “smiley face” on the check I write. Depreciation is about $2.35 per month!! There are NO payments to the bank.
Additionally, the car is an older HUGE station wagon that protects me at the normal highway speed of 75mph. It also swallows, without a burp, all the stuff I must carry for my sailboat. Everything in only ONE trip, not four or five like my fellow boaters with the tiny “fuel efficient” cars. In fact, my “gas guzzler” does the job with LESS gas, because of one trip, than my friends requiring several.
Again, I stress....Gas is only ONE cost of owning a car and NOT the biggest.
Okay time to do the math.
Assumptions:
1. The ave person drives 12,000 miles per year
2. Gas is at $2.00 per gallon
3. The new car cost $1,600.00 more to buy
4. Gas milage is improved by 8mpg
How long will it take to make back the initial investment?
Answer: 8.4 years!
(Note the average person doesn’t keep a new car this long and for the auto industry to stay alive we don’t want them to)
The 8 mpg improvement only saves you 95 gallons of gas a year.
Great plan. Make failing car makers build more expensive cars no one wants. That’s a fantastic plan.
Nobama = Moron!
Obama's plan is for all of us to be driving lightweight, "Green" 2-door sh!tboxes made by 100% unionized labor in government-managed factories subsidized by the taxpayers.
Actually, the auto industry can get around CAFE standards by simply calling the vehicle a truck...
Or the occasionally proposed "mileage tax."
Start to think outside the box.
Don't worry - we'll also be the ones to rescue America when the time comes. Even if some of our younger people have forgotten what's worth fighting for, we haven't, nor have we forgotten how to fight.
...”Obama is the symptom, an opportunistic infection. The disease is several generations of Americans who lack the ability to think critically. Americans who are uninformed, and uninterested.”...
Well said, agree with you 100%. Barack Obama poses a clear and present danger to the well-being of a capitalistic American system. But I fear thinking Americans - in other words, not Obama supporters - will not awaken to the threat until America as we knew her is gone.
Have you ever taken a close look at the individuals who drive the so-called “Smart” cars, or even Prius? Smug, but dumb, Obama supporters...
Already there.
there is now way in the world that would work. the rail lines are overloaded as it is. You would have to add another line of tracks for every route in the country. Now that would be a shovel ready project.
You’ll see. These standards will soon be followed up with “Travel Permits” — you know, to save fuel for the children. You must have a government approved travel document to allow you to burn any type of fuel. Of course, members of the party will get special treatment.
Sadly, you are right.
You are so right!! There is no way in hell this man will tell me what kind of car I can drive. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! I see those smart cars on the road and I cringe.
If you buy a Ford, you are continuing the UAW stranglehold. Just say NO to the UAW!
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