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 ...
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."
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