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January 17, 2008
What did Congress do for you?
It's called the Energy Independence Act and it requires fuel efficiency to jump to an average of 35 miles a gallon in 2020 from about 25 mpg now.
Yay! Not only will that stick it to the Saudis, but it'll reduce global warming and save the planet! Yeah, okay, so what if will cost automakers around $85 billion to make this happen! To hell with the automakers! They have too much money anyways, let them give something back to the planet right? Wrong.
It ain't the automakers who are gonna pay...
"We've done even more research and (the cost per car of new CAFE standards is) going to be in the range of $4,000 to $10,000, with an average of about $6,000." - General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz
Let's put that in perspective. The average cost of an automobile in 2006 was $27,958, according to the Comerica Automotive Affordability Index. So our new energy bill is, in effect, going to be a 21.4% tax hike on the current car prices. Oh, didn't they tell you that?
Nope. They didn't tell us that. But wait! There's more:
... the higher prices of cars will encourage consumers to keep their older, dirtier but cheaper vehicles for much longer. So the actual benefits will be less than forecast.
In 1970, just before the first CAFE standards were imposed, the average car on the road was about 5 1/2 years old. By 2000, the average car was 9 years old — thanks to the higher costs of buying and operating new cars, a direct result of higher fuel efficiency and safety standards.
But wait! There's more:
One way manufacturers can more easily meet the tough new standards is by making smaller cars. That's why cars in Europe — cited by many fuel-efficiency proponents as a model for the U.S. — are so tiny.
Smaller cars are cute and oh-so-European, we agree. But they're also quite dangerous. That's why cars are so big and heavy today: They have lots of safety equipment and padding that makes them much safer than the econo-boxes of the 1980s.
and...
A landmark 1989 study by Bob Crandall and John Graham of the Brookings Institution attributed some 2,200 to 3,900 additional deaths each year to the CAFE standards then in place.
Summing up:
So this is what Congress in all its wisdom has brought us: A 21% tax hike on cars, coupled with an official policy that could kill as many Americans in one year as have been killed so far in five years of the Iraq War.
This is what happens when you have a congress that is only interested in appearances. The fact is, this new energy bill will not reduce our reliance on foreign oil and it will have no effect on global warming. What it will do is make us all a little poorer and a little less safe.
Perhaps the intent was good, but then, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Posted by LindaSoG at January 17, 2008 07:27 AM