”
With two of Detroit's Big Three automakers no longer able to resist, the Obama White House will announce sped-up fuel economy standards that will require all auto-makers, including Detroit's foreign competitors, to increase fleet fuel efficiency by 5 percent per year starting in 2012. The new rules will require a fleet fuel efficiency standard of 35.5 miles per gallon by model year 2016, a big jump from the 2009 model year requirement of 25 mpg.”
I simply don’t get it. The U.S. is in a recession, two of the three U.S. automakers are in bankruptcy, new car dealerships are being closed right and left; and the solution is to force production of cars that people don’t seem to want (at least judging from the number of vans and SUVs on the road)?
Over at Don Surber’s
place, commenter alanstorm nailed my reaction:
Carol Browner was on TV early this morning, claiming that this would force automakers to “produce the cars Americans want”. My jaw ’bout hit the floor. Can she really be so mind-numbingly stupid? (I find myself thinking that a lot these days)
My DOGS are smarter than that - and they’re not that swift.
If I was trying to destroy the U.S. economy, this is
exactly how I would go about it.