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it should go further than that. there are so many cool european cars that i'd love to import but it is a pain to do so because they don't pass US emissions and crash tests. I WANT MY DONKERVOORT and WEISMANN!
Europeans achieved a vehicle fleet that is roughly twice as fuel-efficient as ours through increasing taxation on fuels. Our own opportunity to follow that path was lost the moment Ronald "Morning in America" Reagan was inaugurated. Now, we will be forced to do it a different way...
Yeah, I could go for this. Besides, Mr. Flint is sporting a nice ascot, he's got to know what he's talking about, huh?
Frankly, I've found my own conservation works for me. If I don't need it, I don't go anywhere. If I do need it, and if it's something that isn't critical for my well-being, I'll more than likely wait until more than one need, is needed. I have an 82 Volvo 240, BTW, four-banger, overdrive, about 27 w/o the a/c. A/c is hard to not have in Texas this time of year. Oh, well...
Europeans achieved a vehicle fleet that is roughly twice as fuel-efficient as ours through increasing taxation on fuels. Our own opportunity to follow that path was lost the moment Ronald "Morning in America" Reagan was inaugurated. Now, we will be forced to do it a different way...
What exactly would have our incentive been to have more fuel-efficient vehicles? I don't think one can argue that gas-guzzlers are not the most pleasing to drive.
I believe the opposite. It is time to drastically raise the standards and enforce them against all non commercial vehicles including SUVs and trucks.
Did you read the article? Can you explain why consumers won't do a better job than the government in getting higher fuel standards? Gas prices are moderating a bit, but they're not going to go down to levels that make gas guzzlers attractive for anything more than occasional recreational vehicles.
The market is taking care of the problem. Why siphon resources off to fund bureaucratic regulation of the issue? To give some poor ******* a job?
What exactly would have our incentive been to have more fuel-efficient vehicles?
That little piece of paper that comes out of the pump when you press YES in answer to the question about whether you want a receipt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JTraik
I don't think one can argue that gas-guzzlers are not the most pleasing to drive.
That's what the Big Three thought in the 1970's. They kept building big cars and ended up handing a 30% market share to Japanese and German manufacturers. Smart, really smart.
When are some people going to start realizing that oil is too valuable a commodity to be wasting on something so mundane as transportation energy?
When are some people going to start realizing that oil is too valuable a commodity to be wasting on something so mundane as transportation energy?
When it becomes too expensive to use it for that purpose, as it is now. So we'll find alternatives. The alternatives will use, at the outset, a lot of the built-in upside of the gasoline internal combustion engine to achieve much greater fuel efficiency. Continued investment in completely different sources of fuel, made attractive by high oil prices, will eventually lead to use of a different fuel altogether. It will be pricey at the outset, as all new technology is, but continued investment and continued demand on the part of consumer will result in the scale that will eventually bring the price done.
All of this can be achieved with zero intervention on the part of the government.
What a naive assertion. Haven't we just proved empirically that "the market" reacts too slowly. If Congress had passed a tougher CAFE standard 10 years ago, we wouldn't be paying $4.00/gallon for gas today. The market taught American this same lesson in the 70s; why didn't the lesson stick?
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