42/27 MPG

[George Schilling]

George,

The market is not flawless nor always right. There are no infallible systems.

I didn't mean to imply they were Bob.......just far better than government meddling or mandating. In the case of CAFE standards, I've made my point with what I believe are logical arguments. Where am I wrong?

[Will Kalman]

Sorry Will, but most desirable changes occur naturally without government mandates. Smog controls are the exception, not the rule.

I agree. But you can't dismiss the possibility of other exceptions. And it doesn't have to be all-or-nothing in every case.

The gas mileage we are getting from our vehicles is improving every year without government mandates.

You can't say "without government mandates" as CAFE and gas-guzzler taxes exist.

Production of gas guzzlers has been cut back dramatically if not stopped altogether without government mandates.

Yeah, it took $5 gas. Want to go back there? I'd rather be efficient at $2.50 than efficient at $5.00. Society having the collective wisdom of a 12-year-old, we won't do anything about the future, we'll just wait until the pain hits. Personally, I like to look ahead and avoid pain. The are problems and there are caused-problems. Running out of oil, pollution, threat of war are problems. Ignoring these makes the response (economic ruin, sickness, war) into caused-problems.

Do some research and find out about the emerging companies who are already developing fuel efficient vehicles. Find out about he cars that are already classified as zero emission vehicles. The market is demanding more fuel efficiency and it is happening without government intrusion.

I'm very much up on recent technoogical developments. This is the societal change I'm talking about. As generations come and go, things shift. As I stated in my post above, we have several technologies that are not fully adapted across all manufacturers and models. Much like electronic fuel injection in the '80's or catalysts in the '70's. There are already some inevitable improvements as the technologies take over the running fleet of vehicles. I still think *some* amount of governmental nudging is required, somewhat like anti-trust regulations, etc. Don't take control of it, but make it operate within acceptable parameters.

Fuel demand is already down.

It will go back up after a few more years at $2.50/gallon when complacency sets in again.

It has everything to do with government cramming things down our throat we don't want and telling us how much happier we will be. Bah...Humbug.

You're ignoring the benefits again. I'll be much happier when we're not beholden to and financing Middle East nut-jobs who are working to develop nukes. Only the scale of our oil market makes them like us. Wait until a billion people in China start buying cars for the first time, we won't matter nearly as much.