Ned recalls with a bit of sentimental nostalgia when the world was new, and innocence flourished. About that time, the country began to get serious about auto fuel efficiency. After spending billions of dollars in R and D and retooling, the American auto companies were dragged kicking and screaming into the post-OPEC age. National fuel-efficiency standards, after a fashion, became the policy, if not strictly the law, of the land. But as soon as we thought in our innocence and simplicity that the battle had been won, someone came up with the SUV, and, calling it a truck, undermined years of fuel-efficiency rules. Then, someone thought of putting "bug deflectors" on their trucks and SUVs, thereby rendering any gains in aerodynamic design useless.
And so things stood for a decade. Now, the Obama people have undone years of Bush foot-dragging and auto industry stubbornness (leading to GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, by the way, but we digress), and increased the fuel-efficiency standards again, to something where they should have been twenty years ago.
But a new demon has quietly raised its ugly head, again promising to undo years of regulation and work, proving, yet again, that there's no accounting for human fecklessness. Ned speaks now of the "car top carrier." Look around you, and count the number of cars that sport these ridiculous devices, which, Ned is assured, are almost always empty. The bottom line: people are losing 10-20% of the fuel efficiencies of their vehicles by putting these anti-aerodynamic devices on top of their cars, all for nothing, since they are almost always empty.
Ned proposes that we scrap all fuel-efficiency standards and institute a $5/gallon fuel tax. Let the bastards drive what they want, and MAKE THEM PAY.
While I agree "something must be done!" I don't think across-the-board gas tax is the best solution. I get 30+mpg around town and 40-50 at sustained highway speeds. Making everyone pay a gasoline sur-charge just penalizes the people who are trying to be better citizens, in effect making us subsidizeze drivers whose eco-stewardship leaves something to be desired. Also, anyone who can afford a $50,000+ Escalade, Hummer, Tahoe (or Tonto as I prefer) isn't going to feel the same burden as those of us who must live at a much lower financial level.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it would be more equitable to charge automobile license plate fees based on EPA fuel estimates. So drivers who get 25-25mpg or so city would pay $65 for tags while cars that get 10-15mpg city would incur $150 tag fee. Add a personal property tax on vehicles like some states have and there is a real incentive to drive less expensive, more fuel-efficient automobiles. Take the revenue and instead of using it to build and maintain more roads, invest in decent mass/rapid transit, like trains and commuter busses, and let people who want to drive a lot pay toll road fees.
Misterjimmy has quite accurately put his finger on Ned's dilemma--how to get people to behave without penalizing those who already are. Perhaps the Parable of the Prodigal Son can hep us here...
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