Posted by: davd w pennington
Comment: #1
Wed Jul 2, 2008 9:18 AM
Good job, Ms. Schultz! I'm glad you took the opportunity to find out what makes one Suburban owner tick, and that you realized the importance of reporting it. As always, I appreciate your candor. For years, I drove an Astro van, for many of the same reasons given in your article. Family economics kept us from replacing it when it finally 'died' at 295,000 miles, but we still miss it. The cars we have now get better mileage, but are virtually useless for hauling anything but a few people. This became an issue, recently, when we had to replace our water heater: OK, quick, who can we call that has a truck or a van? <> I embrace freedom, even when it means someone is getting 8 mpg in an old Chevy 454, or less in a Hummer. I don't even care about wealthy people jetting around in their planes, like VP Gore, or Gov. Schwartzenegger. <> Market forces defy our efforts to control them. The best we can hope for is to understand them, so we can use that knowledge to our advantage. <> Here's a market-principle thought for you: the best thing Congress could do to improve the fuel economy of cars sold in the US would be to repeal the CAFE standard. Here's why: consider that you manufacture cars, and have figured out a way to bring a fleet of vehicles to market that would make your CAFE average 20% below the legal requirement. Would you do it? Before you answer, consider what the response of Congress would be. I assure you, it would go like this: "Well, if you can drop your CAFE average by 20%, then you can drop it by 30% in 5 years." So Congress would lower the CAFE standard. If I manufactured cars, I'd keep some tricks up my sleeve, wouldn't you? But, if I know my technical breakthroughs will not be 'punished' by more stringent standards, then I will let the marketplace have access to them, and reap the rewards.
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