Pelosi
is a comedian and CAFE is the joke
Friday, December 14, 2007
Will
Americans go from SUVs to small cars?
Nancy Pelosi has called the new CAFE standards "a
shot heard around the world". Please.
There is no doubt that the new CAFE standards will lead to
more fuel efficient vehicles, such as hybrid
vehicles and more alternative fueled-vehicles.
However, when you consider America's energy consumption,
which almost always increases year-after-year, CAFE is not
a solution - it's a dud heard 'round the world.
According to the World Resources Institute, CAFE
"will not reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions
from cars and light trucks over the long term."
Moreover, according to Pelosi, if CAFE works perfectly,
Persian Gulf oil dependency could be cut in half. Just
half? And that's if everything works perfectly? If
congestion doesn't increase, if commuting times and
distances don't increase, if more people don't start
driving, etc., etc?
Ultimately, CAFE will probably be better at ending US auto
jobs than either cutting global warming or foreign oil
dependency. Of course, with Pelosi at the helm, this
should be no surprise.
Yesterday, Pelosi called automakers, "the biggest
polluters in our country". So, what cars have you
been driving the last few decades, Nancy? Ultimately,
consumers are the ones doing the gas-guzzling and causing
pollution, just as I'm sure Nancy has done in the past.
Even worse, Congress has, for decades, enabled consumers
to guzzle and pollute.
Forget CAFE, if Americans simply paid the real cost of
gasoline at the pump - the cost of securing shipping lanes
in the Middle East, for example - the price of gasoline
would be much higher than today and automobiles would -
shaped by market forces - be much more efficient.
Of course Nancy, like most politicians, can't handle the
truth because if Nancy stood for the truth she wouldn't
get elected. America's energy policy has been and
continues to be an absolute joke, and Nancy has now become
one of the biggest comedians selling this joke.
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