The suggestion was to decrease our dependence on foreign oil by mandating that all new cars sold after January 1, 2007 get at least 40mpg.
All those people who don’t like the new models, or don’t like not being able to buy a minivan or a pickup, or the 2007 versions are too expensive – they keep their old vehicle longer and don’t but a new one. That’s several million unsold cars right there. Would you explain to all those auto workers why they were laid off, please? And all the people who make things that go in cars?
Those used pickups and bigger cars, built before the new regs went in – the price of those goes way up, dragging up the price of all used cars. Would you explain to all those poor people why they can’t afford a car anymore?
Then wander over and explain to the guys at the sports car accessory place why they’re going out of busines. And drop by Home Depot and Loews and Walmart and anywhere else whose business depends on people picking up large items and bringing them home, and explain to them why sales are way down and why they have to lay folks off.
The camping and boat people take a big hit as well -- and the small businesses that need small trucks for deliveries or to bring equipment to paint or landscape. Now after we’ve lost all those jobs directly related to vehicles, after those first few million Americans are out of work, only then do we start on the ripple effect on the whole economy, as everyone has less money to spend and buys fewer clothes and dishwashers and magazines.
1 comment:
That's amazing. That's actually worse than LA's current system, which is to give people who can afford Priuses and Hybrids universal free parking and huge tax cuts in order to thank them for not infusing the smoggy air with new exhausts. In order to fill the tax hole, urban parking costs are rising even further, which means a lot of my friends can no longer afford to drive their used Camrys to work.
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