Who said it?
From the St. Louis Post Dispatch on Wednesday--a quote on adjusting CAFE standards versus a gas tax for improving fuel efficiency:
Cars are bigger and heaver and less fuel-efficient because that's what consumers want. To me and to most economists, it seems most efficient to get the price of gasoline right. Prices send a much stronger signal to alter people's behavior.
See below the jump for the answer.
Toot, toot...it was me!
If you own a big, brawny 2007 pickup, take good care of it. The U.S. Senate is bound and determined to turn the iconic American vehicle into an endangered species.
Threatened, along with the pickup and the giant sport utility vehicle, are the turnaround plans of the traditional Big Three U.S. automakers. But neither consumer choice nor American competitiveness matters much to the Senate, which voted last week to require vehicles to average 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
The proposed corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, standard would apply to all cars and light trucks. It's a 40 percent increase over the current standard for passenger cars, and a 58 percent increase for pickups, minivans and sport utility vehicles.
While senatorial rhetoric focuses on the need to bring the big, bad car companies into line, it's really the American motorist who'll be punished."Cars are bigger and heaver and less fuel-efficient because that's what consumers want," said Tim Haab, a professor of economics at Ohio State University. "To me and to most economists, it seems most efficient to get the price of gasoline right. Prices send a much stronger signal to alter people's behavior."
Congress could cut carbon emissions and reduce our dependence on imported oil — the issues it claims to care about — by raising gasoline taxes to Europe-like levels. With gasoline at $6 a gallon instead of $3, Americans would buy smaller cars, and we'd drive less.
Congress doesn't want to raise gasoline taxes; that is viewed as political suicide. In effect, it's trying to tax cars and trucks instead.
To improve fuel efficiency, carmakers will have to spend money on lighter materials and new technologies. They'll pass those costs on to consumers. If you are a contractor or a rancher who really needs that big pickup, you'll pay a much higher price — if you can find one at all.
"If we are talking about an overall fleet standard of 35 miles per gallon, you can kiss the large pickup truck goodbye," said David Cole, director of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Cole estimates that, using known technology, automakers could improve fuel efficiency by 20 to 25 percent without shrinking their cars. But, he said, "it does add considerably to cost."
The Senate bill would be a boon for companies that already make a lot of small cars, like Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The Detroit-based Big Three, however, would have a tougher time adjusting their product mix.
Cole thinks that General Motors, which has been moving to integrate its worldwide operations, has designs and technologies overseas that would help it meet the standard. "Ford is a couple of years behind in getting global economies of scale, and this puts a particular squeeze on Chrysler," he added, noting that Chrysler gets 70 percent of its profits from trucks.
The CAFE standards are part of a bill that's loaded with other bad ideas, like further ethanol subsidies and a vague prohibition against gasoline price gouging. "In an effort to do something, policymakers often take the quick fix and don't look at its unintended consequences," Haab said.
The Senate's action punishes consumers and endangers truck-making jobs, while bringing us no closer to energy independence. There's only one explanation for such a vote, Cole said: "They really must believe in the tooth fairy."
