Much as President Obama and other liberals may think natural laws for things like physics and economics don’t matter, the reality is they do and nowhere more so than on American highways. The president reportedly has secured agreements from Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, Honda and Hyundai to raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy fleet average standard to 54.5 mpg by 2025. The new standard will be reviewed in 2018, but that won’t change the fact that automakers will immediately have to embark on efforts to lighten and downsize all of their models. Those that can’t be made sufficiently small to reach the required fleet average will go the way of the Model T.
It is inescapable that more weight means lower fuel economy, so heavier vehicles will have to go. So prepare to say goodbye to sport utility vehicles, pickups and minivans, the very vehicles millions of American families and businesses must rely upon every day. Even when lighter vehicle materials like aluminum and carbon fiber can be used instead of steel, the only SUVs and minivans that will survive will still have to be significantly smaller than at present, and thus far less practical for consumers.
By far the worst result, however, will be the fact that thousands will die because Obama, fanatical Big Green environmentalists, and their allies in the federal bureaucracy care more about removing micro-amounts of emissions than they do about the safety and convenience of people on the roads. We know this because the fanatics persist despite the fact that for years government and private sector researchers alike have documented the terrible correlation between CAFE, lighter cars and highway deaths.
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Call me cynical, but I am sure the higher percentage of death and mayhem that will occur is considered a “good thing”. Just a death panel of another sort. The human virus needs to be reduced by any means possible.
This is never going to happen, period. Obama knows it. The good news is that more and more Americans everyday are seeing through the purely political rhetoric. So much so that even a former lead violinist in Obama’s orchestra now sits mute in the audience.
I could be wrong but locally I note that a lot of people are going out and buying those great big “honking” Hummers. It may be a fashion statement — I don’t know — but I also see a lot of Dodge Ram’s on the road as well as many other “great big honking vehicles”.
Personally, I think the article is right on the money and people aren’t buying the hype. Good for them. They’ll be much safer as they drive our roads.