Tuesday, May 19, 2009

About the New Emissions Requirements

Today Obama announced new agreements to improve fuel efficiency and reduce vehicle emissions. Many vehicles will have to increase their mileage by significant degrees. The cost of vehicles will increase, but the extra cost will be recovered by fuel savings in roughly three years. The President said that the average cost increase might be $1300 per vehicle.

Some years ago i heard an auto executive say that the American auto makers were giant social service agencies that produced cars and trucks as sidelines. He brought attention to the huge sums that American automobile companies spend on medical insurance. I didn't check his math but if i remember correctly, he said that each American vehicle would be approximately $1300 cheaper if the American companies had health care at the prices paid by their European and Asian competitors.

So if we nationalize health care maybe we can buy fuel efficient vehicles without any increase of price. Of course, if we nationalize health care, we'll also be able to afford more.

Bone

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