Say Anything Blog

An opinion piece

Today, President Obama announced his request for federal legislation to mandate national fuel economy standards.  He has given two reasons for this action: One, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and Two, to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
He claims that this mandate will only add $1300 to the initial price of new cars, and will be offset by the savings in expense for gasoline, due to the higher mileage.  Sounds good, right?
Of course, some people might argue that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a phony issue, since the AGW hypothesis remains unproven, and so is not appropriate reason for such sweeping policy changes.
As far as the gas savings are concerned, Obama’s bad monetary policy and restrictions on domestic energy development has almost doubled the price of oil since the Bush low of $33/barrel to today’s figure of $59/barrel, which has already raised gas prices considerably since the Bush administration lows of well under $2/gal, while nothing Obama is doing threatens to reduce the price of oil and gas anytime in the foreseeable future, along with talk of substantial increases in gas taxes, will probably wipe out any “savings” from the gas mileage mandates.
This is all small potatoes when compared to the probability of a rapidly rising death toll on the roads of America when everyone is driving what amounts to a souped-up golf cart.
In order to achieve that mandated gas mileage figure, cars will have to be smaller and lighter, with far less protection for drivers and passengers.  It’s a matter of simple physics.  There will still be some larger cars and trucks on the roads, along with older, normal-sized vehicles, and those in the golf carts will be at a far greater risk, while they pay a premium for Obama’s social engineering schemes.

Not good, but it will increase the demand for healthcare, so maybe that’s the real agenda.  Lefties like Obama thrive on fear and misery, and this car mandate promises to create plenty of that.