Wayne: The main problem with CAFE standards is that we are avoiding the main issue. Becoming energy independent. We have enough
oil off shore and in Alaska to carry us for decades and make us far more independent of the Saudis and other
oil Arabs until alternate fuel sources can be perfected.
Make no mistake the Arabs are not our friends and if they can hurt us through economic policy they will.
Making cars more energy efficient doesn't really reduce the true demand for
oil. We are still a captive audience. With smaller cars we still need their oil but we use it at a slower rate. I don't think the CAFE standards will help with the ulitimate solution. Its a temporary fix. Cars have steadily increasing efficiency over the years yet the price of gas has steadily increased.
While I agree decreased demand decreses price thats typically in an economic model where you have alternatives and can buy elsewhere or just do without the product thereby demand can surely decrease price. Where you are a captive audience and you still need the product but are consuming it now more efficiently to reduce your expenditure over time thereby in turn reducing the sellers sales and profit over time I see the seller just uping the price to make up the gap. Its a no brainer. Your Smart Car needs gas just as much as your 427 Cobra. It just sips fuel instead of guzzling it. Its a vicious cycle. When they raise the oil prices to make up for the lost volume of sales are you going to stop filling up your Smart car? No I don't think so.
The true salvation is oil independence. Period.
Obama campaigned on developing clean coal technology and he even began taking about offshore drilling to garner votes and pander.
Now that he is elected he is again going the direction of all his greenie and eco nut jobs and backing away from these solutions. What a surprise.
His solution is to mire a crippled auto industry with even more stringent regulations which will drive the cost of vehicles even higher and do nothing to control oil prices.
Sounds like a sound economic strategy to me.
But hey, what the hell to I know I'm not a messiah.