In an attempt to serve both the increasingly gas-concerned public as well as their sugar daddies big Oil and the auto industry, the Republican Congress and Bush administration are up to their usual tricks. Time and time again they have been able to make this work for them –feed us whatever sounds good, makes it look as though they are doing something for the ordinary citizens of the country, make it seem as though they actually care then just keep saying it over and over again as if the repetition will make it so. This time however, with people feeling the pain at the pump, they are really going to have to work some magic. Their campaign donors aren’t hurting as they fill up their big luxury cars and SUV’s, they have enough money that a little more for gas isn’t even noticeable. What would be noticeable would be the lower revenues as a result of selling the lower tagged vehicles and, secondary to that, actually selling less gas because the vehicles are more efficient.
An article in today’s NY Times includes the statement issued by the the Bush administration which proposed on Wednesday to overhaul fuel-economy requirements for cars while also saying that it opposed “perverse incentives for manufacturers to produce smaller and more dangerous vehicles.”
Yes, more dangerous because of the high number of big SUV’s on the road! Good Grief! What a statement! Small vehicles aren’t designed to be “more dangerous,” they have to meet safety standards just like any other vehicle! They become unsafe only when run into or over by something like the Chevy Suburban, Dodge Durango or Ford Expedition.
Those of us who drive small vehicles know true fear when we see someone trying to drive one of the biggies is talking on their cell phone, laughing with their friend on their way to lunch, just cruising around, or when we can tell they are late for work or for an appointment. Granted, people in small vehicles do that too but at least they don’t usually kill the person in the other car. We have to wait to make left turns until the SUV in the opposite turn lane has gone because we can’t see around them; we can’t pass SUV’s on the highway because they block safe vision, and the list goes on.
Please read the entire article in the link above. Further on, Norman Mineta, Transportation Secretary, talks about the need to let the Administration set the standards (why we should trust the Bush Buddies I’ll never know) rather than have Congress (they’re not much better) do it. After all, Bush and Cheney have direct ties to Oil, they’ll surely do what’s best for the American public as well as the environment, right? Making sure that the automakers as well as Oil are still taken care of, he proposes having two standards, one for big vehicles, one for small. How is that going to change anything? Detroit will use the same marketing scams it has been, perfect example is the “dangerous” line in Mineta’s statement. If I didn’t know his role in the administration I would assume that he is the spokesman for the automakers!
Oh yeah, this article with that idiotic quote from the administration really got me going and I didn’t even get into the fuel economy issue! We MUST get rid of these people! They are elected to serve and that service is supposed to be to the American people, not the political sugar daddies. Instead, they say stupid things like the above quoted statement which shows absolute disdain for the people who are supposed to have the real power.
