Of the many changes coming out of the White House in the past week, none is more welcome or overdue than the steps announced January 26 regarding fuel standards for passenger vehicles. Though nothing is set in stone yet, it seems probable that automakers will finally be given some serious targets for fuel economy, while states may (may!) get greater autonomy to set their own standards.
It's welcome, because movement has been far too slow. Obama noted, in making the announcement, that it's time to end government foot-dragging, but it's really the U.S. manufacturers who for more than two decades approached greater fuel efficiency in low gear with their parking brakes on, arguing that it wasn't technologically possible, or that costs would be too high. Instead, they took refuge in wimpy standards, a shell game with "light trucks," and protectionism. Congress, and several administrations, were complicit in this failure of imagination, with the result that no one really tried.
And it's overdue, because the handwriting has been on the wall for quite a while:
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Climate: I keep an open mind about global warming generally but I do think, on the issue of the escalating levels of CO2 in our atmosphere, the evidence is overwhelming that it's largely man-made. No matter what is causing it, the effects are generally negative, so it's prudent to do what we can to reduce it.
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Scarcity: Petroleum is finite; therefore its cost will continue to rise and reverberate through our economy, whether we drill our own, or import it from a friendly anti-democratic nabob. We must use less now, and find substitutes over the longer term.
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Markets: U.S. brands' market share has dropped continuously over the past 30 years, U.S. auto manufacturers' stock prices have declined steadily over the past decade, and sales have been bolstered by increasingly generous discounts and financing deals. This is not solely because of fuel efficiency, but there's something wrong with the picture here, something alert businessmen should have noticed.
The Greek chorus against tighter standards is already gearing up again, with the added argument that times are tough, change should be postponed. But times for the carmakers have been tough for a long while. It would make little sense to devote so much national effort and treasure to rescuing an industry whose business model is so clearly flawed. Granted, there are problems to be overcome, but couldn't we -- shouldn't we? -- wish that our current captains of industry at Chrysler, Ford, and GM (like their counterparts 80 years ago) might have the wisdom to see the need to change, the imagination to envision the possibilities, and the inspiration to seize the competitive advantage that could come from innovatively redefining themselves? They'll be better for the effort; they may even survive because of it.
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