Re: OT - Uncle Sam Goes Car Crazy -- Your government gets into the auto business

On Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:19:39 -0700, the infamous pyotr filipivich
<phamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> scrawled the following:

I missed the Staff meeting, but the Memos showed that Larry Jaques
<novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> wrote on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:15:48
-0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking :
There's plenty of blame to go around. The car industry and the oil industry
made that bed, but not without the agreement of consumers. And Congress is
doing what we demand. Someone said here the other day that Congress is
supposed to respond to the demands of the voters. Well, the voters want big
cars, superhighways, and cheap gas. We got what we demanded. Now we're all
paying for it.

That's what Detroit said. It's not, by a long shot, the whole reality.

Detroit didn't change along with our eco-awareness when the first fuel
crisis hit 30+ years ago. Datsun and Toyota did

Datsun and Toyota (and Volkswagen and SAAB) were already building
cars with gas mileage based on the fact that gas cost the equivalent
of ten dollars a gallon (what ever the equivalent would have been in
1972). It wasn't "Eco_awareness" as "Pocket book awareness." The
sudden drive for more fuel efficiency had more to do with OPEC
deciding to raise the price of crude oil, and gas skyrocketed to 45
cents a gallon.

Oh, that's right. Eco-awareness was triggered by the fuel crisis,
wasn't it?


and they're in good
shape here. Yeah, there are still plenty of big-car drivers around,
and they're really nice for cross-country trips like I did to New
Mexico 7 years ago. But the little Hyundai Elantra I rented 2 years
ago was nearly as comfy as the Merc Marquis on the freeway, and it got
me 30mpg at 75-95mph on the Bay Area trip. Big cars are obsolete for
most of the old reasons.

The land yachts of yore are, with their "floating" road responses
and the like. As Mercedes and others have consistently demonstrated,
it is possible to build a Large Car, which is comfortable to ride in
and a pleasure to drive, and still get good gas mileage.

True. I wouldn't own one of those VWs big brother vehicles, either.
Having worked on them, I'm simply not nearly as impressed by the
"wonderful German engineering" as most folks.

I've seen two of the famous Beemers upside down on the side of the
freeway in LoCal. Evidently, they were in the fast lane and had to hit
their brakes for traffic while on a slight uphill very slight turn and
they rolled over. Some sports car _they_ are. Bwahahahahaha!
I-5 between markers 34 and 36 raises from sea level to maybe 1,000' in
a mile. See the wicked turn here and laugh:
http://www.mapquest.com/mq/10-TMcyPQxISktt

--
"The latest documents released this week showed
that priests with drug, alcohol and sexual abuse
problems continued in the ministry as recently as
two years ago. That doesn't sound like a church,
it sounds like Congress with holy water." -Jay Leno
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Prius - eco-friendly, my ass
    ... The fact is, we use more gas today than we did before CAFE and more than when it cost $2 a gallon, or even $1 a gallon. ... there are now more cars in this country than there are people. ... In the market, the as the demand goes up, the price goes up. ...
    (alt.autos.toyota)
  • Re: Another $17.4 Billion WASTED
    ... What the government should have done ... was to limit the public's demand for large cars and trucks... ... making the gas expensive. ...
    (rec.autos.driving)
  • Re: Prius - eco-friendly, my ass
    ... The fact is, we use more gas today than we did before CAFE and more than when it cost $2 a gallon, or even $1 a gallon. ... there are now more cars in this country than there are people. ... In the market, the as the demand goes up, the price goes up. ...
    (alt.autos.toyota)
  • Re: Gas prices
    ... being used and creats a gas glut forcing the refiners to lower gas ... That would only work if everybody had decided to get rid of their current cars ... speed limit didn't save fuel? ... as stated by Congress was saving fuel. ...
    (rec.autos.tech)
  • Re: Prius - eco-friendly, my ass
    ... The fact is, we use more gas today than we did before CAFE and more than when it cost $2 a gallon, or even $1 a gallon. ... there are now more cars in this country than there are people. ... In the market, the as the demand goes up, the price goes up. ...
    (alt.autos.toyota)
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