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November 9, 2010

For businesses, no more 'go along to get along'

By Joseph Smith

With a new Congress coming to town and Republicans expressing their determination to stop the Democrat agenda, an auto industry trade group is taking their own stand against the Obama environmental regime.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers will fight new gas mileage proposals, and that the group is counting on the new Republican House majority to review the regulatory environment that is putting the squeeze on the industry:

It's a fresh sign that the "go along to get along" approach some industries took during the first two years of the Obama administration is over.

The auto industry presents a target-rich environment for an over-zealous EPA, and as noted by the Journal, is the "only sector currently regulated for carbon dioxide emissions," which the EPA hopes to be the vanguard for their cap-and-trade-through-regulation effort.

The industry had already agreed, under pressure during the bailout period, to "boost fuel-economy standards nearly 35% by 2016."  The recent industry protest is over an administration proposal to further increase mileage standards another 3-6% per year, to ultimately reach 62 miles per gallon in 2025.

Extreme mileage standards, backdoor CO2 regulations and overpriced electric cars that no one wants are all reflected in Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood's desire to "coerce people out of their cars."

The government claims the proposed new rules "could raise the price of a model-year 2025 car by between $770 and $3,500 but that consumers would buy them because they would recoup that added expense through fuel savings."

The industry counters that the administration's assumptions are "faulty," the cost estimates are too low and the economic risk is too great, with the Auto Alliance letter to the government observing:

If the economics for high fuel-economy vehicles is so overwhelming, why do so few consumers today choose to buy high fuel-economy vehicles?

And why does this government foray into excessive regulation remind me of ObamaCare?

After two years of the President relentlessly demonizing one business after another, it will be a refreshing change to see the business community finally start to come out of hiding, as the new balance of power in Congress takes hold.

 

 
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