Not surprisingly, the Republican talking point answer seems to be:
- Unions (of course)
- Safety standards
- Economy standards
I love the last. Sales have collapsed at the Big Three primarily because so few people suddenly wanted to buy (especially with the economy tanking) the gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks with gas verging on $5/gal. for a while — but the government is putting these guys out of business by making an incremental CAFE standard? Give me a break.
A few recent examples of this meme:
– MITT ROMNEY: Well, government did [cause a lot of this]. There’s no question but that the CAFE standards have put an unusual burden on the domestic automobile manufacturers. And our energy policies as a country continue to put burdens on domestic manufacturers. That’s just — that’s reality. [11/19/08]
– WILLIAM KRISTOL: Well, one problem with the auto industry is we have been telling them how to operate an awful lot, you know, in terms of CAFE standards and other things, probably which should not have been most — may have been the most — not the most intelligent way to help that industry. [11/16/08]
– SEAN HANNITY: They [the government] — you know, between the unions, between trade policy, safety standards, CAFE standards, you know, economy, fuel economy standards, they’re forcing these auto companies to be in a position where they’re not as competitive. [11/14/08]
Because American car companies are too stupid to manufacture cars that match the economy standards of foreign car companies selling vehicles here? Is that really what they are saying?
It’s a bullshit answer anyway. The incremental new CAFE standards just got passed (for future implementation) last year, hardly something likely to bankrupt the auto companies even if they had to start from scratch to figure out how to improve their vehicles. Which they don’t.
Last year’s stonewalling attempts by the auto industry notwithstanding, improving fuel economy is not difficult for the Big Three. As the Sierra Club explained in 2006, “The technology exists today to make all new vehicles average 40 miles per gallon within ten years.” A 2002 report by the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems of the National Research Council found that technologies existed then that “would significantly reduce fuel consumption within 15 years” — technologies that manufacturers were “already offering or introducing” in overseas markets.
What’s more, those existing technologies would hardly bankrupt the auto industry. NPR reported that technologies to raise fuel-efficiency “to around 33 mpg across the fleet pay for themselves within three to four years.” Indeed, Tom Cole of the Center for Automotive Research, said that with only about $1,000 worth of changes, “a conventional, gas-powered car could go 25 percent farther on a single gallon of gas.” The Union of Concerned Scientists designed its own highly efficient SUV comparable to the Ford Explorer that doubled its fuel economy (from 17 mpg to 30 mpg). The lifetime fuel savings paid back the additional technology cost of $2,560 in less than three years.
How about we bail out the Auto Companies — on the condition that everyone who is a prefixed VP (Senior, Group, Executive) or higher is fired with no severance pay? I’m sure there’s plenty of talent that can take over for them — and certainly they cannot do worse than the current batch of idiots in charge in Detroit.
A) The US auto makers became addicted to the huge profits that they got from the SUVs.
B) Oddly, these same companies have no trouble meeting higher fuel and pollution standards in Europe and steadfastly refuse to manufacture/sell those same cas here.
The GOP simply sees this as another opportunity to bust the UAW, facts be damned.
If the GOP was soooo concerned about the costs of employee benefits, they would have heeded the Big Three’s calls for Universal Health Care years ago to eliminate that from the cost of a car (or more likely fluff the profit margin).
Did any of these brainiacs explain why the standards are a bigger burden to US manufacturers? Course not.