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General discussion

Tired of the talking point: Americans want higher mileage

Apr 27, 2006 12:32AM PDT

...vehicles, they just need leadership. This is idiocy! It implies that Americans can't FIND such vehicles when there are plenty to choose from. Do these politicians think they are so smart and the people such idiots that we need to wait for them to tell us to buy the higher mileage vehicles we supposedly already want?!

Discussion is locked

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depends on who's "talking"
Apr 27, 2006 12:58AM PDT

If Madison Avenue is doing the talking (and that's who it seems most American consumers are listening to...) then we can have our cake and eat it too. We can impress our neighbors with our bigger badder behemoth and not have any economic consequences (because the only thing the average schmuck cares about is the monthly payment - with a lower monthly lease payment I CAN afford the monthly gas bill...).

If the campaign-contributing automakers are doing the talking (and that's who the politicians are listening to, and that's who is paying Madison Avenue (see above) to say what they are saying ...) then preserving the more-profitable bigger badder behemoths is what we should be doing.

If sensible people who examine their actual needs and make rational decisions are doing the talking, well they are all nerds, nobody is listening to them - or - they are trapped in the 2nd year of an upside down 5 year lease or note with payments that barely worked when gas was $2 but now is a killer at $3, and they have no exit.

dw

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The last person ''talking'' ......
Apr 27, 2006 8:44PM PDT

... was **** Durbin among the many politicians that think the President should ''do something'' about this. I wish people would smarten up and realize that it is exactly because of everything they plan to ''do'' that we are where we are. Weren't we hearing that the auto makers were having problems last year selling the lower mileage vehicles? Prius' were impossible to find because of high demand? Folks apparently have short memories or are not as concerned about the price of gas as we are led to believe with all of this hysteria.

If I drive 15k miles in a year, that's 750 gallons at 20 mpg, 500 gallons at 30 mpg, 375 gallons at 40 mpg. Even at $3/gallon, that's about a grand in a year. Not small potatoes, but about the cost of a Starbucks a day.

Evie Happy

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It's easy for them to demogogue...
Apr 27, 2006 8:55PM PDT

Remember, what Democrats crave is POWER at any cost. So Schumer, Pelosi, Reid, Durbin, et al can lie and lie about this with barely any challenge. It's the perfect "issue" for them because they KNOW there is nothing anyone can do in the short term (i.e. before the election) except cut the taxes, which they will block.

If the GOP had a spine or a brain they would be in there slashing those taxes NOW. It kills me that they don't see this.

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What's with that rebate?! ...
Apr 27, 2006 9:05PM PDT

... why not just cut the tax so people see the reduction at the pump?

Evie Happy

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That's right, the Republicans have never craved power
Apr 28, 2006 11:53AM PDT

In what fantasyland do you live? I may not be wildly enthusiastic about the Dems but the Repubs make the flesh crawl. Tom Delay, Newt Gingrich, the Veep, the Pres. None of them ever craved public office, or thought God wanted them to be President, or campaigned for it. No sir. The GOP is pristine and unsullied by ambition. Or, judging by this post, insight or intelligence.

By the way, how did Bush win the 2000 election in Florida? Every news service in the world saw it as a scam.

If you don't like taxes, just become the Vice President, he only paid 5% according to his own figures.

Rob

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Excuse me Rob
Apr 28, 2006 9:52PM PDT

but you got your facts on wrong yet AGAIN. Every news service concede that Bush won fair and square. The only way Gore won would have been by counting ballots that are NEVER counted.

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(NT) (NT) Wow, how much BS can you cram into one post?
Apr 28, 2006 9:54PM PDT
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I guess, in the midst of your historical, political, and
Apr 29, 2006 12:46AM PDT

economic research projects, you missed the follow up to the Florida story. The news organizations that actually investigated the Florida vote found that President Bush won. Boy! Was that a big news story or what? How did he win?


Ummmmmmmm, he got the most votes even after the Democrat efforts to steal votes. The Dems were big time disappointed. Vote stealing is a favorite tactic. Big Al was counting on that.

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BUT,
Apr 27, 2006 1:13AM PDT

Bush destroyed the CAFE standards

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Maybe what it means is....
Apr 27, 2006 2:45AM PDT

....that people want cars that are just as big as the ones they have now but get better gas mileage (or run on less expensive alternative fuels).

I know that mileage is way better than it used to be, largely due to the use of lighter-weight parts, but it's always good to strive for further improvements.

As Derek Jeter says in a new Ford commercial "Good enough isn't good enough."

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So, pass a law; make a speech...
Apr 27, 2006 12:29PM PDT

that will do the trick.

I am pretty sure that Detroit is trying to increase gas mileage in their cars, along with a million other things that people want too. I don't see where "leadership" or politicians come into it.

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But,
Apr 27, 2006 9:51PM PDT

Americans are too stupid to know what's best for them

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Please show me where....
Apr 27, 2006 11:02PM PDT

....I made any reference to government in my post.

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Evie's post, which you responded to...
Apr 27, 2006 11:25PM PDT

was about politicians making speeches, etc.

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So?
Apr 28, 2006 12:00AM PDT

Again, show me where I made any reference to government in my post.

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Never mind...
Apr 28, 2006 12:16AM PDT

didn't realize your post was supposed to be a nonsequitur.

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Bush made the speech yesterday, doubtless hoping
Apr 27, 2006 11:25PM PDT

Americans' memories are so short they will forget that his very first action as President was an XO suspending the planned increase in required fuel efficiency, which if allowed to stand would already be saving more oil (per day) than drilling the Arctic Wildlife Refuge would generate. Now he calls on Congress to pass a law increasing the CAFE standards, with a four-year lead-time. What a hypocrite!

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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Drop this nonsense please...
Apr 27, 2006 11:29PM PDT

in case you haven't noticed, prices aree rising WORLDWIDE. Okay? Nothing whatever to do with CAFE except that raising CAFE standards would hurt US business and consumers.

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Read up on how Brazil handled the same problem, EdH...
Apr 28, 2006 1:57PM PDT

Most of their vehichles now run on 100% ethanol, made from sugar cane.

And prices actually aren't increasing as fast elsewhere, as they're doing what we would have done if we'd had higher gas taxes to start with (as many on the left suggested) -- they're now decreasing the tax rates to ease the total effect of the rising oil prices on their economies. Meanwhile, they're much less dependent (per capita) on petroleum products because the higher prices forced conservation, their infrastructure isn't crumbling due to long-delayed maintenance (that's part of what the taxes were used for), and their overall social services are better for the same reason. Better CAFE standards could have at least accomplished some of the conservation for us, but even that approach didn't line the oil companies' pockets enough for Bush/Cheney -- and we're now all paying for it.

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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Brazil is not the US or is it the world...
Apr 28, 2006 9:48PM PDT

bully for them, but they are a marginal case. We don't have that much sugar cane and the ethanol indiustry here is already stretched.

My point remains.

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So ...
Apr 28, 2006 9:54PM PDT

... if European countries, for example, had the "right idea" all along, how come they didn't have the petroleum alternative years ago?

I see you've tamed your CAFE stance. LOL! It's a start.

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Restating my point....
Apr 28, 2006 10:02PM PDT

If thehre was an easy and obvious solution, everybody would be doing it. What "everybody" is doing is using gasoline powered internal combustion engines.

Ethanol might be part of A solution, but it is not THE solution.

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'Scientist' demonstrates once again how to ignore reality.
Apr 29, 2006 12:52AM PDT

If higher cafe standards had been implemented by Congress under President Bush, the contribution to our current fuel usage would be zero. It seems that research and development in the real world actually takes a lot of time. Ditto for moving the results into manufactured products. They can't make it up as they go as is usually done in biology in academia.

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Excuse me Dave ...
Apr 28, 2006 1:52AM PDT

... but this is now the third time you've stated this falsehood.

Please show the PROOF from here or quit perpetuating a lie!

Not only would CAFE have little or no effect on gas prices, he didn't even do what you claim! CAFE would save more than ANWR would generate? What world do you live in?

BTW, in '05 the Bush Administration proposed raising CAFE standards for light trucks. I think those were implemented this year.

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What do you think the chances are....
Apr 28, 2006 2:13AM PDT

that you'll get an answer, much less a rational one?

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(NT) (NT) Let me dig out my textbook on irrational numbers.
Apr 28, 2006 6:48AM PDT
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Another source for you Dave
Apr 28, 2006 7:54AM PDT
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(NT) (NT) Hellllloooooooooo? Dave???
Apr 29, 2006 12:54AM PDT
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No, just a President who didn't waste his time
Apr 28, 2006 6:45AM PDT

on meaningless gestures. It's the Democrats who have contributed to tight oil supplies, not the President or his Republican colleagues.

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2006 Top 10 cars with good gas mileage
Apr 27, 2006 3:47AM PDT