President Trump says he wants to make America great again. Sounds good. How about doing something to make that happen?
One thing he could do anytime he wishes – via the executive orders he has no problem issuing – as for example with regard to tariffs – would be to get the federal government out of the “gas mileage” business, which is none of its legitimate business.
It’s a risible business – predicated on the false premise that were it not for federal government there would be no high-mileage vehicles because of the desire of the vehicle manufacturers to sell nothing other than “gas hogs.” History – and common sense – say otherwise.
First, the history.
The federal government got into the “gas mileage” business in the mid-1970s, in the wake of artificially spiking gas prices caused by artificially created gas shortages. These shortages were caused by an embargo on the supply of Middle Eastern oil (out of which gasoline is made) which was caused by – or triggered by, at any rate – the federal government, which had annoyed the Arab oil producing countries (OPEC) on account of the federal government’s supporting another government, that of the state of Israel.
The cost of gas went up. People had to wait in line to get gas and sometimes didn’t get any before the supply ran out. This all happened at a time when American cars were still the majority of cars on the road and a lot of these were “gas hogs” because they were large, rear-wheel-drive coupes, sedans and station wagons and these often had large V8 engines. Most of these were not – at the time of the OPEC embargo – brand-new. They had been purchased prior to the embargo, when the cost of gas was low and so it was affordable to drive large, V8-powered coupes, sedans and station wagons, even if they were “gas hogs.”
In 1970, a gallon of gas cost about 37 cents. It cost a lot more all-of-a-sudden. Within just a few years, the price of gas had jumped up to 57 cents per gallon. This made it less viable for people of modest means to afford what it cost to drive a “gas guzzler.” It also made it harder to sell them to people of modest means, i.e., to lower and middle-income people.
Note the Italics.
A question is begged – which is rarely asked: If it became harder to sell “gas guzzlers” to lower and middle income people – the people who constitute the largest slice of the new vehicle buyer pool, what would be the incentive for the vehicle manufacturers to continue manufacturing such vehicles – given they’d be hard to sell? Would the incentive not be to manufacture vehicles that weren’t “gas guzzlers” – in order to have vehicles in the showroom that buyers wanted and were willing to buy?
That’s what Honda and Toyota and Datsun (Nissan now) did. They offered cars that weren’t “gas guzzlers” and sold millions of them without being forced (effectively) to manufacture them – via federal edicts pertaining to how many miles-per-gallon their vehicles must “achieve,” to use the language of the federal regulatory apparat.
These edicts – Corporate Average Fuel Economy, in the bureaucratese of the federal apparat) – were justified as necessary to do what was clearly not necessary, in other words. CAFE did not force Honda, Toyota and Datsun to manufacture fuel-efficient vehicles. It did not force VW to manufacture the Beetle – the original one – which was also designed to be fuel efficient. It had been available for years prior to the imposition of CAFE, along with a number of other models that were designed to be economical to drive.
Ergo – to use some Latin lingo – it was not necessary to force General Motors, Ford or Chrysler to manufacture economical to drive models, either. The market was all that was – is – necessary.
That this has to be explained to so many people is a measure of just how successful the government has been at getting people to believe that government is the necessary solution to such problems. Problems – it bears repeating – that were (and still are) caused by the government. Had the federal government not annoyed the oil-producing states – Saudi Arabia in particular – there would probably have been no gas price spikes or gas lines. If were not for the government, we’d not need oil from Saudi Arabia or other foreign producers because there is plenty here, in America.
And – regardless – these “shortgae” and “gas line” problems were temporary in nature because they were not caused by a dwindling supply of oil (out of which gasoline is made). The oil was not running out. It was being withheld.
The distinction is important.
If the oil was running out it would not have happened all of a sudden but gradually. There would have been a natural increase in the cost of oil and thus, of gas – and these market signals would have given both vehicle manufacturers and vehicle buyers time to adjust to changing circumstances. Instead what happened was an unanticipated and very sudden withdrawal of supply caused not by the running out of supply but the withholding of supply.
Once again, the distinction is important.
No one anticipated that OPEC would turn off the spigot – so to speak. For this reason, people were caught blindsided by the sudden, unnatural and artificially caused spike in the cost of gas, which rendered their “gas hog” cars suddenly unaffordable to drive and very hard for the manufacturers thereof (who also got blindsided) to sell. These manufacturers were the American car brands – because they chiefly sold large cars with big engines – and they did not anticipate in 1970 that the cost of gas would increase 40 percent by 1974. Because how could they have anticipated it? They were designing their ’74 models in 1970 because it takes several years to go from a design on a napkin to a finished production car. So they found themselves not only stuck with vast fleets of “gas hogs” that were a hard sell by 1974 but derided by the government for trying to sell them. The assertion being that they were trying to force “gas hogs” on an unwilling and much-besieged car buying public!
The chutzpah leaves one speechless.
So, we got CAFE. More finely, we got saddled with CAFE, which has served to winnow choices by effectively forcing every vehicle manufactured to be “efficient,” no matter how much it costs us. We are no longer allowed to buy a car such as an early ’70s (pre-CAFE) VW Beetle or Datsun that was not only easy on gas but also easy to buy – because they did not have to comply. We are effectively forced to buy “efficient” cars such as the current crop of direct-injected, CVT-equipped, micro-engined/turbocharged compliance cars that cost a fortune but deliver “good gas mileage.”
We are then lectured by the government about how much it has “saved” us.
At the same time, the large, V8-powered cars average Americans used to commonly drive are now for-the-rich-only, because they are only manufactured by luxury car brands for the clientele that can afford to pay what it costs to manufacture such cars today.
Why not get the government out of this business – and out of our pockets? Why not let the market provide the incentives – as opposed to the government “incentivizing” what for that reason is no longer a market but rather a Sovietized, top-down regime of one-size-fits-all and take it-or-leave-it, assuming you can afford it?
That Trump has not ended (rather than “mended”) CAFE suggests he either does not understand the market or does not approve of it. And that he approves of the federal government being in the business of decreeing how many miles-per-gallon the vehicle you choose to buy must deliver – as opposed to that transaction being a matter between you, as the buyer, and the vehicle manufacturer who would like to sell you a new vehicle based on its appeal to you.
Irrespective of how much – or little – gas it burns.
. . .
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“An American common culture matters, and if we can’t put it together, we’re sunk.” …
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/04/james-howard-kunstler/now-you-know/
“it’s not enough to feel rooted to a particular place or to the community in which we’ve found ourselves. We also need to feel rooted to a shared history, to a common language, to a moral standard, to our work, to obligations, to some sort of spiritual life. […]
“Uprootedness occurs whenever there is a military conquest […] The past once destroyed never returns. The destruction of the past is perhaps the greatest of all crimes.” […]
“Even without a military conquest, money-power and economic domination can so impose a foreign influence as actually to provoke this disease of uprootedness,”. […]
“I really don’t feel a part of anything here,” my dad added. […]
Although long in coming, the COVID-19 coup was both a multi-pronged invasion and infiltration the likes of which America had never seen before and for which most of us were unprepared. And about which most Americans still remain clueless.
Weil was ahead of her time in pointing out that, as Robert Zaretsky, in his book The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas, writes: “For Weil, the act of uprooting is not just physical, but also social and psychological; one can feel uprooted without ever having moved or having been moved.” The massive social and psychological homelessness brought on by the COVID-19 lockdowns dramatically disrupted the human passion for structure and predictability. No longer were we “allowed” to go work and school in the morning; to spend our evenings with friends in restaurants and social events; to travel; to go to church on Sundays; to take a walk in a park; to sit on a beach; to see our aging or ailing family members and friends in hospitals, retirement communities, and nursing homes; and even to attend funerals. All the while, let us recall, liquor stores were allowed to remain open because they were “essential businesses.”
None of this “just happened.” None of this can be attributed to the natural evolution or modernization of a society. None of it was coincidence. All of it was planned. All of it was an invasion designed and carried out to break our will and demoralize us. Because a people without will and without some idea of their individual worth and collective value as a nation—an entire population without roots—are the easiest to control, to conquer, and, ultimately, to kill.”…
https://jameskullander.substack.com/p/the-need-for-roots-prelude-to-a-declaration
OffGrid Doug talks about Trump’s desire to create A.I. data centers as powerful as in China, to compete with China,… to compete at doing what, is never mentioned:
‘Did you get a notice? In MAILBOXES NOW’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLWdPSOyfaM
So, working housewives happily voted for A.I. world domination & military conquest of all?
Should this comment be under the, ‘Will Trump End CAFE?’ article (no one is allowed to buy the car/truck they want, only what’s permitted) or should it be under the, ‘Not One Indictment article?
They seem to blend.
Tucker Carlson: ‘Catherine Fitts: Power Grids, Bankers vs. the West, Secret Underground Bases, and Extinction Events’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8pA2TDXtew
Then, as a bonus, there’s Patara’s, ‘How’s Inflation NOW? Your ALDI Report!’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nynASLjiA9k
And, whoa, like Drumpish’s experience mentioned here at EPautos buying empty paint cans, I had about the very same price increase with buying 1″x2″x8′ red cedar when the not-so PhD material young cashier chick asked me to verify the price per stick, & when I said yes, she said, “Oh, Hell no!”
While I’m not quite old enough to remember the ’70s “oil crisis”, I did, however, get a taste of it in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy about 13 years ago. Since the refineries here in Doitey-Joisey were offline due to flooding, there was a temporary gas shortage. So the gas stations here did the same “odd-even” license plate thing, that was done across the country all those years ago. And because there’s a gas station right around the corner from our apartment, I got a front row seat to witness fights breaking out, and the crowd literally booing when the tanks ran dry!
Now to answer your question: Yes, Chump will end “CAFE” when Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, George Soros, et al, are ALL under arrest.
Yep’ers, bluegrey6124! It’s like that Q b.s., just trust the 4-D chess plan? Millions of hardworking, loyal guys & their feisty wives are very happy the Trump train to Bill Clinton’s no-where bridge of the future is saving them 25 Cents so’s our overlords can turn around and spend an extra 100 Dollars, for every Dollar, on some World Domination plan resulting in a Technocratic Hell on earth?
“Coud it be that globalism is sensing an ever-stronger pushback by the people, so they feign a collapse, when in reality, they take the lull in people’s attention to regroup, to reappear later with new much stronger strategies to take over the world?”…
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/04/no_author/regime-change-at-the-world-economic-forum-wef-for-better-or-for-worse/
To truly end the CAFE regulations so that they could not come back under the next president, Trump would have to challenge the constitutionality of the regulations, which he could do after the “Chevron deference” decision (Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo). He will not do this. I don’t think he’s capable.
Why do you think he’s not capable? He does have a war chest worth of lawyers at his disposal, like every world emperor does.
Or, do you mean, he’s not willing?
I honestly don’t think he’s principled enough to make such a fundamental change instead of only temporary and superficial and easily reversible. I would be tickled to find I’m wrong on this.
This could and should be done with Congressional approval so that undoing it would necessitate a Democrap House, Senate and Presidency.
And though all three are controlled now by nominal Republicans, they don’t seem to be passing much. Just a couple Get-The-Illegal-Alien-Invaders-Of-Death bills and a status-quo funding bill, mainly.
No, I’m afraid Darth Tangelo is more likely to sign an “Executive Order 66” than an end to CAFE, in which libertarians are branded traitors and enemies of the Empire and the jack-boots are activated against us. Freedom doesn’t seem to be any part of the Orange Menace’s idea of American Greatness.
‘Darth Tangelo’ definitely seems like a patent-able Lego character. The rest of what ya wrote: we’re on the same page, the same chapter, the same verse.
…There’s a Transmogrification taking place right now. And, most people have no clue.
Some, who do have a clue, are misdirected with a dog bone & a bird-in-the-bush & think it’s about saving taxpayer Dollars and Goobermint efficiency. A.k.a., a better experience getting pulled over & given a high-Dollar ticket while a snob runs their fingers through a person’s possessions & panty drawers looking for evidence of a crime: A.I. data centers, Real ID, close-all-the-local-banks, make it hip to consider ones self to be a slave/serf?
As long as the, ‘taxpayer’ is paying a teeny tiny bit less to their overlords, just-never-you-mind the fact our overlords are spending double that & taking extra Liberties away from everyone along with that.
E-Gads, they’ve embraced Madaline Albright’s bit about it being, “worth it”.
Creep. Me. Out.
It really is “hip” to be a slave these days, Helot.
They’re even putting back the red-light and speeding cameras in Phoenix (Tempe) as well as giving the cops mobile radar systems. That’s right, you too can now be fined again by an automated thieving road-totem. They had these things before and people eventually pushed enough to get rid of them. Now, there going in again as the media touts how much “safer” traffic is when these electronic bastards in place.
Well, I don’t care if it reduces traffic fatalities by 20% or whatever contrived statistic they parrot. Hell, you could probably reduce traffic fatalities by 100% if you just made people walk and ride bikes. So what. It’s bullshit.
Luckily, they need to sends a process server to deliver you the ticket, and they’d never find me where I live now. Mwahahaha.
Will Trump end CAFE? Trump is no great intellectual and no beacon of morality – Trump is bankrolling and endorsing Israel’s genocide and Trump’s tariff war is creating another economic depression. IMO Trump does not act on moral absolutes or Libertarian principles, Trump’s calculus is based on his own personal math, what will make Trump great, what will make Trump money – like the latest scam Trump coin.
Trump doesn’t drive his own cars and has his own jumbo jet, I am pretty sure Trump doesn’t really care about mpg. nor is Trump logic grounded in Libertarian free market principles, Trump operates on instinct, if he thinks CAFE is bad for political reasons he might roll them back, but eliminate them? Trump is not an idealist.
Unlucky for us, Israel controls our scumbag politicians. Lucky for us, the big USA has yet to fall to insane Leftist energy grid planning – the blackout in Europe, blamed on “atmospheric conditions”, meaning wind didn’t blow or the sun didn’t shine, caused Net Zero grid planning to fail.
Europe had an electricity blackout because they shut down all the fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. No one saw this coming. LOL. Completely insane standards based on the Global Warming hoax caused the basis of modern society to fail – including trains. Including banks, internet, everything.
I was watching BBC New last night, they showed a high speed trained that died between two cities, out in the boondocks, and the passengers had to debark – no electric for the air conditioning – phones didn’t work. Passengers stranded all because the fool public went along and voted for insane energy re-structuring based on the bald faced lies of climate change.
Soon Ai will run everything, then the blackout will be catastrophic. This week cops had to manually direct traffic, no traffic lights. Note how “backward Russia” is doing just fine, in Russia they do not allow Leftist retards make suicidal decisions like Net Zero.
Everyone knows that if you want energy reliability you need many different kinds of energy in case one fails, you would not rely on one kind only – that is just plain stupid.
Watch how not one political hack gets in trouble over the black out – when their out to mass firings.
“We are trapped in a dystopia that is ruled by lunatics.” – Caitlin Johnstone via Lew Rockwell site
GOD I HOPE SO! (in response to the question “Will Trump End CAFE?”)
If that’s the only thing he did, that would be the best thing, in my opinion, that any politician has done. That’s how passionate I am about this issue. They never should have implemented CAFE in the first place, because the free market (and I mean truly free) would have resulted in all sorts of vehicles available to the consumer, including those with very high mpgs.
Governments steal money and kill people. They do NOT help anything or anyone except themselves. Trump will only end CAFE if Israel tells him to.
I agree, name one thing a government program has fixed. When the government wages war on poverty – by spending vast sums to eliminate poverty – all of a sudden every tom dick and harry qualifies for the free shit.
He can but he wont.
Today: ‘Shares of Amazon tumbled after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the company’s recent decision to display the effect of tariffs on products a “hostile and political act,” adding “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?”
“It’s not a surprise,” Leavitt continued, adding “Amazon has partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm. So this is another reason Americans should buy American.” — ZeroHedge
I vigorously support Amazon in informing its customers how much tariffs add to the price of its products — just as I support gas retailers who list the state and fedgov taxes that drive up the price of fuel.
Leavitt’s reaction is defensive. She’s a perp caught red-handed and claiming ‘we dindu nuffin.’ Her boss is an at-large pickpocket who doesn’t want us to know how much he’s stealing.
Transparency applies to Repugniclown tax thieves just as it applies to DemonRat tax thieves. There is only one War Party.
I’ve been noticing lately that when these pols are confronted with inconvenient facts their first reaction is to smear the person noticing the facts with something like: “You’re a Chinese stooge.”
Does anybody other than the braindead cultists fall for this stupid diversion tactic?
When is Amazon going to remove it’s penis logo? Bezos has some kind of fixation on the penis, his rocket literally looks like one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlbFwWuTL6k
Over at Musk, the latest estimate is 100 children.
LOL they are all fucking crazy.
Hi Jack,
I am curious is Musk is actually sleeping and impregnating these women the natural way or if he is just shipping off semen. Maybe, he is trying to be Genghis Khan.
Imagine this phone call as noted in https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/amazon-is-not-planning-to-show-added-tariff-costs-20300466.php
A source familiar with the matter, who spoke of the condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the president also called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to complain about the report Tuesday.
The administration seemed to change its tune following Amazon’s clarifying statement.
“Jeff Bezos was very nice. He was terrific,” President Donald Trump told reporters before leaving the White House for Michigan on Tuesday afternoon. “He solved a problem very quickly and he did the right thing. He’s a good guy.”
—-
Straight outta Goodfellas… or North Korea.
I think this is freaking brilliant. I give it 60 days before Amazon realizes this is costing them revenue.
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/04/29/report-amazon-to-display-line-item-tariff-cost-in-customers-checkout-prices/
I am not a big Amazon buyer, but there is a psychological impact when people believe they are being fleeced. The tariff impact on Amazon receipts will push the buyers to other companies. I do this with restaurants that charge a fee for the use of my credit card. I will never return no matter how good the food or service is. I don’t question too much if a food item has increased 4 or 5%, but a new charge on the receipt…no go. The tried this under COVID with the “COVID fee” and the “health insurance fee” in such states as California. This will not work out well for Amazon or its vendors.
“This will not work out well for Amazon or its vendors.”
Yet we’ve seen nothing but crying about how if only the automakers would put the cost of regulations on their cars how that would have pushed back on CAFE, and FMVSS regulations
Can’t have it
Can’t have it both ways
I believe they need to that as well. Additional line items force uncomfortable questions. I also am a huge proponent of doctors and hospitals providing an itemized breakdown of costs. People get pissed when they find out they just paid $28 for a freaking Tylenol. And that $500 MRI was billed as $7500 instead.
>$28 for a freaking Tylenol.
When I had cataract surgery a few years ago, I was required to pay $600 for the presence of an anesthesiologist (M.D.) who did nothing but observe whilst an “assistant” handed me a Valium pill and a small cup of water. The valium, as the song goes, didn’t do anything at all, that I could detect.
>$500 MRI was billed as $7500
Howzabout $10,000 per CT scan, times 5, using fraudulent justification for each test which DIRECTLY contradicted the notes of the attending physician? When you own your very own U.S. Senator, many things become possible.
IMO, all so-called “hospitals” should be required to post the famous quote from Dante’s Inferno, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here,” above their entrances. If they don’t kill you, they *will* bankrupt you, and damned quick, too.
Well, that didn’t last long.
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/04/29/report-amazon-to-display-line-item-tariff-cost-in-customers-checkout-prices/
Apparently, the idea has now been nixed.
Just curious does Jeff read this forum?
It’s rare I disagree with you RG, but this is one.
As a small biz owner, we mostly deal with checks. They can be small or very large.
The ‘deal’ has already been made 100% of the time. 98% pay check/transfer.
If a small minority then say “I want to pay via credit card’ for their own reasons, we charge them the 1.5-3% fee the card charges us. They rarely balk. My guess is they just want some form of points (and I don’t play the points game ever, at the behest of my wife)
I would imagine a restaurant wants cash first, or is trying to push people towards cash. Hence the fee’s I’m guessing.
Hi Chris,
If I am buying a sub or a salad for myself I always pay cash, but on a $400 meal I prefer the convenience of the card especially when it is a business meeting or a corporate event. I meet a lot of my clients for lunches since the majority of them are too far from my office. If the restaurant wants to charge me 4% on a $400 meal (yes, I realize it is $16 and is a small amount) I will not return. Seriously, up the steak by $5 and call it a day.
The majority of my clients pay by credit card. I keep them on file and when I am done with a project, tax return, consulting, etc. the clients tells me to charge the card. I do not charge convenience fees to my clientele. To me that is the cost of doing business. I much prefer the money now and eat the 3-4% then wait 14, 30, sometimes 60 days, for a check to be mailed. I have clients that prefer mailing checks and I will happily accept them. But, credit cards make cash flow a whole lot easier. Personally, I hate being nickel and dimed and I refuse to that to do them. It is the same reason I don’t charge for a ten minute phone call.
I get it RG. We’ll have to agree to disagree per our different perspectives.
Sometimes that happens, Chris. 🙂
Hey RG:
Way off topic, but lookey here on GM’s engine recall, which includes 2021–2024 Cadillac Escalades:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/general-motors-recalls-877k-full-size-trucks-suvs-over-faulty-engine-as-stock-sinks/ar-AA1DRbtW
This ought to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside:
“The safety and satisfaction of our customers are the highest priorities for the entire GM team, and we’re working to address this matter as quickly as possible.”
Hi ML,
I saw the news report while I was cooking dinner the other nigh. There is a class action coming, I guarantee it. GM already knew this was a problem when we had the vehicle back in 2023. They continued to crank out these engines knowing full well they were putting out an inferior and dangerous product.
If GM actually gave a foo-foo about their customer base the factory floor would have stopped until they could figure out what was causing the engine failure. Instead they continue to mass produce them. I read recently that one guy who owned a 2023 Chevy Silverado was going on this third engine!
GM can change out the engines, but it will stop the failure…my guess is they are buying time until the warranty runs out.
877K x 10K/engine change = $9B. Ouch.
These auto manuf. are stuck between a rock and hard place. comply or die, OR comply and die. And the compliance was creatd by them to stave off competition. Jeez.
With all due respect, RG, I don’t mind the credit card surcharge at restaurants. The margins are so slim you can read a newspaper through them. (I love mixing metaphors) The banks have been edging up their charges to vendors who use them to the point it can be a make-or-break proposition. If you have any mom & pop restaurants as clients you know how tough it is to make a go of it in the foodservice industry.
Besides, I always try to pay cash at such dining establishments because the banksters don’t need another cut nor do they need to know my dining habits. Tips are always in cash, that’s between me and the server, no one else. Tipping 30, 40 or even 50% is not out of the question, especially if I don’t have any adult beverages. Serving a glass of water with lemon takes just as much effort as a draft beer and it’s always free.
Cash is King.
What’s the rush?
We have a similar precedent.
There was a 587 day gap between when the US Civil War (over slavery) began, and when the president freed said slaves.
Because the war on the Confederacy wasn’t to liberate their slaves, it was to force them back in and pay tariffs. If Lincoln really had wanted to free slaves, his Phony Emancipation Proclamation wouldn’t have exempted the slaves states that remained in the Union, and specific counties in “Confederate ” states that were held by the Union.
The (((US Civil War))) was actually about making ALL US citizens slaves via debt to the (((FEDGOV))), PERIOD.
Whether you were a African enslaved against your will, or a regular US citizen, drafted (enslaved) to fight in a war not of your choosing, the results were the same. Today, we’re all slaves to the $$$….
The Detestably traitorous Despot (((Lincoln))) trampled upon, violated and ultimately destroyed the very Constitution he swore to protect and uphold.
His actions ended the Great American Experiment, created by our founding fathers Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, et al, formerly known as the US Republic, and bankrupted the Nation.
Following his Lincoln’s justified execution in 1865, the US FEDGOV was incorporated in 1871 within DC, and has since been controlled by debts incurred to the British Crown and the Khazarian Mafia.
Start digging around, the historical truth is far more terrifying than any horror fiction story.
YMMV, Good Luck y’all, we’re all going to need it!!!
If Trump ends CAFE, the next clown in the oval office could reinstate it.
Automotive design cycles are about years now. I’ve been working on stuff since 2018 that’s going to make it into cars by 2029 hopefully.
No manufacturer will suddenly change product lines if CAFE is temporarily rescinded, but they might be able to increase manufacturing of the cars already in production that people actually want.
Agreed. Long term decisions like car models, will be made on what the best expectation is. No one would believe any rollback of CAFE would be anything but temporary.
But to the question “will he even do it?”. Probably not. Or it could just be some superficial slight rollback. In either case, we will be facing this again and the cars will just keep rolling toward lawn tractor engines hoping to be rube goldberg machines.
We just finished with the first 100 days of this folderol. More to go. Anything could happen.
The Trump DOT is actually asking average people who know something about federal safety and CAFE regulations which both fall under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
According to a pdf I dug up, safety regulations add $2600 in current money to the costs of a car and 171 lbs. I would say those are best case numbers. One of the biggest compponents of these are stability control which is close to 400 bucks.
I contend that the impact of all of these safety standards is negligible and did not materially affect the highway fatality rate. Accident avoidance is not part of the NHTSA rule making process, however, the progressively upgraded suspension, and steering systems as well as radial tires were more than partly responsible for a reduction in the death rate from 5.5 death per 100 mvmt in 1966 to 2.0 death per 100mvmt by 1992. It coincided with a quiet period in NHTSA regulation and competition from foreign made automobiles hitting the shores due to increases in the price of fuel beginning around 1970 or so, not to mention the 1973-4 Arab Oil Embargo.
Here is the link.
https://landline.media/dot-wants-help-identifying-unnecessary-regulations/
Click on the link within the article to comment
There are around 570 comments, not too many because few people know about it.
Cafe, emission, and safety regs gives them and big biz the tools to manipulate the market. In other words, keep cheaper cars out. But eventually the cheaper stuff catches up, and they have to keep moving the needle.
One thing that concerns me regarding the Trump 2.0 administration is the fact that it has all these Big Tech types who appear to be pushing the technocratic agenda, such as the demented idea of merging humans with machines ala the Borg from Star Trek…and before someone out there says “You should have voted for Kamala!”, even if we had a Harris-Walz administration now instead of Trump-Vance, there’d likely still be billionaires & Big Tech types in the U.S. government pushing much the same crap….
https://usawatchdog.com/stop-the-digital-control-grid-catherine-austin-fitts/#more-30893
You should have voted for Kamala
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ9lF7Gh6GA
Hi Horst,
Could you imagine if we had THAT Kamala as President? We’d likely be living a real life Idiocracy, and this president might have the name of something like Kamala Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho.
Thats the point John. Would it not be better for the water to boil quickly, causing more frogs to leap to safety? As it stands, with President Trump, I fear many people still in the pot will be slow cooked to death as the water gets warmer.
Hi Norman,
With the rumors of the Trump 2.0 administration implementing and enforcing REAL ID after it was passed by a REPUBLICAN Congress 20 years ago under a REPUBLICAN president by the name of George W. Bush, and successive administrations delayed implementing it, will people who call themselves CONSERVATIVE push back against it under Trump 2.0 if it actually goes through with implementation? Fmr Congressman Ron Paul recently had an editorial against it. When he was in Congress, he warned against passage of REAL ID, and people at that time likely called him crazy or a conspiracy theorist, but ever since the start of the 21st century, it’s amazing how much he ended up being right about.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/real-id-phony-security-real-authoritarianism/
Yeah: A related thing that really grinds my gears is this: The state of VA adds something called “fuel efficiency fee” – or some such term, to your car registration, whose rate is pegged to the MPG’s your car gets! So, you have a little car, you pay a higher fee. Big truck = no fee. So lemme get this straight, all the time GOVCO is saying “save fuel, save fuel, save fuel”. Implemented primarily thru CAFE. Okay, so now CAFE is fully in effect, and people are buying less gas. Hooray! Problem solved, move on to next problem. Nooooo! The gas tax receipts aren’t enough so they tack on this surcharge! It’s infuriating.
The state of VA is not kind to car owners, especially new car owners. With “safety” inspection, personal property tax, this registration surcharge. Argh. Makes me want to start an LLC based out of MD whereby people could live in VA but have a MD license plate. MD has none of this crap (yet)
Forego the LLC in Maryland, Tom. The MD Department of Assessments requires an annual filing. If the PPT is over $20k (?) there is taxation on business personal property. It is advisable to add it to your revocable trust. Protection of assets and no personal property tax. You must have a physical MD address though. But, there is enough loopholes around this.
If as the saying goes regarding the permanence of temporary GovCo programs then I safely predict the EPA and CAFE will be around for a very long time.
And here we are yet again begging the orange fail to do something.
The orange man cannot simply decree CAFE away anymore than he has the authority to set tariffs Well, unless ya’ all “elected” a dictator.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
H. L. Mencken
Hi BID,
Yes, but the fact is he did decree tariffs – and with regard to CAFE he could do the same, with greater constitutional strength because there is nothing in the Constitution endowing the federal government to set forth mandatory MPG minimums. Regardless, we live under an elected monarch now anyhow. Why not just roll with it?
Unfortunately the Constitution does allow congress to regulate commerce, which includes setting standards. It is supposed to prevent a random uppity state like, e.g., California, from setting its own mpg or emission standards.
As always, just because they are granted a limited privilege, it isnt a good idea and harms the general welfare. But until enough people realize that their servants have rebelled, and that our explicitly limited constitutional republic has become an unlimited tyranny, nothing will change.
The correct response to a government law is,”Who gave you that power?”. This requires courage and sacrifice. Serfs who believe themselves free and rich will not have that courage.
Wrong.
The Constitution grants the authority to Congress to regulate commerce between the states. It does not grant authority to “set standards”, outside of those of weights and measures, coinage, etc. Nowhere is authority granted to dictate MPG or anything else.
In fact, contrary to your position, the states DO have the power to do just that since said power isn’t denied to the states in Article 1, section 10.
“Regardless, we live under an elected monarch now anyhow. Why not just roll with it?”
I will not grovel to any man or government. I refuse worship the government. They do not provide me with any rights or freedom.
“Rolling with it” implies consent. I do not consent.
CAFE does not affect me in the least.
Why not?
I have only bought 2 new cars in my life (ca 1999 and 2001) and really shouldn’t have even bought those new. If I only knew then what I know now!
I will never buy new ever again.
Stop buying new cars and CAFE will suddenly become irrelevant . . . All without prostrating ourselves at the feet of the Orange Tyrant.
But . . . Mericans love their serfdom and will keep buying and will gladly keep groveling. No one is holding Mericans down but themselves and this incessant belief that begging Government to do something for you will work out in your favor.
It should be noted that there were 37 assassinations in Mexico in the last year or so Mexico could “elect” a JEWISH WOMAN for president.
He can’t decree the law away.
He *can*, however, decree such a low target (5 mpg?) the law becomes ineffective.
Unfortunately he cannot make that permanent & it probably won’t outlast his term in office.
Incredible how the U.S. government screwed millions of regular Americans because it made a tiny FOREIGN country on the Mediterranean a higher priority than the well-being of its own people…
Incredible how the U.S. government screwed millions of regular Americans because it made a tiny FOREGN country on the Mediterranean a higher priority than the well-being of its own people…
Lest there be any doubt about this, look no further than the USS Liberty.
‘[It suggests] that Trump approves of the federal government being in the business of decreeing.’ — eric
That’s for damned sure. Now, as Orange Bejeezus tries to backpedal from his egregious errors, we are getting a second generation of decrees amending his first set of decrees [‘mend don’t end,’ dontcha know].
Today, reports the WSJ, His Orange Majesty will issue a fresh ukase ensuring that auto makers don’t pay ‘stacked’ tariffs — both steel & aluminum duties plus 25% general duties on autos and parts. And — giving back an inch after taking a mile, in time-honored fedgov fashion — offering chickenshit tariff rebates of 3.75% this year and 2.5% next.
https://archive.ph/4SKu8
This technocratic tinkering is merely rearranging the deck chairs on the listing Titanic as its band plays the old standby, Nearer My Gold To Thee.
Donnie Fubar’s economic shock already has been delivered. Moreover, as various ‘soft data’ surveys now unanimously show, corporations are slashing capital investment because planning is impossible when the tariff and tax regime changes daily at the whim of a raging NPD [Narcissistic Personality Disorder] victim.
Trump’s political reputation after 100 days is the lowest of any president since polls began with Frank Roosevelt. But the decline, my friends, has barely begun. Before he’s gone, cries of ‘dump Hoover II’ and ‘gut punch a Republiclown’ will echo through the land.
Even today, teams of hired shrinks are war-gaming exactly how an NPD sufferer might lash out when his formerly gilded world turns into a flaming sack of shit, because of his gross, self-inflicted screw-ups. Donnie is our misfortune.
Note that CAFE is the hammer used to fight “global warming” and limit the dread gas because they can’t just cap-n-trade carbon dioxide without wrecking the whole economy.
Point of order though: The Yom Kippur War was the excuse OPEC was looking for. They watched their sovereign wealth funds shrivel as Nixon printed the Vietnam war debt away and wanted the bleeding to stop. Israel gave them the trigger. The only thing that appeased them was to force the world to use dollars for oil business, which opened up a whole different can of worms.
RK is correct. Until August 15, 1971, OPEC exporters could redeem their US dollar revenues for gold, whose price was rising in dollar terms. Then Nixon, without warming, rudely slammed the gold window shut on their fingers one summer Sunday evening.
The only surprise is that it took over two years for OPEC to punch back at Republiclown perfidy. As always, the thief caught in flagrante delicto blamed others:
‘We must protect the dollar from the attacks of international money speculators.’
We will hear these cries of misdirection again, as Donnie Fubar carries out his unstated campaign pledge: Death to the dollar.
Gold is the anti-Trump.
I feel its on his list of things to end, just not top 20
He’ll get there, eventually, just not anytime soon.
Trump would have to do this as a matter of principle. Since he’s the ultimate pragmatist he has no principles upon which to base this.
Also, this article reveals the bureaucratic truth of self-preservation. Any time a bureaucracy begins and starts issuing edicts the market, as such, responds. When the original goals are met the bureaucracy then issues more edicts to meet; it moves the goal posts. Shutting down and declaring a “job well done” is simply not in the bureaucrat’s DNA. They must continue.
And Nixon’s actions triggered all this by supporting “our friend”. With friends like this…