Recently by Eric Peters: A Two-Wheeled Hedge Against Inflation
2011 is only hours away now. Maybe the New Year will bring some happy news for motorists, like . . .
Lower gas prices
Unleaded regular is creeping back up to $3 per gallon and in many areas of the country is already higher than that. Given the flood of Fed funny money, it’s likely to sail back to the $4 and more we were paying at the peak of the last Petro Bubble, which preceded the collapse of the economy in 2008. If prices go back up to $4 (or more) again, the economy will be on its back – not just on its knees. There’s no turning off the printing presses at this point but the government could push gas prices back to $2 per gallon – possibly, below the $2 threshold – by declaring a Motor Fuels Tax Holiday. Each gallon of gas carries a 50–80-cent tax burden. Get rid of these punitive and regressive taxes and the burden on American motorists – on everyone, because fuel costs permeate the economy – would go a long way toward counter-acting the venom of Bernanke’s “qualitative easing.” But how will we fund roads and so on? By canceling the Afghan Adventure and bringing “the troops” back home. The billions saved could bring gas prices back to $1.50 or less per gallon. We could probably have free gas. Which would beat the snot out of “fightin’ fer freedom” (does anyone still buy that stuff?) meatgrinder and money-sucker that is our “defense” industry.
More diesels
And fewer $40,000 hybrids that barely outdo the mileage of an ’80s-era Plymouth Champ. Diesels, unlike hybrids, work – if “working” means they deliver very high gas mileage without a very high price tag. Gas-electric hybrids and electric cars are impressive as technology but crap as consumer products – if the point of the exercise is to produce economical transportation. If you have to pay $30,000 or $40,000 (or even $25,000) to get 35 or 40 MPGs then MPGs don’t really matter since whatever you “save” in fuel costs is negated by the cost of the car itself. But diesel engines can deliver 60 MPG in a subcompact car that costs less than $15,000. Just not here. They have such cars in Europe. Santa needs to bring a few of them to us. But first, he’ll need to put some coal in the stockings of the government bureaucrats who have made the American car market unfriendly for diesel vehicles by imposing one regulatory obstacle and expense after the next. It’s not that diesels are “dirty” – the Europeans are just as obsessed with saving the planet as we are. It’s simply that our bureaucrats and politicians aren’t as smart as those in Europe.
Automotive Atrocities:...
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A revised traffic code
It took less than 20 years to realize that Prohibition was a mistake – and to repeal the law. Most of us know that speed enforcement is bunk, too – but it’s being enforced as aggressively as ever. Instead of going after tailgaters, people who drive erratically – or too slowly, creating massive traffic jams and road hazards – the fixation on “speeding” shows no signs of ever being cured by a dose of reason. Most highway speed limits are still below what they were in the 1960s – despite a half-century’s improvement in car design. There are “radar traps” in almost every town and county in the land – cynically set up to catch motorists who failed to drive at an excruciatingly slow speed set deliberately low for precisely that reason. If Santa had to live under such a regime, he’d never get all his presents delivered in time – or he’d lose his license after having received too many “points” for “speeding.”
An “off” button for seat belt buzzers
Haven’t we got enough stress in our lives already? Can’t we at least drive our car down to the mailbox without being assaulted by an ear-splitting “buckle-up” buzzer? Almost every new car comes with one and there’s no button to turn it off. You can do it yourself by locating the infernal machine, which is tucked up under the dash someplace – and driving a screwdriver through its evil electronic heart. But you shouldn’t have to do that. There’s no law (yet) that new cars must be sold with seat belt buzzers that can’t be turned off. Most of the car companies relented on Daytime Running Lamps and now provide Off switches for those annoyances.
Please, Baby New Year: How about a switch to shut down the seat belt harpie?
December 30, 2010
