He's handing over the fate of the struggling auto industry to California lawmakers, who have already driven California into the ground with some of the highest tax rates and most onerous regulations in the world.
President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday. ....
Mr. Obama’s presidential memorandum will order the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration’s past rejection of the California application. While it stops short of flatly ordering the Bush decision reversed, the agency’s regulators are now widely expected to do so after completing a formal review process.
Once they act, automobile manufacturers will quickly have to retool to begin producing and selling cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, and on a faster phase-in schedule. The auto companies have lobbied hard against the regulations and challenged them in court.
So now every automaker will have to conform to the toughest emission and fuel efficiency regulations any state legislature can concoct. What world does Obama live in, that he thinks now is a good time to more heavily burden an industry already on the verge of bankruptcy and a national economy that is struggling?
Wait, it will get better!
When he drives the the coal companys out of business, and your electric bill has quadrupled, we'll be stealing innertubes to swim the straits of Florida to get to Cuba,... where they still have automobiles, though old ones,....
The 30% percent unemployment rate will be balanced by the $50/hr minimum wage,.... $28 for a Big Mac!
Wow, what a great way to get people off junk food.
Posted by: Louis | January 26, 2009 at 09:04 AM
It would make sense to leave California out of your Marketing Plan.
Posted by: bernie tenney | January 26, 2009 at 11:21 AM
It is amazing how gullable and stupid the Obama administration is. This is one the most ridiculous proposals I have heard to date. God help this wonderful country of ours!
Posted by: m | January 26, 2009 at 03:22 PM
This is something that should have been done years ago, and in the loing run, the auto makers and their stockholders will thank him for it
Bush blocked this measure, and he and his 24%ers, AKA Bushbots are the foolish ones
This should not be a surprise, whan we talked about CHANGE, this is what we meant
yes we did
Posted by: cozmo | January 26, 2009 at 04:37 PM
well, I guess that you don't like to have cars to drive, how about horses, but oh, I forgot, the BLM is auctioning them off and driving them out of the range casue they are too expensive to feed anymore and they are starving out in the open range, cause of not enough food and water to keep them alive, guess that horses won't do for now, so how about DONKEYS???
Tougher emission standards will drive waht is left of the AUto Companies out of business and then the Unions will not haave any way to pay all those benefits to the retired workers and then that will deepen this recession we are in..... or maybe all those cars that are sitting on the lots right now will magically be sold, so that people can get those before the new standards come in.... STUPIDITY no matter how you look at it.
Posted by: Claudia | January 27, 2009 at 02:22 AM