AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Automakers and Bush Pay Lip Service to Higher Fuel Efficiency
The Big 2.5 use Bigger Engines to Spur Sales.

Yesterday, representatives from GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler met with President Bush to announce plans that they were working together to raise fuel efficiency by 20% in the next 10 years. What the Big 2.5 are saying and what they are doing are different things entirely. Chrysler's big promotion is a free Hemi engine upgrade in several of its vehicles. Next, Ford is replacing the 3.0 liter engine in the Ford Five Hundred with a 3.5 liter (60 horsepower stronger) engine in the Five Hundred's renamed doppelganger, the new Taurus. Finally, GM announced "super" versions of its Lacrosse and Lucerne models, both with uprated engines. Not only that, but GM is also showing off a new Cadillac concept car with a 12 cylinder, 600 horsepower engine.

In separate news, China is expected to increase its gasoline consumption by 25% by 2010, less than three years from now. Already, prices are going up due to worldwide demand. Despite this, George W. Bush and his brain trust have decided to rest its energy policy on empty promises by carmakers and a bogus flex fuel program that credits cars for using E-8t even though they rarely do. Bush does not have a plan at all to attack global warming. His own Department of Energy estimates that world energy consumption will increase 71% from 2003 to 2030. The majority of that increase will come from developing countries. To call Bush's energy goals Bandaids would be an insult to Bandaids.

It seems like a no-brainer to impose an gasoline tax increase both to discourage overconsumption and to pay for the oil war in Iraq. In the past, representatives from the auto companies have come out in favor of an increased gas tax as an alternative to higher CAFE mandates. It doesn't appear that a higher gas tax is on the table right now.