the industry is the US AUTO industry and the THOUSANDS OF JOBS that support that industry, maybe Millions. The lowering of their standard of living would drasticly REDUCE tax revenues. Now, you CANT compare the US to the foreign nations. First off NONE OF THEM have an economy we would be pleased with. They have very high taxes, unemployment rates etc. and low growth. Secondly, many of those countries are no bigger then one of our STATES. Would you like to drive a Honda Civic across country, sure it CAN be done but it wouldnt be pleasant, I know as my wife used to own one, 120 miles was the maximum I could stand in it. There is NO WAY to reduce fuel consumption without reducing WEIGHT. Thats a law of PHYSICS. The tiny cars they drive in Europe would never sell here.
Finally, FLEX FUEL would allow us to MIX biodegradable fuel with Carbon fuel vastly increasing our supply of burnable fuel. Also, there are far more oil reserves in Gulf and Alaska that you apparently are unaware of.
I am not SUGGESTING the govt underwrite the cost of MANDATING flex fuel vehicles. Just put it in the law, if necessary givee the industry some kind of trade off in CAFE standards.
As to basic research on alternative fuels, like it or not its gonna have to be the GOVT that underwrites the initial research. Once they have a reasonable alternative they can turn it over to industry, maybe even charge a licensing fee for a number of years to recoup costs. jdn |
