To: TimF who wrote (259578 ) 11/11/2005 6:29:24 PM From: Road Walker Read Replies (1) | Respond to re: It might lessen its focus on us but it might make it grow overall. Also it would show people that terrorist attacks against the US "work", so it might increase the terrorist threat to the US in the long run. Considering that our car companies compete better with the big SUVs and trucks you probably hurt them a lot. You also cause people to buy goods that they are less satisfied with. While this doesn't directly effect measured economic activity much, it does in a real sense make society poorer, and might indirectly also reduce even measured economic activity. There are also normally a lot of unforeseeable indirect results from intervening for some goods or services and against others. And the smallest and least safe, and often not particularly popular despite their fuel economy and relatively low cost. The lower prices would counteract any benefit from the lowered demand from more efficient machinery. You would be reducing incentives to economize both in the use of the more efficient machinery and in the purchase and use of any types of machinery that are not covered by the scheme.
