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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (343870)	7/22/2007 2:13:06 AM
From: SilentZ	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573573

> The curious fact is that many people buying three-ton Suburbans for that arduous two-mile trip to the supermarket also want Congress to pass laws making it harder to buy Suburbans at all. But that's not it... we want the Suburbans (well, I don't, but my car doesn't get great gas mileage), but we think that if the government presses the automakers, they'll come up with a way for those Suburbans to get significantly better mileage. -Z

To: Road Walker who wrote (343870)	7/22/2007 1:51:43 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573573

This is not because of technological difficulties or a conspiracy on the part of the auto industry. It’s because automakers have listened to car buyers, and put their energy into making vehicles bigger and faster, rather than more efficient. In calling for a law requiring better gas mileage in our cars, then, voters are really saying that they’re unhappy with the collective result of the choices they make as buyers. The choices they make as buyers are more directly the decision of the individual. The choices as voters don't directly implement any restrictions on fuel usage or provide any incentive to use less fuel. Politicians makes the decisions, and yes the people vote them in, but not usually directly because of statements or votes or policies about fuel usage. As a political issue most people don't really care about fuel usage, but those who are passionate about the issue tend to want lower usage/better mileage. In a sense they are like almost any other special interest, those who make a lot of noise can triumph over a mostly apathetic group of individuals who might mildly disagree, or might not even know about the issue.