by Marlo Lewis
August 11, 2009 @ 4:47 pm
by Hans Bader
June 02, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
The federal government is giving another $30 billion in taxpayer money to General Motors to allow it to operate without having to cut excessive union wages. The Obama Administration is “gambling” on its ability to turn around the company under government control.
The Obama Administration has said it will now interfere not just with the “selection of the company’s board of directors,” but also in “fundamental corporate decisions,” and “major corporate events and transactions.” For example, Obama recently pressured GM to keep its headquarters…
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by Marlo Lewis
May 20, 2009 @ 5:44 pm
In this insightful, informative post, Keith Hennessey, formerly the senior economic advisor to President G.W. Bush, cautions that Obama’s new fuel economy rules could destroy 50,000 auto industry jobs. Yet the rules would have no detectable impact on projected global temperatures or sea level rise–all pain for no gain.
In addition, Hennessey notes that Obama’s action “will accelerate EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources.” He continues: “While Congress is futzing around on a climate change bill, EPA is getting ready to bring their “PSD”…
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by Marlo Lewis
May 19, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
At some point today, the EPA and the Department of Transportation (DOT) will propose a first-ever joint regulation to establish first-ever greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for new motor vehicles. The new standards, covering model years 2012-2016, will raise federal fuel economy standards to 35.5 mpg in 2016.
This is considerably more stringent than the standard Congress adopted in the December 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), which would boost average fuel economy to 35 mpg by 2020.
This is bad news for three…
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by Iain Murray
February 19, 2009 @ 4:33 pm
The automakers have come back for more taxpayer money, which is exactly what we warned would happen when the first bailout was granted last year. The restructuring plans merely represent an attempt to acheive the results of bankruptcy, with the taxpayer picking up the costs. What is needed is not more taxpayer money, but a way to make US automakers competitive again. As I said in my recent Detroit News piece, we can do that through a simple, cost-free, program that will…
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by Marlo Lewis
February 13, 2009 @ 5:24 pm
A front-burner issue facing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson is whether to grant a waiver under the Clean Air Act allowing the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to implement first-ever greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for new motor vehicles. Thirteen other states are poised to adopt the CARB program if Jackson grants the waiver. In all, about 40% of the U.S. auto market would come under the CARB rules.
Jackson’s predecessor, Stephen Johnson, rejected CARB’s application in December 2007. His reasons,…
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by Iain Murray
December 19, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
Here’s what the auto companies really need - a reduction in the regulatory burden placed on them by Congress. These burdens have placed Detroit at a competitive disadvantage because a lot of them are aimed at eliminating the sort of vehicles that Detroit has proved adept at designing and marketing.
1. Repeal the CAFE requirements. They restrict consumer choice by insisting that fuel economy take precedence over safety, and impose restrictions on design that reduce the competitive advantage of Detroit automakers.…
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by John Berlau
December 11, 2008 @ 6:07 am
In a famous quotation from his 1986 address to the annual White House Conference on Small Business, President Ronald Reagan quipped that “government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
The Detroit bailout bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives last night — agreed to by the White House and Democratic leaders but at this point apparently…
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