Comments on: Skepticism over Bush’s fuel saving plan

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It is strange that over the years once in while a news article mentions of a private inventor who had deveoped a carburator that would get 50 miles per gallon or more. There would be technical data and pictures of the man and his four ton Cadillac with the funny contraption on top of the engine. But every time this occurred, the inventor was bought out, went missing, or just never again mentioned. Odd at best. Big Oil likes to sell Gasoline. Who made the biggest profits last year? Exxon! Who was second? was it an oil company?

By: Joe Lawrence

Joe Lawrence — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It is curious to hear, from those on high, the number of things which “…harm U.S. manufacturers,” no?

Here’s a partial listing, just off the top of my head:

Environmental regulation. Increases in the minimum wage. Raising the CAFE standards. Unionization. Any single-payor healt care plan. Paper-trail voting machines. Failure to eliminate medical and/’or legal malpractice suits – unless the plaintiff is a U.S. Senator. Researching alternative energy sources. Dissing Wal-Mart. Auditing Halliburton. Requiring appropriate armor for our troops or, even, requiring the same level of protection for them as that accorded visiting dignitaries. Product liability responsibility.

I know, I know….I’m supporting the terrorists.

By: JimZ

JimZ — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Joe Lawrence – you seem to have “unwittingly” stated most of the whole GOP platform (!).

The only things you left out were:

1. Create a despotic leadership that will be nearly impossible to get rid of.

2. Spy on ALL Americans for no good reason.

3. Promote offensive illegal wars of aggression and empire as “self-defense”

4. Label all critics/criticism as “unpatriotic”.

5. NEVER tell the truth about anything. Truth is for wussies AND terrorist-lovers.

6. Have available pre-conceived plans that can be pulled out and used ambiguously as the wrong solution for the wrong problem per convenience (like using hurricane Katrina as the excuse to gut Posse Comitatis).

Back to the article. It is hard to take any of this seriously, as we have heard all of this before, and there’s no penalties for non-compliance. Plus, how can some modest fuel-efficiency standards impact business? I’d think a large segment of Americans would buy a car just because of these standards.

If American auto manufacturers want to survive, they’ve got to provide products consumers actually WANT, and stop blaming everything but their own obese management for their failures.

Get off your high horse and run the frickin’ business instead of fighting legislation. Gee surprise, after all your big discounting over the last 2 years you are now in financial trouble. Does it take a non-business guy like me to tell YOU that?

By: JimZ

JimZ — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ooops, forgot blame Bill Clinton at every opportunity. Use the excuse that “Clinton did it” to justify anything you want as if HE did it, then it’s OK, while blaming HIM for doing IT in the first place!

By: David Rosenberg

David Rosenberg — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In this case it depends what you’re going to blame Clinton for. Before he left office, he put through almost the same proposals bush asks for. It was bush, when he took office, threw those proposals out, along with every other environmental goal Clinton made.

It is no secret of the many fuel saving inventions that have been lost and forgotten over the years. Instead of using these gas saving gadgets, the Auto makers put the ball back into the lap of the car owner. Don’t mash down on the gas pedel, keep your Tires at the proper psi, keep the auto tuned up, drive a posted MPH, do all your shopping at one time, don’t add any wind resistence items to the outside of the car and my favorite, only drive when you need to. If you follow all of the above, you can save up to a GALLON of gas, maybe.

I can remember when owning a car, was considered a luxury, it’s more of a responsibility today.