Give it a shot. Click the link. I did and found myself agreeing with Finley.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Nolan Finley
Automakers need higher gas prices
This year provides the perfect laboratory for measuring whether keeping gasoline prices painful is more effective in realizing the nation's energy conservation goals than bullying automakers to squeeze more fuel efficiency from their vehicles.
As the cost of gasoline marched relentlessly toward $4 a gallon during the first half of 2008, and then significantly surpassed that milestone, American consumers for the first time changed their driving habits.
They used less gasoline -- nearly 2 percent per month less by the time the pump price reached its high-water mark. And they panicked into smaller vehicles, creating waiting lists for the more popular gas mizers.
The shift was so dramatic that automakers moved swiftly to retool their plants to build smaller cars, wrote-off the biggest trucks in their model lineups, pushed ahead the launch dates of alternative fuel vehicles and began earnestly preparing for what they assumed would be a permanent change in the market.
Fewer miles driven and less gasoline pumped into a fleet of matchbox cars -- a dream come true for environmentalists, federal regulators and a Congress made increasingly light-headed by greenhouse gases, right?
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http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081116/OPINION03/811160306/1031