The gift that keeps on taking

Barry, that is. Having successfully taken over the banking and mortgage industry, and we all know how well that has worked out, The One has now busied himself with nationalizing the auto industry. Next, like many others, I will soon be canceling many of my little used credit cards, I have no outstanding balances, as Barry’s efforts to stop “gouging” by credit companies gets under way. In his customary re-distributionist way, he thinks that by re-instating annual fees and higher rates on those of us who are never late and never miss payments, he will be able to charge those that constantly do much less. In Barry’s mind this is “fair.” Much as the losers who overextended themselves, by buying homes they could not afford, are now being subsidized by those of us who chose to live within their means. I was surprised this week when so many commenters on blogs that I read were stating that they would never buy a GM or Chrysler car. Oh, you’ll be buying plenty! They won’t be on your driveway. You won’t even have to insure them. But you will be paying for them with your tax dollars for a long time to come. All the while Obama’s “cap and trade” is another tax that will drive us to the poorhouse. That is if his plans for healthcare don’t achieve that first. By then, we will all be working in jobs created by renewable energy-not! While our own oil resources lay untapped underground as we are held to ransom, initially by an intransigent Congress, and ultimately by a cadre of oil-producing nations that will gleefully hold a gun to our heads in the form of higher oil prices. Barry has a plan. He is going to raise CAFE standards again. Never mind that the only way to achieve them is to make the smaller cars that no-one will buy, and increase fatalities because of that fact. I have no problem dying for my country, just that I would rather not do it in a sub-compact.

However, I was surprised when Barry simply announced the new fuel economy standards as if they are a fait accompli. Is he ruling by fiat, now, I asked myself. See what I did there? Ruling by fiat, heh heh, little car joke. Surely, Congress still make new laws, don’t they? Luckily, I came across the most comprehensive report on the ins and outs of the CAFE announcement. The author, Keith Hennessy, apologizes for the length of the article, but I say it was absolutely necessary to fully comprehend the subject and the effects that it will have on our economy. For instance,

Technically the Administration is today announcing that they will release a new proposed rule. While the news coverage makes it sound like this is a done deal, this is the beginning of a regulatory process, not the end. Still, the starting point is extremely important.

Whew, that’s a relief and it answers my first question. Next we have this snippet of good news, which Barry’s chums at UAW will not like.

NHTSA estimated that a similar option would cost almost 150,000 U.S. auto manufacturing jobs over five years.

Also, the effects on so-called climate change and sea levels are so miniscule as to be laughable,

Both options would reduce the global mean surface temperature by one-thousandth of one degree Celsius by 2030. The Obama option would reduce the global temperature by seven thousandths of a degree Celsius by the end of this century.
The effects on sea level are too small to measure by 2030. By 2100, the Obama proposal (technically, the TC=TB proxy) would reduce the sea-level rise by six hundredths of a centimeter. That’s 0.6 millimeters.

This is a proposal that will cost jobs, cause sales to drop and have almost no effect whatsoever on the environment. Heckuva job, Bambi! Please read the whole thing, it is most definitely worth your time.

If this is all a bit too “doom and gloom” Hot Air has a video advertising a new TV show, that some say is analogous to The One. Go watch it.