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Bureaucrats Befuddled By America's Auto Market
Capitol Confidential ^ | 1/21/2014 | Manny Lopez

Posted on 01/22/2014 6:06:20 AM PST by MichCapCon

DETROIT — My muffled chuckle was not appreciated by the 20-something clipboard carrier hovering around EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy here at the auto show.

I tried to restrain myself as McCarthy emerged from a tiny Chevy Spark tucked along a wall at the General Motors display.

"This is my baby," she said turning back to admire the micro car.

I chuckled.

Her statement was as amusing as it was telling. After all, only a bureaucrat could look at a car that almost no one will buy and beam with pride. The only thing less popular than ultra tiny vehicles in America is Congress.

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow wasn't far behind. The Lansing Democrat who famously told The Detroit News editorial board that she could feel global warming when she flies, also kicked the small car’s tires and climbed in to see the fruits of her and her colleagues’ government mandates.

Sanity returned at a Ford Motor Co. press conference nearby. And it came from Ford CEO Alan Mulally, who channeled his inner F.A. Hayek during a question and answer session with reporters and bloggers.

"We’ll always make the cars and trucks that people want," he said. "I think the automobile industry is always going to be driven by economics."

I leaned over to the guy sitting next to me to confirm what I just heard. After all, most of the press conferences and even the question and answer sessions with executives are closely scripted and lack any depth.

He went on: "The most important thing we can do is to continuously improve the internal combustion engine" because it's going to be around "for a long time."

I was stunned. And encouraged.

Despite the best efforts of bureaucrats, the auto market in the United States is largely driven by consumers. That's why the Ford F-150 pickup has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for more than 30 years. The Dearborn automaker sold more than 760,000 last year.

GM sold more than 418,000 Chevrolet Silverado pickups in 2013; Chrysler sold more than 355,000 Ram trucks. Those were the top three vehicles sold last year and accounted for 1.6 million of the 15.6 million vehicles sold in the United States in 2013.

That translates to jobs and money into local economies across this country. None of that happens with the sale of electric vehicles and clown cars, especially when the sale of them depends on tax breaks and incentives..

Someday bureaucrats and politicians might recognize that fact. Until then, we will unfortunately have to listen to them blindly, and foolishly, push bad policies and promote products that most people don’t want.


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: auto; cars
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1 posted on 01/22/2014 6:06:20 AM PST by MichCapCon
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To: MichCapCon

I will donate $100 to the DNC if Debbie Stabenow can get her fat ass inside a Chevy Spark..


2 posted on 01/22/2014 6:14:08 AM PST by ken5050 (This space available cheap...)
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To: MichCapCon

I wonder what kind of car Debbie drives?

If it isn’t electric or a hybrid, then she’s a hypocrite.


3 posted on 01/22/2014 6:15:16 AM PST by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.)
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To: Fresh Wind

I wonder if she ever thinks about where the electricity that powers an electric car actuallly comes from. I’m convnced that most Lefties think it appears by some some sort of Harry Potter magic.


4 posted on 01/22/2014 6:21:01 AM PST by Pecos (The Chicago Way: Kill the Constitution, one step at a time.)
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To: MichCapCon
"We’ll always make the cars and trucks that people want," he said. "I think the automobile industry is always going to be driven by economics."

This is American thinking. Leftists don't think that way.

They think "we should make it a law that people must drive only the cars that we allow them to drive, because we know better".

5 posted on 01/22/2014 6:21:47 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Fresh Wind

Not sure that she’s a hypocrite if she truly believes that the masses should drive Sparks

while the ruling class drives around in Lincoln Navigators.


6 posted on 01/22/2014 6:23:16 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: MichCapCon

It’s not going to work while the left has the option of additional force.


7 posted on 01/22/2014 6:24:01 AM PST by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it, and the Constitution and law mean what WE say.)
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To: MichCapCon

I want to see her drive her “baby” through Sprinfield exit at 5:10pm on I-95 DC to Richmond.

I have a ute and think it’s too small.


8 posted on 01/22/2014 6:24:52 AM PST by OpusatFR
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To: MichCapCon

I want to see her drive her “baby” through Sprinfield exit at 5:10pm on I-95 DC to Richmond.

I have a ute and think it’s too small.


9 posted on 01/22/2014 6:24:53 AM PST by OpusatFR
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To: MichCapCon

I drive a Ford CMax Energi. Love it so far. Great MPG equivalent. The plug-in hybrid is cool. It could be better if it ran on coal. No, I am not a tree-hugger.


10 posted on 01/22/2014 6:25:59 AM PST by firebasecody (Orthodoxy, proclaiming the Truth since AD 33)
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To: FRiends

11 posted on 01/22/2014 6:26:40 AM PST by deoetdoctrinae (Gun-free zones are playgrounds for felons.)
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To: MichCapCon

“This is my baby,” she said turning back to admire the micro car. “

Until she gets back into her Black Escalade.


12 posted on 01/22/2014 6:26:47 AM PST by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: Navy Patriot

That’s ubiquitous in the leftist mindset, and why they love government so much -

“people just won’t do the right thing unless we force them to”


13 posted on 01/22/2014 6:27:19 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: MichCapCon
In the sixties and seventies there were consumer advocates who fought the car companies who purposefully limited the lives of cars so they would sell more. planned obsolescence. Vance Packard made his bones on this subject.

Now we have good looking cars whose lives are limited by the complexity of the electronics. I have had to trash two nice looking cars because the electronic fixes were too expensive and they wouldn't make inspection without them. Planned obsolescence. And corporatist leftists just loooove it.

Same with appliances.

14 posted on 01/22/2014 6:28:52 AM PST by Chickensoup (V)
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To: MichCapCon

“I tried to restrain myself as McCarthy emerged from a tiny Chevy Spark tucked along a wall at the General Motors display. “

A throwaway car to appease government regulators. Cost of doing business to the car companies. We all get to pay for it in the end.


15 posted on 01/22/2014 6:29:26 AM PST by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: firebasecody

If your local power plants are coal fired, it is running on coal.


16 posted on 01/22/2014 6:30:58 AM PST by E.Allen
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To: Fresh Wind

Probably a big old Mercedes sedan... loaded.


17 posted on 01/22/2014 6:31:29 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS! BETTER DEAD THAN RED!)
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To: MichCapCon
epa administrator Gina Mccarthy and "her baby", the Chevy Spark"

"This is my baby," she said turning back to admire the micro car.

I guess we know where it got its looks then.


18 posted on 01/22/2014 6:31:34 AM PST by RC one
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To: firebasecody

I looked at one of those and was disappointed by the lack of trunk space.


19 posted on 01/22/2014 6:32:05 AM PST by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Implementing class warfare by having no class.)
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To: FReepers
Obamas Green Energy Plan

Click The Pic To Donate

Support FR, Donate Monthly If You Can

20 posted on 01/22/2014 6:32:34 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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