re: higher prices that consumers would have to pay
We need some balance in fake news. How much of the price of a car is affected by
A. Taxes American companies have to pay and Foreign Companies don’t because the US taxes income while other countries tax sales?
B. Emission control standards. How much did that catalytic converter, etal add to the cost of a car?
C. CAFE standards. How much does being politically correct add to the cost of a car?
D. Safety Standards. How much did seat belts add to the cost of a car... seat belts which statistically save no lives. And Air Bags, which do save lives and were installed because nobody wanted to admit seat belts are a fraud?
E. ABS brakes and other technology breakthrus that occurred with no government involvement? ABS brakes have done more to reduce injury, death and auto insurance costs than everything else combined.
F. Styling changes? Every year factories have to re-tool to meet artistic changes.
G. Cost of wages in the US vs other countries.
H. Other?
Fake news is in selectively reporting some facts/factors and not reporting other facts/factors.
If you look at the enormous costs of government regulation on manufacturing, look no farther than the EPA. Some of the costs of dealing with their regulations are enormous. Wonder why a company closes a shop and abandons it instead of rebuilding? Thank the EPA for its unfunded “cleanup” mandates.
Wonder why we don’t see very many chrome-plated bumpers on cars any more? EPA.
Wonder why they use a less durable paint on things like electric transmission line towers and such? EPA
What’s the biggest driver of higher energy costs? EPA
Of course, I don’t want to diminish the costs of the other plethora of generally useless government agencies, but our regulations alone present a huge cost to potential manufacturers.
What is your source for the claim that safety belts statistically save no lives?