[truthguy]

Last night Hannity was raging on about how the Big 3 should get the bailout because the government is partly responsible for their problems because of CAFE, safety regulations, etc. He conveniently omitted that every car manufacturer that sells its products in this country is subject to the exact same regulations.

Your analysis is poor.
CAFE is an acronym for Corporate, Average, Fuel, Economy . What that means is that the Auto Companies have to meet an AVERAGE fuel standard. This applies to all vehicles a manufacturer sells. When you factor in that a company like Honda doesn't really build any big cars, SUV's (big ones), or Trucks it is much easier for them to meet the CAFE standards. GM and Ford and Chrysler cannot make money on their small cars. They lose money on every one they sell because of their labor and legacy costs. This is why they really pushed larger cars, SUV's and Trucks. They CAN make money on these vehicles.

If you look at an "apples to apples" comparison the US Auto Manufacturers get comproable gas mileage. I know this because I'm in the car market today and I have looked at many types of cars in all classes and the gas mileage is the same between the same classes of cars with very similar specifications.

[truthguy]

Bad spelling, didn’t check. “comproable” should have been comparable.

[clintonh8r]

It wasn’t my “analysis”, it was Hannity’s. You missed the point, anyway, which is that Hannity’s proposition that the Big 3 deserve the bailout because part of their problem is due to government-imposed regulations and standards is fallacious. And if the Big 3 lose money on every small car they sell, whose fault is that?

[factoryrat]

The funny thing is, is that the EPA and USDOT have done more to hurt fuel economy than the Automakers. The most fuel efficient vehicles were produced during the late eighties. It’s been downhill ever since.