CAFE Ole!

The 110th Congress is entering a dangerous flailing stage during which it tries desperately to close out the year with some kind of legislative achievement.  And in the absence of sound policy, they appear satisfied to bash through the fatally flawed energy bill - a heavy-handed regulator's panacea that would be as useless in solving the problems it ostensibly addresses as it would destructive to American industry, consumers, quality of living, and life itself.

Perhaps no single provision in the pending legislation would be as formidable with the twin guns of uselessness and destructiveness as the proposed changes in CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards.

Doug Bandow at The American Spectator takes an in-depth look at just how misguided CAFE is and the damage its done to the American auto industry, auto workers, and driver safety.  I'm not going to bother excerpting it, because I took a pass at it and realized I wanted to paste the whole article, so take a couple minutes to give it a read.

The really bad news about this bill is the fact that it enjoys White House support, meaning Speaker Pelosi and Energy Committee Chairman John Dingell have no incentive to keep its provisions sufficiently uncrazy to round up a veto-proof majority.  I just hope the Bush administration realizes that if and once this legislation is enacted and the U.S. auto industry falls victim to Uncle Sam's filicidal tendencies, the blame for the resulting job losses and economic woes in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana won't be laid at the feet of the 110th Congress.  The same lawmakers now championing this economically calamitous bill will solemnly lament the Bush economy, with all its foolish tax cuts.  And people will buy it.

With oil prices high, geopolitics in flux, and environmentalism back en vogue, the familiar reaction in Washington is a spastic impulse to "do something" about it, particularly with an election year looming.  Unfortunately, with energy (as with so many things), incremental government intervention can usually only make things worse.