Academic

OBAMA?S AUTO PITFALLS: ?Media fascination with the government?s new ?cash for clunkers? program is ?

By Glenn Reynolds

OBAMA’S AUTO PITFALLS: “Media fascination with the government’s new ‘cash for clunkers’ program is diverting public attention from President Obama’s extraordinary long-term intervention into the automotive sector of the U.S. economy. Since the impact of ‘cash for clunkers’ will be modest and temporary, the more consequential reforms are the massive subsidies to a limited number of vehicle manufacturers and suppliers organized by the United Auto Workers; the new subsidy programs that favor electric cars and plug-in hybrids over ordinary hybrids, clean diesel technology, and other fuel-saving innovations; and the revamped federal mileage standards that supersede?or at least delay?the practical impact of California’s complex program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars, a program that was replicated by legislatures in at least a dozen other states.”

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on August 17, 2009 (boomark / email).