But Don’t We Want to Be Energy Independent?

President Trump intends to roll back the more stringent mileage requirements set in place by President Obama for cars and trucks sold in America. Of course such rules will improve air quality, something that the Trump regime cares little about if it conflicts with businesses being able to make money. And of course the reduction in CO2 emissions is intended to alleviate some of the issues around global warming…something in direct opposition to the beliefs of President Trump.

The Trump administration is moving to roll back federal fuel-economy requirements that would have forced automakers to increase significantly the efficiency of new cars and trucks, a key part of former President Barack Obama’s strategy to combat global warming.

The Environmental Protection Agency is close to an announcement reversing a decision made in the waning days of the Obama administration to lock in strict gas mileage requirements for cars and light trucks through 2025.

Automakers asked EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to discard a Jan. 13 decision that requires the fleet of new cars to average a real-world figure of 36 miles per gallon.

Now I know that increasing fuel economy will cost money. Either new technologies or lighter materials or smaller cars. And with gasoline under $2.50 across the nation big heavy trucks, SUVs and high performance cars are the big sellers at the moment…a moment that won’t last.

But what about this?

The automakers said the Obama rules could add thousands of dollars to the price of new cars and cost more than a million jobs.

I get the part about driving up car pricing…new technologies and new materials do cost money…but where do they figure it will cost a million jobs? I would like to see the rationale for that figure. New technology and new materials would create jobs in their development and production…loss of jobs will probably continue due to additional automation and smaller production as cars continue to fall in demand and continue to last longer…not from improved fuel economy.

But there is one other side effect. With higher fuel economy comes lower demand for fossil fuels…a good thing if you are trying to grow an energy independent national economy.