Well, the Obama administration has announced that our cars are going on a severe diet. Environmentalists are elated. It seems that Detroit is as well, because the new national standards will preempt any state standards.

As we’ve noted before, Detroit should have developed much more flexible manufacturing processes long ago, they shouldn’t need a single national standard to shoot for.

Further, the politics of this move are absurd. What is the logic of a democratic government requiring manufacturers to build the products the public wants least? If the public wanted more fuel-efficient cars, it would simply buy them. Deciding that they should have more efficient cars and having the government eliminate the models they prefer so as to not tempt them, is a bizarre approach to responsibility. Another word that comes to mind is inanity.

If I Were King, I should tell them to eat cake, and to visit their favorite bakery in whatever car they choose to own, maintain, and operate.