Warmie Psychic: Cal Car Prices To Spike

Wooo Wooo Warmie, the Global Warming psychic, has conjured up the mystical spirits and proclaimed this prediction: Car prices in California will rise dramatically in 2016.

Mystical spirits? Ha! Methinks Wooo Wooo's been reading the papers again, specifically:

California won a major legal battle Wednesday in its fight to implement a global-warming law that would lead to steep increases in motor vehicle fuel economy.

A federal judge in Fresno tossed out a lawsuit filed by the world's major automakers that tried to overturn AB 1493, a law that requires a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2016.

The automakers had said the law was unconstitutional because it mandated a big jump in mileage standards - a matter that is under the authority of the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. ...

But U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii rejected those claims, ruling that the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and arresting climate change must go forward. (AP)

Love that judge. The goal must go forward even though it's the state jumping into federal policy issues about a matter that We the People have had precious little opportunity to actually vote on.

Anyway, the article tells us environmental groups say not to worry, cars in the state can be jacked from the current MPG by 10 MPG by 2020 without a drop of sweat -- we'll just use off-the-shelf technology that will add "only" $1,800 to the price of a car.

That's "only" $1,800 to a wealthy white environmentalist. It's real money to a lot of people who weren't asked how they felt about paying it.

The auto industry, which as we know, knows nothing about the real costs of achieving higher MPG goals, says the judge's ruling will add $6,000 to the price of a new car.

Let's say the enviros are right. Based on 2005 sales figures, that would would mean Californians would be forced to pay $3.9 billion annually to reduce global warming. If the car companies are right, the price will be $12.9 billion.

We weren't asked if we wanted to do this; a single federal judge has decided we should do it.

The result of increasing the fuel efficiency of California's fleet, speaking atmospherically, is measurable but meaningless. Transportation (including big trucks, trains, ships and planes, none of which are covered by this decision) make up 40 percent of California's greenhouse gas emissions, so we are being asked to pay all this money to reduce a fraction of this fraction of a fraction of the United States' emissions, which are a fraction of the global anthropomorphic emissions, which are a fraction of the world's natural greenhouse gas emissions.

The other result, of course, is that many, many more of we Californians will die on the Warmies' alter, not because the earth got warmer, but because our cars got smaller, affording us less protection.

But who cares. Judge Ishii can drive his car home tonight pompously thinking that he's helped saved the planet ... a planet that has done quite well for billions of years without our help.