Credit Cards and Emissions

Credit Card Regulations

Now the government is putting caps on how the credit card companies can punish the people who don't pay them.

Oh beautiful.

And, since the companies can't go after those who they should be going after- those that don't pay, and hence cost them money- they're going to raise everyone's interest rates.

Wow. I like it.

Now, I don't like credit cards. I am not going to get a credit card if at all possible, since I think it's dumb to put yourself in that much debt for something you could just as easily buy outright. But it's wrong to go after credit card companies, and in turn pass on more costs to the consumer.

Furthermore, it's unconstitutional. It's wrong to go after a market force like credit cards or the companies that give them out, even if what they're doing is kind of unethical. It's the consumer's fault for getting the credit card in the first place, then filling it up with thousands of dollars of debt.

Regulations on Car Exhaust Emissions

Yes, you read that right.

Our wonderful President Obama wants to put regulations on how much exhaust can come out of your tailpipe, to reduce greenhouse gases, y'know. This will go wonderfully with Cap and Trade, since CAT will discourage people from driving period, and this will just reinforce that!

Next, they propose to increase the fuel efficiency standards to 35.5 mpg for passenger cars and pickups by 2016.

Oh joy. Let's just burden the car companies even more.

Fuel efficiency ratings are rising. Without the government's help. You know why? Because the market wants it. It's the same reason why McDonalds has started selling apples and salads- the consumer wants it, those products are popular, and so they are sold.

That is the way things are supposed to be. It's the most perfect system ever conceived. Except, possibly, Communism, but that's because the government controls everything. And it would work great except for the fact that, oh, everyone's poor, except for those that control everything. Which would be about .000001% of the population.

These regulations will increase the cost of cars by almost $1,300. $600 of that would be purely from the increase cited above. The rest? The result of previous energy policy. (Bush, Clinton, etc.)

"Consumers can retain choice but for more fuel-efficient cars. Every single category of car will be more efficient." (Unnamed official in Washington)

Oh great!!! Just the choice I always wanted!

Now, it isn't that I don't mind fuel efficient vehicles. It's that I dislike being forced to choose one. It's wrong. The government has no right to determine what I can and cannot choose. Period.