The first is that Obama is going to let CA have stricter emissions standards and that will impact the US car market by making manufacturers meet them. This is in many news sources so I really have not added a link. But, In a few of the stories i have read, it states that this is using existing technology to reduce emission standards (narrower tires at higher pressures, variable valve timing, 4/6/8 engine run options). It also states that this will add $1400 to the cost of each car, make US cars non-competitive and end the world as we know it. Okay, I made the last part up.

I have to question that if this is existing technology, why it would add so much to the price of a car. Okay, the 4/6/8 option would becasue of the controls. Variable valve timing is only used in premium models and many foreign cars. Or is it this just more of the same news details leaked by manufacturers and lobbyists to back the regressive position that has gotten Amerian car manufacturers where they are today, with two of the Big Three needing government handout.

The other story is that American Honda is moving some jobs to China. It is the end of the world as we know it tone that bothers me, If you were making something at point A and they were not selling and you had to ship the product to point B 14,000 miles away, yet you could make them there at existing factories by expanding them, what is the smart and prudent business choice? This is not rocket science. There is an expanding market in China. Why should this surprise me that manufacturing is moving there?

This is the same principle as sustainable agriculture. Buy local. Because we were buying cars from Japan, they came here to build factories. It is not our right as god-fearing Americans that all factories be built here. What really should be the question is how to get the American economy rolling again to make sure we have people who can afford to buy a car.

rojo