Comments on: Hybrid Impediments http://ajcwire.org/2007/10/29/hybrid-impediments/ blog of the American Jewish Committee. Articles on Jewish life, current events, and Israel. Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:54:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: jaren http://ajcwire.org/2007/10/29/hybrid-impediments/#comment-4951 jaren Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:48:12 +0000 http://ajcblog.org/2007/10/29/hybrid-impediments/#comment-4951 ql1Pzt dfv078fnw8f934ndvkg2l ql1Pzt dfv078fnw8f934ndvkg2l

]]> By: Jeff Campbell http://ajcwire.org/2007/10/29/hybrid-impediments/#comment-2201 Jeff Campbell Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:18:32 +0000 http://ajcblog.org/2007/10/29/hybrid-impediments/#comment-2201 Hybrids' high cost and low sales send a clear signal that this technology has no real ability to reduce oil use in the near term. Congress' refusal to more generously subsidize them (at the expense of everyone) shows that we are not even willing to vote for them. Serious energy policy needs to move beyond hybrids. Do you have any <i>new</i> ideas? Hybrids’ high cost and low sales send a clear signal that this technology has no real ability to reduce oil use in the near term. Congress’ refusal to more generously subsidize them (at the expense of everyone) shows that we are not even willing to vote for them. Serious energy policy needs to move beyond hybrids. Do you have any new ideas?

]]> By: James Glenn http://ajcwire.org/2007/10/29/hybrid-impediments/#comment-2200 James Glenn Fri, 02 Nov 2007 03:57:12 +0000 http://ajcblog.org/2007/10/29/hybrid-impediments/#comment-2200 The newer diesel fueled vehicles which meet the clean air requirements of all 50 states are also very fuel efficient. And they are price competitive with gasoline engine autos. One does not need hybrid vehicles to make significant improvements in gas mileage. We should not restrict ourself to one kind of technology or use global warming as an excuse to not develop all our coal, oil, and gas resources. By not doing this, we are driving the cost of gasoline up to where we will imperil our way of life. The newer diesel fueled vehicles which meet the clean air requirements of all 50 states are also very fuel efficient. And they are price competitive with gasoline engine autos. One does not need hybrid vehicles to make significant improvements in gas mileage. We should not restrict ourself to one kind of technology or use global warming as an excuse to not develop all our coal, oil, and gas resources. By not doing this, we are driving the cost of gasoline up to where we will imperil our way of life.

]]> By: Tom Gregg http://ajcwire.org/2007/10/29/hybrid-impediments/#comment-2199 Tom Gregg Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:48:37 +0000 http://ajcblog.org/2007/10/29/hybrid-impediments/#comment-2199 This, I suppose, is why so many well-meaning people nod their heads in agreement when economics is called "the dismal science." The fact is that hybrid vehicles cost more because they're more costly to produce. Their higher price tag is in no way a "surcharge"; it merely reflects the cost to auto manufacturers of bringing these vehicles to market. Thus it has ever been with new technologies. Tax credits for purchasers of hybrid vehicles strikes me as a surpassingly dumb idea. Haven't we got enough corporate and middle-class welfare stinking up the tax code already? The sorry saga of the ethenol mandate with its taffifs, subsidies to Big Agriculture and growing pressure on food prices shows you what happens when the brain-dead federal bureaucracy tries picking winners and losers in the marketplace. In the long run, hybrid vehicles will come down in price. I well remember, and I imagine that Mr. Bandler does too, when a home computer (say with a 20 megabyte hard drive) was an expensive rarity. Today they're ubiquitous, hundreds of times more powerful, and dirt cheap. Let us take a lesson from the evolution of the PC and leave hybrid vehicles to find their own way into the economic mainstream. This, I suppose, is why so many well-meaning people nod their heads in agreement when economics is called “the dismal science.”

The fact is that hybrid vehicles cost more because they’re more costly to produce. Their higher price tag is in no way a “surcharge”; it merely reflects the cost to auto manufacturers of bringing these vehicles to market. Thus it has ever been with new technologies.

Tax credits for purchasers of hybrid vehicles strikes me as a surpassingly dumb idea. Haven’t we got enough corporate and middle-class welfare stinking up the tax code already? The sorry saga of the ethenol mandate with its taffifs, subsidies to Big Agriculture and growing pressure on food prices shows you what happens when the brain-dead federal bureaucracy tries picking winners and losers in the marketplace.

In the long run, hybrid vehicles will come down in price. I well remember, and I imagine that Mr. Bandler does too, when a home computer (say with a 20 megabyte hard drive) was an expensive rarity. Today they’re ubiquitous, hundreds of times more powerful, and dirt cheap. Let us take a lesson from the evolution of the PC and leave hybrid vehicles to find their own way into the economic mainstream.

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