persuasive paper on CAFE

[tsg1391]

I am doing a persuasive paper on CAFE. Obviously I am against it, but besides the obvious reasons like Camaro is endangered, do you guys have any arguments i should throw in there?

[MIchael Westen]

Do you need to give both sides, or is it intended to be one sided? I've been working on an article defending CAFE and the impact of it on enthusiasts, actually. That's hard.

The primary arguments against it are:

- Deprives the consumer of choice, so it's anti-free market
- There's little evidence that it affects gasoline consumption. Consumers simply drive more, so it's a wash.
- It makes cars more expensive, because more R&D are required and more advanced technologies are employed in the engines, frame and body materials and wind tunnel testing time.
- It restricts styling to a great degree, making cars less interesting and impacting consumer choice.
- Consumers make an end run around CAFE by buying light trucks, which are not calculated in CAFE averages.
- Gasoline consumption is reduced by price; when a good costs more, people use less. When a good costs less, people use more. Using CAFE to reduce fuel consumption is self-defeating, because it makes gas cheaper (see argument #2). For evidence, use 2008. Driven miles dropped when gasoline went over $3 a gallon.
- The cost increases to a car for meeting CAFE will not be offset by fuel savings (just like hybrids) so resources are being wasted. Further CAFE increases will result in the mandating of hybrids, which use large amounts of Lithium in their batteries. Li is a very rare element that is only found in a few countries in the world, including Bolivia, which is Socialistic, anti-American and politically unstable.
- Meeting CAFE will also increase the number of plug-in hybrids, which will tax the electrical grid and require the very expensive production of new power plants, at a time when the government is trying to reduce the number of coal burning plants.

Finally, reducing gasoline consumption is NOT a national security issue. Over 80% of the oil consumed in the United States comes from North America; nearly all of the oil that Canada, Mexico and the US produce is consumed here, and we actually purchase very little oil (as a percentage) from the Middle East. Most people perceive this differently, but the numbers are out there.

I would Wikipedia a lot of that and use plenty of statistics and numbers. Those are just the outline of the arguments I'd make.

Good luck!

[tsg1391]

nah im just doing one-side. thanks for the info!