Markets provide goods and services far better than governments. So why does the government continually tell businesses what goods and services they can sell? From Eric Peters at ericpetersautso.com:
You have probably heard about CAFE – Corporate Average Fuel Economy – which is the argot for the federal government’s mandatory miles-per-gallon decrees. Every vehicle manufacturer is forced to comply with these decrees – and we’re all forced to pay for them.
CAFE is based on a bizarre premise.
It is that were it not for the federal government decreeing that vehicle manufacturers build and offer for sale “fuel efficient” vehicles, they would not build and offer such vehicles for sale. This is as absurd as asserting that there would not be inexpensive restaurants were it not for the government decreeing that there be inexpensive restaurants. Of course, eating at any restaurant has gotten expensive because of the government, but that is a subject for another time. The point is that there are – well, there were – inexpensive as well as expensive places to eat because there was a market for both kinds of restaurants.
Just the same, there is a market – a natural one – for fuel efficient vehicles. The latter didn’t manifest into existence as a result of CAFE, which was imposed on vehicle manufacturers (and so, on us) back in the mid-1970s.
They existed prior to CAFE.
