NewsTrust - Transportation - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

Chamber of Commerce Urges Lawmakers to Raise the Gas Tax

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Alec MacGillis - Jul. 15 (Opinion) - On the same day as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was attacking President Obama and congressional Democrats over a tax-hiking plan to pay for health care reform, its leader urged the same people to have the courage to raise taxes on another front: the federal gasoline levy that pays for our highways

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Car Crazy

Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - May. 28 (Editorial) - At the end of his Rose Garden explanation yesterday of the new U.S. fuel-efficiency standards, President Obama remarked on the good that can be accomplished when we are "working together." The President may be getting ahead of himself. Watching the unlikely coalition arrayed behind him as Mr. Obama committed the U.S. to an astonishing passenger-car mileage average of 39 miles per gallon by 2016, it looks truer to say we are merely standing together in this adventure, for better or worse. Mr. Obama's fleet-mileage partners yesterday included the two auto companies that have fallen into his arms, Chrysler and GM, still-independent Ford, the major foreign manufacturers, United Auto Workers chief Ron Gettelfinger, and beaming representatives from the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists. All that's left to arrive at the President's new destination for the American way of driving are huge, unanswered questions about technology, financing and the marketability of cars that will be small and expensive.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

California's proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - Apr. 20 (Editorial) - The goal of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard is to lower the "carbon intensity" of fuels sold in California 10% by 2020. It does this by using complexformulas to score each type of fuel based on its life-cycle emissions; carbon intensity is calculated by comparing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by a fuel over its life cycle with the amount of energy it produces. Starting in 2011, companies that sell fuel in California will have to lower the overall carbon intensity of their various fuels at a rate that will increase every year until 2020, or else buy credits from companies that sell cleaner fuels.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Detroit: Can Obama's Auto Bailout Work?

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By John Gross - Apr. 01 (Opinion) - Obama also used the B-word, bankruptcy, which would be particularly disastrous for Cerberus. Under any circumstances, it seems, many of the Wall Streeters who celebrated Obama's toxic-assets plan won't profit from his auto bailout.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Detroit Dissonance

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Eugene Robinson - Mar. 31 (Opinion) - Through a series of logical decisions, the Obama administration has maneuvered itself into an illogical and uncomfortable place. The president is telling Detroit to shape up or die while at the same time politely asking Wall Street, whose recklessness and greed caused this economic crisis, if it would be so kind as to accept another heaping helping of taxpayer funds.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

6 Cars That Signal the Future of Driving

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

U.S. News & World Report - By Rick Newman - Mar. 23 (Opinion) - So, for the next decade or so, there will be a worldwide energy derby as the backers of half a dozen plausible fuel systems battle one another for prominence under the hood. But vehicle design and infrastructure needs will eventually coalesce around one or two winners to take advantage of high-volume production, which is essential to lowering costs.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Net-Zero Gas Tax

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Weekly Standard - By Charles Krauthammer - Dec. 29 (Opinion) - Today's economic climate of financial instability and deepening recession, moreover, makes the piling on of new taxes--gasoline or otherwise--not just politically unpalatable but economically dubious

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Senate GOP Seems Set on Hastening the Death of Detroit

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Eugene Robinson - Dec. 15 (Opinion) - It may be that General Motors, Chrysler and Ford are lumbering, Jurassic beasts that deserve their looming extinction. But only a free-market fundamentalist, a lunatic or a Senate Republican -- perhaps that's redundant -- would conclude that now is the moment to hasten Detroit's demise. To recap: We're in the midst of a global financial crisis. The housing bubble has burst and prices have collapsed. The economy has been in recession for a year. Unemployment has risen to 6.7 percent, and if "marginally attached" workers are included -- those who have given up even looking for jobs -- along with those who want to work full time but are forced to accept fewer hours, the rate is 12.5 percent.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Chapter 11 is the right road for US carmakers

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Financial Times - By Joseph Stiglitz - Dec. 13 (Opinion) - The debate about whether or not to bail out the Big Three carmakers has been mischaracterised. It has been described as a package to help the undeserving dinosaurs of Detroit. In fact, a plan to bail out the carmakers would benefit shareholders and bondholders as much as anybody else. These are not the people that need help right now. In fact they contributed to the problem.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Big Three's real union problem

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Jonathan Cutler - Dec. 06 (Opinion) - Even if a deal for a $15-billion to $17-billion preliminary bailout comes together this weekend to keep carmakers afloat into 2009, they will continue to be dogged by their most significant competitive disadvantage: a high-priced, unionized workforce.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Depression-era projects, again

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Bill Boyarsky - Nov. 25 (Opinion) - The Depression projects were built in a hurry, driven by economic need. Will the new crop also be put on a fast track?

NewsTrust Rating: 2.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How to Fix a Flat

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Thomas L. Friedman - Nov. 12 (Opinion) - Indeed, if and when they do have to bury Detroit, I hope that all the current and past representatives and senators from Michigan have to serve as pallbearers. And no one has earned the “honor” of chief pallbearer more than the Michigan Representative John Dingell, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who is more responsible for protecting Detroit to death than any single legislator.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How to Save Detroit And $50 Billion

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Opinion Journal (WSJ) - By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. - Sep. 10 (Opinion) - CAFE has to be the most perverse exercise in product regulation in industrial history. It confronted the Big Three with the choice only of whether to lose a lot of money, by matching Toyota and Honda on quality and features; or somewhat less money, by scrimping on quality and features and discounting, discounting, discounting. Rationally, they scrimped -- and still live under a reputational cloud in the eyes of sedan buyers. Yet notice that their profitable product lines, in which they invest to be truly competitive -- such as SUVs, pickups and minivans -- hold their own against the Japanese and command real loyalty among U.S. consumers.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Tap America's spirit of sacrifice

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Christian Science Monitor - Jul. 15 (Editorial) - Americans can be good at collective sacrifice. During World War II, they were encouraged to buy war bonds and lived with rationed gas, coal, and foods. During the 1970s oil crisis, they had to slow down to 55 m.p.h. But what about now, when the country faces pricey challenges, from global warming to over-heated healthcare costs?

NewsTrust Rating: 3.1 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Top Car Dealer Says High Gas Prices Are Good for the U.S. Auto Industry

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Joseph B. White - Jun. 10 (Opinion) - t might seem odd that America's leading car salesman would want gasoline prices to stay high, given how much damage the recent surge in pump prices has done to demand for the big sport-utility vehicles and pickups that once powered sales at many AutoNation stores.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Running on Fumes

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:25:30 -0700

New Yorker - By Elizabeth Kolbert - Nov. 01 (Review) - to Americans, cars have never been just a means of transportation. Our choices about what to drive have always had a social component--keeping up with the Joneses--and an antisocial one: outdoing the Joneses. Both impulses have, of course, been fostered or, if you prefer, exploited by automakers, but, in the end, responsibility for our decisions is our own. In the early nineteen-eighties, Detroit introduced new versions of several S.U.V.s, including the Jeep Cherokee and the Chevy Blazer. The timing seemed perverse; as McCarthy notes, "Americans who had grown up listening to Ralph Nader crusading for safer automobiles, who knew that automobiles caused smog, and who lived through the energy crisis in the 1970s, certainly understood that larger, heavier vehicles burned more gasoline and posed a threat to smaller, lighter vehicles in collisions." Yet sales of the redesigned S.U.V.s were so brisk that even the automakers were surprised. The vehicles may have been dangerous, wasteful, and unnecessary, but what the hey, they were fun! "More smiles per gallon," promised an ad for the Suzuki Samurai, an S.U.V. that enjoyed wide popularity until reports suggested that it was prone to roll over.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Condoleeza Rice: Thumbs Up to the Tesla Roadster

Mon, 28 May 2007 14:51:13 -0700

Treehugger - By Collin Dunn - May. 28 (Opinion) - it's U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice riding shotgun with Tesla sales manager Tom O'Leary; they went for a ride last week on the tarmac at California's Moffett Field.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Why Daimler Is Paying to Dump Chrysler

Tue, 15 May 2007 14:32:12 -0700

Newsweek - By Allan Sloan - May. 15 (Opinion) - "This is definitely in the hunt for being one of the all-time deals from hell," said Robert Bruner, dean of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, a connoisseur of corporate catastrophes and author of "Deals from Hell: M&A Lessons That Rise Above the Ashes." Unfortunately for me, Bruner doesn't keep a "Ten Worst Deals" list, so it's hard to compare disasters with each other. Some deals--such as Time Warner's disastrous decision to swap its shares for AOL stock at the height of the Internet bubble in 2000--cost investors more money than Daimler's ill-fated acquisition of Chrysler. Other famous failures that Bruner analyzed, such as the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads, helped accelerate the collapse of the combined firm.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

'Open skies' allow airline industry jobs to fly away

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:03:54 -0700

San Francisco Chronicle - By Edward Wytkind - Apr. 30 (Opinion) - Today, the United States is expected to formally approve a new "open skies" aviation trade deal with the European Union (EU). The Bush administration has failed to satisfy congressional critics who question the pact's impact on long-standing law and policy limiting foreign control of our airlines. And aviation workers are deeply concerned that this agreement is a down payment on a broader Bush administration strategy to allow foreign control of our airlines and decision making that threatens thousands of American jobs.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.2 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The real target of the 6 imams' 'discrimination' suit

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 06:00:00 -0700

Minneapolis Star Tribune - By Katherine Kersten - Mar. 15 (Opinion) - The "flying imams' " federal lawsuit, filed this week in Minneapolis, has made headlines around the country. The imams are demanding unspecified damages from US Airways and the Metropolitan Airports Commission, both with deep pockets. But their suit includes other defendants, as yet unnamed. These people, unaffiliated with the airline industry or government, are among the imams' most vulnerable targets.

NewsTrust Rating: 1.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Shipping vs Airfreight revisited: Some more considerations

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 10:24:03 -0700

Treehugger - By Sami Grover - Mar. 11 (Opinion) - if the same amount of freight was shipped by air or by sea, which would produce more greenhouse gases? It seems, looking at the numbers, that shipping comes way ahead of airlines on this count. When this author was working out a carbon offset scheme for a previous employer, using Climate Care's calculations, shipping 1.5 tonnes of product by ship to the UK created 0.124 tonnes of CO2, while shipping only 0.5 tonnes of the same product by air created 4.5 tonnes of CO2. So, while John's original recommendation to buy local in his post still stands, if it is a question between shipping cargo by ship or by plane, then it looks like the ship wins every time, at least if these numbers are to be believed.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The State of Energy

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 20:32:33 -0800

New York Times - Feb. 01 (Editorial) - President Bush devoted two minutes and 15 seconds of his State of the Union speech to energy independence. It was hardly the bold signal we've been waiting for through years of global warming and deadly struggles in the Middle East, where everything takes place in the context of what Mr....

NewsTrust Rating: 2.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer