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Why would you think I wouldn't include Canada when talking about US car buying trends? That would be plain stupid. Actually the trends are slightly different between the US and Canada... The US is top heavy with SUVs and Canada is top heavy with MiniVans (just read the stats and can get you the reference it you wish).
As for bigger and fuel efficient as a mark of progress... that's great. Make it happen. For the time being, I don't see this happening. All I see is bigger more polluting machines getting made. The pollution they spew is one of the those pesky negative externalities I was talking about elsewhere. One way to deal with this is more costly fuel or greater taxation on the purchase of vehicles that exhibit bad efficencies (i.e. they spew pollution). The market would correct itself.
As it stands, there is a huge loophole in the US system that allows SUVs to be catagorized as light trucks. Small business owners (like yourself to be sure) can right off the expense of their SUV (I can't remember of the specifics of this but I suppose I could look it up as well). In anycase, this is a prime example of the government having a negative impact on not only fuel consumption (rather than conservation) and pollution (i.e. smog).
I understand the philosophical difference you point out and agree. Again, I don't want to see everyone driving tiny cars, nor do I want to see them driving mammoths. I want people to be able to drive what they want. The thing is, I want drivers to be responsible for their own negative externalities. If you are going to drive a gas guzzling, polluting machine, I want you to assume some the cost of the damage to the environment, roads, etc. that you are making.
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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke
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