Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

In her defense (I can't believe I'm typing this), she formulated most of her ideas in the production era (during the advent of mass production, Fordism, etc., at the beginning of the 20th century) and the sales and marketing era (the Golden Age of selling and advertising beginning in the 30s/40s and hitting its peak in the 50s/60s).

What she missed out on almost completely, even though she developed her Objectivist ideals late in life and died in the 80s, was what came after the high-production, high-consumption developmental eras: the finance era (the "decade of greed": the mergers and takeovers of the 80s, creating unprecedentedly gigantic multinational corporate entities) and the current globalized and Internet era, where the game has changed almost completely.

My criticism isn't of Rand per se (not this time); it's of those who would choose to carry over her ideals all willy-nilly into today's terms.

Originally Posted by aceventura3

Do CAFE standards actually work? Are CAFE standards the best way to improve average fuel economy?

I suspect the answer to both questions is no.

First at any given gas price better average gas mileage encourages people to drive more relative to alternatives to driving. Benefit negated.

Second, if the goal is truly to drive consumers to actually wanting more efficient vehicles, as evidenced by car sales data every time there is a spike in gas prices, is to actually increase the price of gas. I generally would not support increasing gas taxes for this sole purpose, but it is clear that simply increasing the federal tax on gas is the best way to improve fuel efficiency and reduce gas consumption.

Third, CAFE standards increase the price of new vehicles and this encourages people to hold on to older less fuel efficient vehicles longer.

Forth, CAFE standards gave car companies incentives to consolidate to achieve the goals. In addition, since trucks are excluded and some SUV's, there was an material increase in the sales of vehicles in this category. Corporate profit margins benefited, not the consumer.