Adding fuel to Detroit's fire

Even as the federal government spends billions of taxpayer dollars on rescuing Chrysler and General Motors, it has come up with another bright idea: ratchet up the gasoline mandate that did so much to drive Detroit under. The NYT sees in that a bright future for all of us:

'The effect will be a single new national standard that will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016 than it is today, with an average of 35.5 miles per gallon.'

And who could be so crass as to object to that?

The most astonishing part of this great leap forward is that it is essentially a nationalization of California standards. California! The General Motors of state governments, that can't build a budget that its own people will buy.... Blue skies! -- Dan Ford