Word: auto
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...bumped up its CAFE standards (currently 27.5 mpg for cars and 20.7 mpg for SUVs and minivans) since 1984, long before the gas-guzzling soccer-mom-mobiles completely took over our nation's highways and byways. It's generally seen as a not-too-onerous way of prodding the auto industry to help conserve gasoline without resorting to that economically preferable but politically suicidal alternative...
...gasoline used by 5 billion gallons over the next six years; Democrats called it "a lost opportunity" to do a whole lot more. But Tauzin, from oil-rich Louisiana, is one of Bush's staunchest fellow believers in production, production, production, and Dingell, well, he's from Detroit. Auto town...
...despite what you may have heard about strong auto sales lately, SUVs, minivans and light trucks are about the only way Detroit makes any money these days - and that just happens to be the sector under heaviest attack from Japanese brands. And the U.S. carmakers losing ground. Just this quarter, General Motors registered a 73% decline in net income, in party because of competition from Japanse car companies for the coveted SUV market. Congressmen from the Motor City don't ask too much of the auto industry in the middle of a manufacturing recession and overall slowdown...
...They've done it so far. Consumers and their spending (led recently by auto sales) have remained surprisingly upbeat throughout this slowdown, and so far it looks like the almighty American shopper will be successful in keeping the U.S. out of a recession. But economists are starting to worry about "the consumer collapse," in which unemployment finally gets too scary for Americans to go on like they have and not tighten their belts just a little...
Since Hyundai broke into the U.S. auto market in 1986, the jokes have rolled off comics' tongues as fast as the company's unwanted cars have piled up in showrooms. How about Jay Leno's line--that the only consumers who benefit from high gasoline prices are Hyundai owners because every time they fill up, the car's value doubles. The tinny, troublesome autos had so many problems that dealers made repairs a profit center. Their unadvertised slogan: Hope You Understand Nothing's Drivable and Inexpensive. The notion that Korea was another Japan ready to challenge U.S. competitiveness evaporated...