Sharing blame for high gas prices

Daniel Howes had an unusually clear column in which he spreads the blame for high gas prices (see the Detroit News, noting Republican tax breaks to oil companies and the Republican response to Democrats’ suggestions that the tax breaks be removed - namely, saying they’ll investigate price gouging, presumably with the same accuracy and vigor with which they investigated torture and the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame (in other words, they’ll find a low-level scapegoat or two); the insane rhetoric of Iran’s leaders; EPA directives to switch immediately to ethanol; China’s increasing demand for oil; and the destruction of Gulf Coast refineries.

However, Howes missed quite a few accurate targets, first and foremost being the American people for continuing to prefer inefficient vehicles, seemingly whenever they have a choice. We have the majority of SUV owners who would be happier and wealthier in minivans, the majority of pickup drivers doing so to “for the image,” and, for that matter, most BMW owners doing so for the image. We also cannot forget the president, who had many opportunities after 9/11 to tell us to use less fuel and grow up, so that we would stop feeding the lunatic fringe of the Arab world so well. Every now and then, amidst giving more and more tax breaks to wealthy oil companies that don’t need them, he does remember to say something about alternative fuels and what we’ll be doing years from now. Oh, and there’s his other solutions: taking away nuclear-power safeguards and de-regulating oil refineries, so that big oil companies, in addition to making record profits, won’t have to worry about all those worker safety, fire-and-anti-terror safety, and environmental rules when building new refineries. Then there are the timid so-called Democrats who caved in to the Republicans so often on things like getting rid of CAFE exemptions. They have no excuse for their behavior in that brief time when they ruled both White House and Congress. I think even most libertarians would agree that the only thing worse than government regulation is BAD government regulation, and that a good law is better than a bad law, even if you disagree with the idea of having a law in the first place.

So what’s the solution? Well, diesel could be one solution, but clean diesel rules have apparently been postponed, as we predicted. Moving garbage fees from “after you’re done” to “before you start” - that is, disposable-items taxes that fund garbage disposition - would certainly help because people would buy less useless plastic crap, and our overall cost wouldn’t go up; but people who use more disposable plastic crap would pay more of the cost of dumping it (in most areas, even if you pay for waste disposal, part of your taxes goes for dealing with garbage). Making less plastic crap frees up oil for gasoline. Getting more efficient vehicles on the road by making trucks do less damage to cars in truck-car collisions would certainly help - rather than the current system of beefing up cars, which makes them heavier and less efficient (and slower, in case you missed the Caliber’s 0-60 times), we could make trucks heavier and slower, which would drive more people into efficient cars, again freeing up gas. One person driving a Lincoln Navigator uses the same fuel per mile as, I don’t know, a few people driving Corollas, and frankly, having driven both, I’d rather drive the Corolla anyway. There’s a lot more we could do - frankly the BTU tax makes a lot of sense given how much the government has to spend to keep oil prices where they are (and don’t talk to me about gas taxes, how else should roads be funded?). More trains, more buses, more available fuel. And then there’s GM’s cool “change your oil now” system where a computer tracks oil changes. If every car had those, we could cut the number of oil changes people do in half - at least.

High gas prices? It’s not a conspiracy, it’s the law of supply and demand. Demand less, and the cost goes down.

There’s a lot more on this at http://analysis.wordpress.com/

RSS isn’t working

This isn’t a huge post, but the RSS feed from the weblogs seems to have stopped working. Also, if you were using the RSS feed from the old weblogs, that’s dead too…

Update: OK, RSS *is* working, but COMMENT RSS isn’t working.

Update: Never mind, RSS has now been fixed.

Allpar current status

Allpar is currently serving roughly 700,000 IP addresses per month with over 2.6 million page views (not including forums) and 1.1 million visits. Our peak by far was in January 2006 with 900,000 unique IPs and a stunning 3.7 million page views. (All stats are from Webalizer which tends to not agree with Summary). Total bandwidth used in March exceeded 63 gigabytes.

Allpar currently has a number of services including the registry (about 650 vehicles but we really needed to triple that number, at least), forums, news, weblogs, barely-functional classifieds, links, 200,000 Mile Club, and probably more that I’m temporarily forgetting.

We have eliminated popups entirely - or should have, anyway - and no longer use our old-time ad agencies. We started out with a single $20/month banner ad many years ago, and were alternately sponsored by Year One and an auto classifieds site; we were given an offer we could not refuse ($7.50 CPMs!) by About.com; when they collapsed as an ad agency we went to DoubleClick; and when they proved to be too sleazy, TribalFusion and FastClick, then Google. The goal has always been to raise not just the relatively minor sum to keep the server going (once that was $400/month, now it’s $220 including daily backups), but also to pay for the webmaster to take time off work. It’s hard to have a part-time career…

Allpar recently passed 1,200 “static” (relatively unchanging, hard-coded) pages, assembled over the course of 12 years, from the days when we were at http://www.mordor.com/valiant/ to the current day. (That doesn’t include pages at http://www.valiant.org/ or http://www.ptcruizer.com/ ). There are an amazing 2,991 vehicles in the 200,000 Mile Club.

The to-do list currently stands at:
* 400 photos to add (roughly)
* 207 items in the “add this week” pile
* 59 additions, suggestions, and changes filed via web-form
* 362 items in the “add at some point” pile

That’s not even including such long-term projects as building year by year histories, adding histories for each vehicle where they do not yet exist, building up the non-car portion of Chrysler history (military projects, AirTemp, etc), interviews with Chrysler engineers and other employees, setting up the subject-matter expert system, etc., etc.

We’re busy people over here.

True patriotism

Curtis Redgap has presented us with the result of two months of spare-time work, a history of Chrysler’s tank production during World War II, and it set me to thinking. World War II was probably the nation’s most admirable war; we were fighting aggressive and mean-spirited foes, at least two of whom could be called “pure evil” (Hitler and Mussolini), as well as some rather nasty characters who threw their lot in with them. The American people, to a degree probably never seen before or since - except perhaps in the Revolutionary War - sacrificed their own comforts and safety, both civilians and fighting men and women. The Allies made some regrettable moves but in the whole fought unprincipled foes without stooping to their level.

http://www.allpar.com/history/military/arsenal-of-democracy.html

In World War I, copper miners went on strike to call the government’s attention to the hoarding of copper by mining companies, which drove up the price and hurt the war effort. The government’s response was to deport them to Mexico - never mind that they weren’t Mexicans. As far as I can tell, nothing like that happened in World War II. It was a different leadership - not the arrogant, class-conscious Woodrow Wilson, who brought America into a war that nobody needed to fight, to bring it to an early close (admittedly a lofty goal given the death toll in Europe), but the populist Franklin Roosevelt, who called upon all Americans, not only wealthy and white ones, to serve and to fight. Children gave up their toys for the metal in them; people of all ages and standings in society gave up comforts and cash; industry unquestioningly turned over their plants and materials. Automakers stopped making civilian cars entirely for years. It is worth noting that even had civilian sacrifice been totally unnecessary, Roosevelt’s actions helped to build the nation by making it a jointly felt and fought war - emotionally every American must have been involved. No doubt that helped to limit the profiteering that so badly hurt America during the Civil War, World War I, and of course the latest war, where profiteering has reached new levels of audacity and auditors are not allowed near the books. (If you find this last point offensive and untrue, I advise you to ignore the talking heads on TV and read some GSA reports.)

At Chrysler, patriotism reached what must be a historical high point for industry. Not only did Chrysler engineers work full tilt in what can only be described as an overpriced, under-achieving industry (defense contracting circa 1940), suggesting far cheaper and faster means of production, saving steel and other needed metals, and (for Heaven’s sake!) providing blueprints so everyone would make the same assemblies, reducing the need for slow hand adjustments, but they did so at absolutely no profit. If costs went down, Chrysler passed along a rebate to the military. In the end, Chrylser made absolutely no profit on their tanks - which they delivered far below the government’s estimated cost, in greater quantities, and with more rapid turnaround time and better reliability. What’s more, Chrysler’s leaders did not, as today’s military contractors and White House leaders do, sock away hundreds of millions for themselves. They did not move Chrysler Corporation to the Cayman Islands, offer bribes, or “leak” secrets so they could discredit, say, the leaders of Ford across the street. They did take $5 per year as their salaries during those wartime years so the nation would be able to defeat the unspeakably disgusting Nazis (not to mention the Japanese, Italians, Arabs, and other Axis powers) that much more quickly.

Why did they do it? Perhaps it was because of FDR. He worked with unions and set up fair labor laws so that there would be continued production without, as in the past, the use of military units to deport, kill, or jail citizens who demanded a working wage - enough money for food, housing, and clothing, without going permanently into debt to the company store. He constantly kept the nation up to date on affairs without being caught in constant lies. He drove a Plymouth, not a Cadillac. And as we said before, he called for everyone to sacrifice, not just the soldiers, and not just the soldiers and the factory workers. He called in industry leaders to lead the war production effort, and coopted the nation’s industrial base without, we must note, nationalizing it. He offered a fair profit but demanded accountability - the United States, in 1944, would not simply throw billions of dollars at contractors and then refuse to audit where the money was going. FDR cared about the United States - and I don’t think even his foes, who saw him then as a slightly gentler version of Stalin, would argue that today. What’s more, he cared about all Americans.

World War II was an incredible contrast to World War I in many ways. In WWI, the military of England was still dominated by class, with military concerns, according to some observers, taking second place to form and society; in WWII, in both the US and England, the only thing that counted was performance. Both countries rightly felt this was a battle for their survival - had the US not entered the war, Hitler would almost certainly have gained the nuclear bomb. World War II brought incredible advances not only in physics, aviation, rocketry, and wartime technology, but also in social sciences - psychological and civil service testing (an millenia-old art/science in China, admittedly) to put the right people into the right units, and later social science advances to find out how Nazi Germany developed and what could be done to prevent it. (Yes, people do know, if only someone would care to listen - that’s an area of social psychology that remains relatively undeveloped!) Though military units were generally not integrated, the war also showed that skin color is no barrier to bravery or competence or flying ability and, on the home front, to being able to work in factories and stores. The civil rights movement owes at least some of its success to the war.

The United States hardly seems like the same country now. I cannot imagine the government in 1944 allowing foreign nations run by ruthless dictators or oligarchies (Saudi Arabia, China, and others) to own such huge quantities of government debt that they could destroy the US economically in the blink of an eye. Nor can I imagine anyone sitting idly by and watching troops die while foreign companies rake in hundreds of billions in unaudited taxpayer money, devastating our economy when the time comes to pay up, while taxes are actually reduced. Yes, during World War II, the wealthy were expected to contribute far more than others - in wartime, you are expected to give what you can, not what everyone else gives. And the very, very last thing I can imagine during those wartime years is the shameful spectacle of a president actually leaking the details on an important undercover spying operation, resulting in the possible deaths and certain uselessness of the many agents involved in it, solely to discredit a single political opponent. That makes the excesses of MacNamara and his ilk almost seem acceptable.

What we need today is more 1944 and less 2004. The distinguished history of Chrysler during World War II should become common knowledge. The selfless behavior of K.T. Keller and his compatriots should be a blazing example taught to American school children and adults alike. After all, who could be better role models?

New York Auto Show impressions

To accommodate the photography, this blog entry is at http://www.allpar.com/history/auto-shows/ny-2006.html

Editor’s note: the New York Auto Show impressions are now complete.

The Charger Daytona roars into life

It’s always hard to believe that the same car, with minor tweaks, can change its character so completely. The Matrix is a harsh-riding, noisy vehicle compared to the similar Corolla; but that’s also a different form factor. The Crossfire SRT-8 has a surprisingly different feel from the standard Crossfire, and in my opinion is far more pleasant even when not taking it anywhere near its limits - in standard day to day traffic-congested driving. But the Charger Daytona is really the prime example of this; it starts where the Charger R/T leaves off, and almost feels like a completely different car. The interior has but a single major difference, the body-colored panel between the seats and anchoring the center stack, but it feels brighter, more open, and more upscale than the plain-jane Charger, with its unrelieved gray and black plastic. The passenger also has a bright, cheery label (not quite as upscale as the old Shelby plaques) telling you which production number it is - our test car was #8 of 4,000.

On the outside the Charger Daytona, particularly in yellow, really accentuates the Charger’s curves. Had we seen that one first, with its black-matte stripes, rear blackout, and hood treatment, I think that the outcry over how the Charger is an outrage would have been far more muted. With a few simple touches, the Charger suddenly becomes, well, a Charger, replete with curves and looking as though it’s ready to tear up the track.

The suspension tells the story for the driver; again, minor changes (available also as a performance package on the R/T) to spring rates and such make a huge difference in feel. The Charger Daytona always feels ready to leap at a moment’s notice; the stability control provides a dangerous sense of competence on wet, slick roads, allowing full-throttle acceleration with nary an indication of the impending doom should the driver do something, well, even more foolish than hitting the gas hard on a wet road. (Remember, we test these things in great big pavement areas, and took 300Cs and Magnums around snow-covered test tracks at Chrysler’s invitation). On dry roads, the Charger is simply superlative, with a tremendously confident feel and a seeming inability to lose traction. It feels more like a Z06 than any four-passenger sedan has a right to.

So, despite the ricer spoiler, lack of aerodynamics, and two extra doors…perhaps this really is a Charger Daytona after all. We didn’t try to get it to 180 mph… so that score remains to be settled. But it is a truly impressive vehicle, nearly as far above the Charger as the Charger is above the Avalon to the performance-minded. And while it may not have the mind-blowing raw power of the 426 Hemi or 440 Six-Pack, it does have pretty darned good power, thank you - more than we could use, a frustratingly large amount of instant-on power that meant that we couldn’t hear the engine roar for more than a few short seconds before having to lay off the throttle. The Daytona sounds like a 1970 NASCAR car - but at idle, the roar is muted enough to not be annoying over time. It’s quite a vehicle.

The best part is - the Daytona package is just $2,500. Sure, that sounds like a lot, but it comes with a lot. (A cheaper version is the R/T with performance handling package.)

Spread the word - but maybe we shouldn’t tell those import folk. Maybe they wouldn’t understand… and maybe there won’t be enough Daytonas for the faithful…

Addition! The full test drive story witih lots of photos is at http://www.allpar.com/reviews/2006/charger-review.html