Posted by
L Gravel on Thursday, July 10, 2008 6:00:00 PM
Toyota has decided to
build the Prius in Mississippi. One will notice the word "Detroit" is absent from the article. That is because no one in their right mind would start or expand their business into that business-hostile city. The Detroit city council is famously corrupt, and Lansing thinks raising taxes and investing in education is the answer (not realizing that college students, despite heavily leftist indoctrination, are usually smart enough to move to warmer weather and more economically friendly climes upon graduation).
One will also notice Toyota is electing to slow production of pickups and SUVs in order to make more Prius hybrids. This shows that high prices on their own are sufficient encouragement to "conserve energy". Federal fuel economy mandates in the name of "doing something" are redundant if not outright harmful -- creating jobs for bureacrats on the one side and compliance officers on the other, but reducing the number of people engaged in productive activities, such as bringing us more energy-efficient products.