Articles, like this one from The Wall Street Journal, often make reference to our widespread dislike for European-style minicars with the comment that they only sell here when gas prices are high. The Journal says:
Unless gasoline prices go to $5 a gallon, Mr. Marchionne (head of Fiat) certainly is not so foolish to believe making and selling teensy eurocars in the U.S. is anybody's route to salvation.As I read that I had a really unpleasant epiphany. What if Obama is pushing minicars because he plans to double the price of gasoline by imposing really high taxes. By pushing the price of gasoline up to around $5/gallon he can create a continuing interest in little, fuel-efficient cars. At the same time, he can raise enormous tax revenue to help fund universal health care.
According to this government source, we use 390 million gallons of gasoline per day. A tax of $2.50 per gallon would bring the government roughly a billion dollars per day at current consumption levels. Even if consumption was cut in half, we would still be talking about nearly $200 billion. That would pay for a lot of doctor's visits, a lot of prescriptions. This would represent another bold step in the Europeanization of our United States.
