Paul Driessen
Liberals love to
extol their deep compassion for the poor, whom conservatives allegedly don’t give a fig about. Thus
our Community-Organizer-in-Chief pontificates endlessly about income
inequality, to justify his determination to “fundamentally transform” our
nation, so that “everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share,
and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”
Those would be the
same rules that let the IRS target conservatives, the VA make veterans wait
months for treatment, and the EPA violate every standard of scientific
integrity – with no repercussions. It’s clearly not corporations or most
citizens who don’t play by the rules. It’s Obama bureaucrats, supporters and
sycophants, who manipulate government powers to their financial and political
advantage.
As to “fairness,”
Mr. Obama’s politically-loaded definition is designed to inspire more class and
racial warfare, especially among those who angrily assert that they are being
abused by Big Oil, too-big-to-fail banks, callous healthcare insurers and other
large corporations.
It’s also intended
to distract from massive failures of so many liberal programs, such as Great
Society welfare programs that have spent some $22 trillion to date and devastated black families and communities – and the Affordable Care Act,
which has ensured that millions don’t get to keep their doctors but will get to
pay another 20% in average premium increases for 2016, plus still higher
deductibles.
But big-money
donors, Hollywood actors and environmentalists increasingly call the shots on
“fairness” issues in the energy and environmental policy arena. With the
president calling climate change “the worst threat to future generations,” and more than 21,000 new regulations imposed since he took office, it’s clear that
the 1 Percenters take priority over the 99 Percenters. Electric vehicles are
a prime example.
At a starting price
of $33,170 for a 2016 Chevy Volt to more than
$101,000 for an electric Tesla Roadster (the
cheapest model), these so-called “green” cars are far beyond the reach of most
American families. In fact, most workers have less money today than 40 years
ago: average American wages have fallen from $53,294 in 1973 to $50,383 in
2014, using constant 2014 numbers.
And yet, all levels
of government have instigated numerous rules that favor electric and hybrid
vehicles at the expense of American families, who continue to see costs rise
for nearly every essential commodity, thanks to regulations, special tax
treatments and executive actions. Only gasoline, diesel fuel and natural gas
prices have fallen – thanks to the fracking revolution that has unleashed US oil and gas production.
Electric and hybrid
car buyers get substantial government subsidies, including tax credits of $2,500 to $7,500 (depending on the car’s battery size). Electric
utilities in several states also provide a special rate for plug-in vehicles,
to reduce the cost of charging electric and hybrid cars. Some states even offer credits for the
purchase of charging equipment. And it’s largely justified by global warming
horror stories.
Many insurance
companies, including Farmers, also support plug-in vehicle purchases via
discounted auto insurance policies for electric and hybrid cars in
Maryland and other states.
Several states also offer free parking and free electric charging at government-operated, taxpayer-funded
charging stations.
California also provides rebates to people who buy or lease green vehicles or buy specialized charging
equipment to install in their homes. Sony Pictures Entertainment offers a $5,000 incentive to its wealthy
Hollywood employees who purchase electric or hybrid cars.
In several
jurisdictions, green car drivers can also avoid traffic morasses that the rest
of us must endure. Special stickers give them access to HOV lanes (High Occupancy Vehicles) that drivers of gasoline-powered vehicles
cannot enter without one or more passengers in the car.
In the District of Columbia, green car owners pay less on registration
fees and get an exemption from the excise tax on their original certificate of
title. Montana and several other states offer substantial tax credits and other
benefits for electric car conversions. New Jersey gives a 10%
discount on off-peak tolls for the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State
Parkway. Warren, Rhode Island gives residents with plug-in cars an excise
tax exemption up to $100.
Who pays for all of
these benefits (and many more that I haven’t listed)? We all do. Who benefits?
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio for one – and others who share his lavish 0.01-percent lifestyle, while
proudly driving their Teslas and flouting their sensitivity to ecological and
climate “crises.”
These wealthy
motorists also contribute less to transportation infrastructure. Drivers of
gasoline and diesel-fueled vehicles pay a user fee each time they fill up: 18.4
cents per gallon in federal taxes for gasoline and 24.4 cents a gallon for diesel,
to help pay for bridge and road construction and repairs. Electric and hybrid
vehicle owners use the same roads and bridges – but pay zero to minimal fuel
taxes.
Georgia, Washington
and a few other states assess user fees on electric and hybrid vehicles to cover road projects, but politically
connected green drivers strongly oppose them. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe
(who chaired a failed electric car company) repealed Virginia’s $64-a-year tax after he was
elected.
According to a
recent Experian Automotive study, owners of battery-powered cars are more than twice as wealthy as average Americans. They also tend to be richer and
younger than those who buy hybrids. Of those who purchased electric cars in
2013, 21% had annual incomes of $175,000 or more.
Not surprisingly,
seven of the top ten cities for green car shoppers are in California. This year’s top seller (a measly
17,000 sold through September) is the Tesla S, with an MSRP starting at
$106,200. (The ten most popular “regular folks” vehicles sold 295,000 to
527,000 units apiece in 2014.)
Of course, the
hefty sticker price does not include the multiple freebies Tesla owners
receive: subsidies, rebates, tax forgiveness, and the other benefits that
average Americans pay for but don’t enjoy. In the meantime, the Obama
Administration continues inflicting financial pain on poor, minority and
working class families through regulations and executive orders that raise
costs and stop job creation in its tracks.
The worst of the
lot is the new ground-level ozone standard, which has been called the most costly regulation in U.S. history. This
rule alone threatens to destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs, curtail funding
for highway improvements in national parks and other “nonattainment areas,” and prevent the expansion of
businesses unless other similar businesses close down.
The deceptively
named Clean Power Plan will sharply raise electricity costs for average ratepayers, while
doing nothing to clean our air. New rules governing methane emissions will
likely impair drilling and put upward pressure on oil and gas prices – the one
bright spot that is helping working-class Americans save about $100 a month via lower fuel costs. The Obama EPA and Interior Department are
also doing all they can to make more US onshore and offshore energy supplies
off limits, wage war on all fossil fuels, and lock the United States into a
punitive new climate treaty.
It is a litany of
rules that only elitists with plenty of disposable income could love.
That is not
fairness. It is an intentional way to enrich and empower the wealthy, while
stealing from everyone else, by pushing through policies that penalize
blue-collar workers and families but do little to improve health or
environmental quality. What the president calls “fair” is legalized or
dictatorial theft, perpetrated on the poor, to get Tom Steyer and Terry
McAuliffe to raise more campaign funds for members of the president’s party.
Of course, President Obama isn’t the only one
who uses the word “fair” in political remarks. In her first major speech on the
economy, Hillary Clinton called for more lib-style “growth and fairness,” saying it would be “my mission from the first
day I’m president to the last.” We can
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