Romney ♥ Trade Deficits, Middle East Oil

UNbelievable!  The trade deficit fell to its lowest in 18 months in June largely due to drop in oil imports.  Security analysts, presidents and even Detroit vehicle makers know that less consumption of non US oil is beneficial for US security and the economy, not to mention — if Saudi Oil is not replaced by Canada tar-sand oil– that a decrease in fossil fuel burning is good for the climate, and we who depend on it.

President George W Bush pushed for higher fuel standards, saying that America ‘had an addiction to oil.’  President Obama, with car manufacturing executives behind him, pushed the minimal gas standard to 54.5 mpg, to be achieved by 2025.  What benefits this would bring!

Candidate Mitt Romney, in his latest show of what-me-worry-about-costs attitude, told the Detroit News that he would ‘back off’   Obama’s agreement with car makers to gradually move the bottom line up. [He also ‘refines‘ his position on letting GM and Chrysler fail instead of giving them federal aid.]

As William K Reilly, head of EPA under Bush I, says in an Op-Ed piece for the Washington Post:

Improving fuel efficiency is also an essential part of reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, since about two-thirds of imported oil goes to transportation. The 54.5 mpg standard would save us 2.2 million barrels of oil every day by 2025 — half of what we import from OPEC daily.

Burning less oil also means less pollution, which means a healthier population, lower medical costs and fewer workdays and school days lost.

It is difficult to see what advantage could be gained by abandoning a policy that is broadly supported and that will prove so beneficial.

Americans of all stripes can be proud that, when it comes to gas mileage, the government is working as it should, bringing all sides of an issue together and moving the nation forward”

The SF Chronicle adds its opinion as well:

As the Bay Area emerges from two straight Spare the Air days, drivers should be mindful of emissions. Cars, SUVs, pickups and minivans account for nearly two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions, and the proposed standards would shave this figure way down.

 

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