A Little Doesn't Go a Long Way

I'm very happy that President Obama has decided to bring fuel economy standards up to 39 miles per gallon for cars and 30 miles a gallon for light trucks, coupled with stricter emissions standards to reduce gases that cause global warming. My problem with the plan is this: Does it go far enough?

Sure, stricter fuel economy standards will give us more fuel-efficient cars, and it may well indeed reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent, but will Americans go for cars like this as long as gasoline remains cheap? Americans don't but small cars unless they have no choice or simply like small cars. Because there aren't enough Americans in the latter category, it makes sense to start reducing subsidies on gasoline and raise the gas tax to make driving more expensive, which would encourage greater usage of public transportation and lead to more compact neighborhoods and developments that take up less space. As long as cars are simply more fuel-efficient, we'll merely be burning less gas to get to the shopping mall or office park, and we'll get stuck in traffic in the process.

We need more public transportation. The Obama administration owes the country some more talk on what kind of mass transit network America needs and how to achieve it.