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A selection of letters from readers about Mark's recent post about birth-control on wheels: Auto Demography
CAFE, CAR SEATS AND COSCO
Your comment on Corner is pretty much on the button.
For some years now when folks have muttered about SUVs I tell them that CAFE, car seats, and Costco created the SUV market.
I have the 1964 Ford Country Sedan my parents bought when I was three. Nearly the size, if not quite the weight, of a modern Suburban. Fold down the back seat and you can put a dozen 4x8 sheets of plywood in there. Has (well, had in those days) a total of two lap belts. We kids rattled around in the back seat or, on longer trips, crawled in back and took a nap. And mostly we survived.
These days we wrap our kids in polycarbonate cocoons the size of a B-17 ball turret and think it's perfectly normal to buy toilet paper in packages too big to fit through our front doors. We buy our transportation to meet our lifestyle needs, but CAFE mostly squeezed cars like that big wagon out of the market back in the '80s.
John
ONE KID, SEVEN SEATS
Finally! Someone making the argument that if you have more than two kids, you have to have an SUV or van. I have long wondered why I don't hear or read this during discussions on the matter of cars. Heck, I only have one kid but my wife insisted on a 7-passenger SUV so she could participate in carpool and take daughter and friends out. The morons who scratch their heads over this either don't have kids or haven't had them in years - at least since, like you say, you could put two toddlers in the front seat next to the driver. But it's only us suckers that care about having kids any more anyway.
Jim Banowsky
CAR-SEAT CRAMPS
I completely agree with your comments. We had a Ford Taurus and a F-150. With two kids it was fine but with three the Taurus was really cramped with the three car seats; which was annoying since when I was a kid it would have been fine for me and my three siblings in the 1980s. So we traded the Taurus in on a mini-van, fine. And with four kids it was fine but I was only allowed to have one kid with me in the pick-up so I traded it in on a second mini-van so my wife and I can each transport two or more kids; the pick-up should have been fine for two kids (again in the 1980s my father and his three sons all fitted in that same space). Bottom line, I needed to replace two perfectly fine vehicles. I could afford it but not everyone can. Going from 2 kids to 3 or more is expensive on the auto front. Sure some unfortunate deaths are prevented but the excessive rules will prevent births; that's no bargain.
Michael
THREE KIDS IN MY SATURN, AND I’M NOT ROLLING ALONG
I am a grandfather of 3 girls (7, 4, and 10 months). We have a midsize Saturn (an Aura). Getting the 3 child seats in the back seat was a feat in itself; the 7-year old has to be a gymnastics whiz to buckle herself in when we take them places. Throw in some "gear" and it's impossible. Parents of 3 plus children have to have a vehicle even larger than a current mid-size, and we need to encourage not discourage families of 3 + children.
I enjoy your work.
Tim Baughman
Detroit, Michigan
NOT LIKELY
I took my son plus 6 cub scouts on a canoe trip 2 hours away - in 1980. Stuck them in the back of my Impala. Smoked the whole way with the window rolled down. My son can't take his 3 kids anywhere without a mini van. Neighbor kid? Not without a signed waiver.
Cynthea Sabolich
TWO PRIUSES OR ONE YUKON
Thanks, Mark, for the comments about the size of the American family being a factor in transportation. I often transport my 5 grandchildren in my Yukon. They are 6 years old and under. We can ride comfortably and be safe - even for long distances. They cannot all ride in a sedan because none of them can sit in the front seat. How is it a savings to anything (environment, fuel, space, sanity) if you have to take 2 vehicles to transport your family? I am lobbying my husband to buy a new Yukon even though ours is only 2 years old. I can almost guarantee you that my stupid "carbon footprint" is less than the average holier-than-thou, intrusive, whiny environmentalists who need to mind their own business. Where is my tea party?
Paula
Siloam Springs, Arizona
(Actually my tea party is only 20 miles away in Fayetteville and I will be going there in my Yukon)
IT'S THE GEOGRAPHY, STUPID
American cars were larger than European cars in the 1950s, when Europeans still had measurable birthrates. The major reason why US cars are big and European cars are small has to do with the fact that European cities have narrow roads that seem to go in every direction, while the city of Detroit has wide streets and blvds, built primarily on a 90 degree grid. European cars are generally small and handle well because that's what's needed in European cities.
Geography affects the design of cars in other ways. American cars have always been the standard for HVAC (heating,ventilation and cooling) because Detroit has one of the largest temperature swings of any large city in the world. In the summer it can easily get into the 90s around here and 100 degree days are not unheard off. Add the fact that Michigan is surrounded by 70% of the world's fresh water and it can get hot and sticky here (de Tocqueville visited Michigan briefly and despaired that Europeans could ever live there because of how swampy and bug infested it was). In the winter, while Detroit isn't Fargo or International Falls, it does get cold here. I think there were three days this winter when the temp got above freezing. In the 90s (I think it was 1993) there was a four day period when the temperature never got above zero F. As a result of the US auto industry's location in Detroit, American cars have heaters that keep you toasty warm in brutally cold conditions and have air conditioners capable of chilling your drink.
On the other hand, I'm old enough to remember when heaters were optional equipment and car radios had vacuum tubes and took about a minute to warm up.
Ronnie Schreiber
GOD, GUNS, FAMILY AND TRUCKS
I would also say when asked, "Why do Americans need those big cars?" is, "How else are you going to get a dozen goose decoys, your dog, your son and your shotguns to the field? In a Civic?"
All the best from the land of God, guns, family, and trucks.
Page Brousseau
Grand Blanc, Michigan
NO DEFENSE EXPENSE
Let's also not forget that when a European country has their national defense provided free of charge by the United States, they can criss-cross their geographically smaller countries with quite nice public transportation.
Adam Lysene,
Coupeville, Washington
BIRTH CONTROL ON WHEELS
We mommies of more than 2.2 kids (I have 4) who drive back and forth to Catholic school and games and practices and family functions and the beach with kids, their friends and coolers in politically-incorrect SUVs (I drive a 15-passenger van and the kids STILL yell at eacher other) refer to "economy cars" as birth control devices.
My Scottish relatives are appalled whenever they stretch out in comfort as I schlep them around. Side note: my dad managed to produce more than twice the amount of heirs with just my mother's help than his two sisters and one brother combined in Glasgow.
Anne Yenny
Monrovia
IF YOU THINK THE CARS ARE SMALL…
Yo, Mark!
If you think hauling kids around in Europe is tough in their micro cars, try living in a 95 sq. meter apartment (1000 sq. feet) with 4 kids.
Raising kids in Europe is a pain in the ass, midget cars, tiny living space, high taxes, you name it
Me, I'm living in Idaho, with a set of twins and my 2700 sq. foot house is way too small.
Haakon Haakonson
REASON NOT THE NEED
I'm probably not the first to inform you that Mercury (Ford) makes a Cougar; like the Puma, a particularly uninspired name. I would never buy a Cougar, but a Ford Feckless, now there's a car! Nor am I probably the first to inform the Europeans that Americans do not need large cars; they want them. And that want is sufficient to create a market. And that is good. If the Europeans do not understand that, they need to review their great writers on capitalism (Bastiat, von Mises, Hayek) and set aside their never-ending quest to locate sanity in Marx. Along with the requirement that under 37 year-olds sit in rear-facing seats, will no doubt be the requirement that us over 70s eschew seat belts and air bags - excess population and all that. It's for the planet, you know.
Bernard Goldstein
YOU CAN TAKE THE HORSE TO THE PRIUS…
The left harps on "evil SUVs" but these new standards don't just affect SUV they affect my Quad Cab Truck which I drag my brood around in and hauls my feed and cows and fencing etc. Some on the left may not understand that a Prius will not pull a horse trailer and the food doesn't come from the store......
I hate the idiots.
Steve Christiansen
BAN SUVs, BUY MINIVANS
I'm a quasi-libertarian, but I find our love affair with the SUV silly and regrettable. You say that American families need the larger space of the SUV, but this argument doesn't hold water. Almost all of the people I know who drive an SUV have two or fewer children and many of them have none. You talk about the situation where the soccer mom is also carrying "Jimmy from next door," but it's this attitude that is the problem, the idea that we should purchase cars for our maximum possible need and not for our typical need (I know a man who purchased a giant SUV so that when his extended family comes over they can go out to eat in one car instead of two, an event that happens twice a year). Most of the SUVs I pass on the road have no passengers, only the driver. Has it occurred to you that buying for maximum need, in cars and homes, is the sort of thinking that has led us to Bailout Nation?
Or to put this another way, consider the following thought experiment: suppose we outlawed the sale of SUVs but allowed minivan-models without any cool factor and that just scream "suburban soccer mom." If the purchase of SUVs was really about "something more basic and important," then all the potential SUV sales would become minivan sales, right? Do you think that's what would happen?
V Anton Spraul
OOPS
Mercury had the Cougar, not GM.
Kevin Burns
CHEAPER AND MORE MANLY
So I guess you can pay $10K for a PUMA. Or you can get the same basic result for maybe $200, like this fellow.
His also claims a top speed of 38 mph, 3 miles better than the PUMA, and blows away the PUMA on the manliness factor. Easy call, IMO.
Keep up the good work. Good job, as always, of subbing for Rush yesterday.
David Bailey
Washington DC NOT A DESERT ANIMAL
I looked at the photo of the Puma and thought, "yeah, that'll work."
I commute 55 miles each way daily, through the California desert. I fight high winds, duststorms, and double semi trailers.
My vehicle of choice: A 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 Megacab, powered by a 300 hp Cummins diesel engine. It weighs about 7,000 lbs. Because of the efficiency of the diesel engine, I get between 22 and 24 mpg at an average speed of 65 mph. And if something hits me, odds are I will come out of the encounter alive. If a Puma hits me, I might notice the slight bump.
Ed
USELESS
It's not a GM PUMA, it's a GM COUGAR - Car Our Useless Government Advocates Recklessly.....
Mark
SAY YOUR PRIUS
My niece and her husband, bless their hearts, just adopted their second child. They, like her father, my brother, are as knee-jerk supportive of every left wing cliche under the sun. But they just traded in their two Prius vehicles for one larger Van; the family has grown.
Ken Nordtvedt
SCOOTERS ANYONE?
Another difference between the driving habits of Americans and Euros is the size of the road. Much of the U.S. was built after the automobile was widely popular. European streets are much too narrow to navigate a good sized car through.
Another aspect I noticed in places like Italy and Malaysia was the popularity of tiny scooters in urban areas. Hardly ideal for a family, but you'd see the occasional one with three kids strapped to it. No way that the nanny state is going to allow that one.
Probably the scooters were an indicator that the would-be drivers of enclosed automobiles just couldn't afford to drive them. Gasoline is insanely expensive as is licensing, registration, insurance and parking. That takes a bite when you only get to keep half your pay to begin with.
Adam Lysene,
Coupeville, Washington
SEGWAY SUICIDE
GM is teaming up with Segway to build electric two-wheelers. I'm looking for a silver lining here: you'll be able to go direct from work to the golf course without changing vehicles.
You probably already know this but SUVs and Pickups are the only profitable auto-business in North America, and the Japanese can't beat us at it. I'm an Automotive Engineer for 25 years now working on SUVs and Pickups mainly with the big 3. We're further ahead of the Japanese than we were 25 years ago, but I guess we're going to piss all of that away and design Segways.
Steve Bowler
MOST HANOI-ING
Every time I hear Obama talk about GM, energy independence, or some such nonsense, I get a mental image of New Yorkers getting around in rickshaws. Picture NYC looking very much like downtown Hanoi. That would certainly please the left.
R. Brooke Lawson, III
Montgomery, Alabama
NO GO-KARTS
Amen to your comments in the Corner about the stupid PUMA! I am a basketball/soccer/cheerleading mom to two children under the age of 10, and I also work at their school. We spend a lot of time driving between home, school, practices, and church. Thankfully, even though we live in a suburb of Houston, most of these places are close to home. I always have so much stuff to haul around with the kids, though. Don't even get me started on grocery shopping in one of these liberal go-carts! No, I can't call it a go-cart, because a go-cart might be bigger and offer more protection!
My husband works not too far from our house, but he could never drive one of these idiotic things to work. He would choke on the exhaust from the 18-wheelers, or he would be crushed when one of Houston's notoriously bad drivers didn't brake in time.
I am the proud owner of a "Mom-mobile", which in our case is an 8-year old Dodge Grand Caravan Sport minivan. It is well-loved and is usually littered with library books, stuffed animals, juice bags and video games. I will NEVER bow down to the fools who think they know what is best for our family. It is our choice to buy a larger vehicle, and we will pay for the gas without a government handout, thank you very much!
By the way, we are very excited about attending a Houston Tea Party next week with our 9 and 5 year old children. My parents are planning to attend with us. We all want the kids to know that we don't agree with what our government is doing, and that we do still have the right to protest, until Obama tries to take it away. The current plan is to have a "Debt-Star" poster for my Star Wars obsessed son, and a "Keep your hands out of my piggy bank!" sign for my kindergartener, who is "little miss independent"!
Thanks for all that you do, in the Corner, on Rush's show, with Hugh Hewitt, and everywhere else that you make your voice heard.
Blessings!
Caroline Young - BusyMom
Houston, Texas
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