Spare Tires

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"Specifically, a more realistic appraisal of both globalization and regulation suggests a path to greater prosperity that involves more market integration as well as limited and targeted market regulation." (Pankaj Ghemawat,"World 3.0," 2011)

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Call me old fashioned, but I'd like to have a spare tire for my car. I don't think that's asking too much. Even if we have OnStar, or some other "help you" service from car companies, it helps to have them come and change the tire by putting your "spare" on and you get the flat fixed when you can. Simple stuff but very helpful, especially when you're traveling.

Historically, our auto companies have had to deal with fleet mpg standards (Corporate Average Fuel Economy or CAFE) mandated by the government. So, I found out in the mid-90s when driving 800 miles from Dallas, that the folks from OnStar knew exactly where I was and came to change my flat within 10 minutes. What they put on my car was a "doughnut" which is about as useful as the edible version (for anybody that doesn't know what that is: it's a small tire that's not to be driven over 40/60 miles per hour and for not more than 50/100 miles). So, I said to the OnStar person, "How does this get me to Dallas at an average speed of 70/80 miles per hour?" he said "Good point!" and OnStar opened a car dealership after closing time and they put a real tire on my car. That service was not, and is not, available to everybody.

Let's get back to today: the Department of Transportation is floating a 62 mpg standard for 2025, more than double the current 27.5 mpg standard. Over the last 24 hours, "compromise" numbers like 56 mpg as a goal to get to between 2017 and 2025 have been floated. According to well respected researchers, the new CAFE mileage standards will add about $10,000 to the cost of a car.

So, GM has now announced that several versions of its Chevy Cruze would no longer have spare tires. Wait, it gets better: those "spareless" vehicles will carry "vehicle-powered sealant repair kits." Really.

Besides, everybody drives with the new "run-flat" tires, right? Everybody has tire pressure monitors, right? Everybody has roadside assistance systems, right?

We're from the government and we're here to help.

While we're on the subject of inept and intrusive government regulation, how about the NLRB (and, of course, who knows who they are: lets just say they're another government regulator and they're "here to help."). The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 granted sweeping legal privileges to organized labor, including the right to represent all workers in a unionized shop, etc. At the time, it was right to do because workers who struck were being beaten and replaced.

Let's segue to today: the NLRB (which enforces the 1935 Act) has told Boeing that it is being charged with illegal actions "inherently destructive of the rights guaranteed employees" because (wait for it...) Boeing decided to open a new production line for its 787 Dreamliner in North Charleston, South Carolina instead of at their facility in Everett, Washington.

Boeing has spent $1 billion dollars on this new facility and hired 1,000 workers because it thought it had the right to do that. Boeing has not shut down it's existing Dreamliner production line in Washington. South Carolina is additive. Boeing hasn't fired a single production line employee in Washington or shifted a single piece of union work out of state, nor does it plan to.

Richard Branson on labor relations at Boeing's Washington plant (2008): "... if union leaders and management can't get their act together to avoid strikes, we're not going to come back here again." Another segue: the Paris Air Show this past week - Boeing was soundly beaten by a wide margin in commercial aircraft orders by a competitor that is "subsidized" by multiple European countries (Airbus).

We're from the government and we're here to help!