Editorial: Rigging the market
California appears poised to beef up its efforts to micromanage the auto industry.
The Associated Press reports that legislative Democrats are cobbling together regulations demanding that 15 percent of all new vehicles sold in the state be emission-free within 10 years. Car companies that don’t meet the requirements would be hit with fines or forced to write checks to competitors that comply.
“If we create more competition in the market,” said Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, a Los Angeles Democrat, “that automatically will trigger a more affordable vehicle.”
It’s unclear where Ms. Burke earned her economics and automotive engineering degrees. But the notion that government “creates” competition in the private sector by empowering bureaucrats and swelling the regulatory apparatus is utter nonsense.
It would be refreshing if one or two automakers simply pulled out of California in protest. That won’t happen, of course. But at the very least, auto executives shouldn’t be shy about exposing this push for what it really is: A massive sop to Tesla Motors.
Elon Musk’s electric car company — which has yet to turn a profit in more than a decade of operation — already benefits from California’s marketplace meddling. Tesla for years has made millions in cash by selling emissions credits to rival automakers. The new proposal would impose stricter standards and almost certainly further enrich the company.
“Tesla shouldn’t be able to rig the market for their own purposes,” said Wade Newton, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
He’s correct. But such concerns don’t hold much sway with the Golden State lawmakers seeking to impose their preferences on drivers.
