Wow, cheers go up from the Regulatory set.  Mission accomplished.  The DOE and EPA have managed to promulgate cars designed so that only the elite can afford them.  Isn’t central planning wonderful?!

 Henry Ford worked diligently to make cars cheaper so that all Americans could one day aspire to owning their own vehicle and now our politicians in just a few short decades have succeeded in destroying that vision. From CNBC:

“According to the 2013 Car Affordability Study by Interest.com, only in Washington could the typical household swing the payments, the median income there running $86,680 a year. At the other extreme, Tampa, Fla., was at the bottom of the 25 large cities included in the study, with a median household income of $43,832.

Bottom line? A buyer in the capitol can purchase a car with a sticker price of $31,940, slightly more than the new vehicle average for the 2013 model year and about what it would cost for a mid-range Ford Fusion sedan or a stripped-down BMW X1 crossover. The buyer in Tampa? They’ll just barely cover the cost of a basic Kia Rio, with $14,516 to spend.”

So this poses another question; why should we replace the Interstate Bridge anyway since Oregonians and Washingtonians are now effectively priced out of the market for new vehicles?  In another ten years, we will all apparently be walking anyway.