Government: the cause, and unsolution to all life's problems

we all know that the roll of congress is to pass laws, raise taxes, and accrue enough debt to bankrupt our children's children; but did you know that more so than any other law, they pass the law of unintended consequences? True story, I'll explain below.

In 1970 the average cost of a domestic automobile was just under four thousand dollars, but those cars were very unsafe, and some of them didn’t even have standard safety features we take for granted these days, like seat belts, and air conditioning. So congress started passing laws. Over the years seat-belts, hydraulic brakes, telescoping steering wheels and bullet proof windows (citation needed) were added to the list of federal safety features. All these features made driving safer for everyone, but made the expense of these vehicles skyrocket.

Somewhere along the line the the auto company’s found out they could use safety as a selling point. Couple that with America's insatiable hunger for sports such as soccer and curling (citation needed) and the minivan was born.

Women loved the minivan, men however looked at it like how women look at me.

So what is an automaker to do in that case? The solution was the SUV. The SUV was big, stylish, and looked like it could plow through a brick wall and keep going after a night of heavy drinking. Its everything a man could want in a vehicle. The only problem was gas millage suffered as a result. Why would you drive the Hyundai Excel when you could drive a Suburban?

As a result of this brilliant marketing the 90's were flooded with cheap and plentiful SUV's. As a result gas prices suffered. Rumor has it that in 1995 the average gas price was about $1.08. thank God those days are over.

So I guess what I'm getting at is congress is indirectly responsible for the size and weight of all vehicles on the road, that had an indirect influence on the cost of the vehicles, and as such had an indirect correlation to the price of gasoline. In a round about way, every problem that we have with “big oil” and the auto industry is directly or indirectly related to safety features congress mandated in the 60, 70's and 80's. So next time you get angry about $3.50 for a gallon gas, remember you have no one to blame but congress.