Feds Have A Hard-On for Honda
In an email to 67K employees, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) encouraged employees to buy more fuel efficient vehicles. Although the email mentions several American products– Ford Ranger, Dodge Caravan and Ford Escape Hybrid– it recommends twelve fuel-sippers: the Honda Fit, Civic, Civic GX and Civic Hybrid; Toyota Prius, Corolla and Camry Hybrid; Nissan Altima Hybrid, Kia Rio/Rio 5, Hyundai Accent and Elantra. Speaking to The Detroit News, Chrysler's Jason Vines asked "Can you imagine the Japanese government sending out an e-mail encouraging employees to buy American cars?" Without addressing the political hot potato, HHS spokesman Bill Hall dismissed the controversy as a simple misunderstanding. "People are reading more into this than is here. If people are taking this as an endorsement of vehicles, that's unfortunate." Let's see… employees of a federal agency get an email from HQ with a list of twelve specific cars prefaced with "when stopping for a vehicle consider these models." If that's not an endorsement, this is not a blog post.
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To paraphrase a former president, It's A World Economy, Stupid. Honda's US lineup fleet average fuel economy is by far the highest on the market. No surprise that so many Hondas show up on a list of frugal vehicles. http://www.automotivedigest.com/view_art.asp?articlesID=16461
Kudos for someone in the government doing the right thing, as opposed to the politically correct thing...(I'm looking at you, Alberto Gonzalez, and come to think of it, pretty much every Bush appointed lackie...)
That's because those in Washington are so detached from reality, they actually believe that Japanese companies build their products here because they love the United States. Since it's a world economy, I'm sure you won't mind either when all blog writing on this website is outsourced to India. Ever read the bylines from Reuters or other news agencies? They are written in India.
Government agencies almost always buy American for their fleet vehicles for political reasons. Does this vary in states with major transplant operations? Does Ohio's state goverment buy fleet Hondas, or Tennessee buy Nissans, for example?