CAFE Standards
What to know: Fifty years ago, Congress enacted the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. They have been a failure.
The TPPF take: The CAFE standards forced automakers to subsidize EV production to offset gas-powered vehicles that fell below the standards.
“Every Chevrolet Volt sold allowed GM to sell multiple large SUVs without penalty,” says TPPF’s Cullen Neely. “This cross-subsidization meant that profitable gas vehicle sales were effectively funding money-losing EV production, a hidden transfer worth tens of billions annually. Now, those EVs will have to be priced according to how much they actually cost to produce, instead of some of the cost being transferred to gas vehicles.”
For more on CAFE standards, click here.
Higher Ed?
What to know: American higher education is “adrift,” Matthew Iglesias writes, and a big part of the problem is grade inflation.
The TPPF take: Grade inflation is undermining higher education.
“This isn’t a sign of smarter students or better teaching—it’s a collapse of standards,” says TPPF’s Tom Lindsay. “Grade point averages (GPAs) at public universities have climbed from 2.7 in the 1960s to 3.2 by 2023, according to a 2024 report, even as student effort has plummeted from 24 study hours per week in 1961 to 14 in 2022. This inflation poisons the academic ecosystem.”
For more on grade inflation, click here.
If the Shoe Fits
What to know: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations a foreign terror group, following Texas’ lead.
The TPPF take: Those designations are appropriate.
“The Muslim Brotherhood has spawned many organizations, including Hamas, and CAIR often serves as an apologist voice for Muslim violence, including following the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel,” says TPPF’s Sherry Sylvester. “CAIR insists it is a civil rights organization, but comments by its leadership (including referring to Zionist groups as ‘enemies’) disproves that characterization.”
For more on CAIR, click here.