Mowin'

Clean cut?

Polluting engine-powered mowers that are a staple of suburban lawn care would become much cleaner under emission limits being proposed today by government regulators.

The proposal follows a long-running dispute between California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein...

It figures that Senator Frankenstein would be hip-deep in it. When are we going to get a law placing a carbon dioxide emissions limit on her mouth?

...and Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond, who sought to block the change in order to protect a small-engine maker in his home state, Briggs & Stratton.

The Environmental Protection Agency has been considering a proposal that would cut smog-forming emissions from the engines by roughly 40 percent. This would likely be achieved by installing catalytic converters that reduce pollution from exhaust.

The final proposed rule was to be released this afternoon, an agency spokeswoman said.

Adding catalytic converters will make mowers more expensive, according to the California Air Resources Board, and some in the industry resisted the change.

From the wording and placement, I get the strong impression that the assertion "to block the change in order to protect a small-engine maker in his home state, Briggs & Stratton" is an assumption on the part of the Associated Press writer. That's because it makes no sense within the context of the proposed change.

Observe:

Mower production cost = $x
Mower w/ catalytic converter production cost = $x+1
Mower price w/o catalytic converter = $x+1
Mower price w/ catalytic converter = $x+2

A mower is a necessity item, not a luxury. Whether you mow your own lawn or pay someone else to do it, someone is putting hours on a mower. (Either that, or you have goats in your yard, in which case you're a nasty bastard; go clean up your yard.)

It therefore follows that manufacturers and their representatives have no driving need to strongly resist such a move. They can simply pass on the cost to the consumer, with no real possibility of impact on revenue. Even the minor loss of revenue that may occur in model and option pricing can be nullified by a simple adjustment of their margins. Despite high gas prices, gas-guzzling SUVs are selling as well as ever. The manufacturers simply jack up the MSRP and then cut you a "great deal." Margin-oriented shell games are the oldest trick in the business playbook -- and one of the easiest to implement.

This is all quite simple economics -- which probably explains why it's beyond the understanding of an AP writer.

Of course, it doesn't change the fact that you and I will be paying a higher relative price for our next mower. And that such a law is pointlessly increasing the overall inflation rate. But activists don't care how much it costs you; they're standing on the well-manicured moral high ground. As the submitter says, you might want to upgrade this year. Especially if your mower, like mine, is on its last leg... er, wheel.

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(Hat-tip to Derek M.)