A perfectly legitimate environmental issue is coopted by industry for their own purposes, thereby frustrating the original goals of the regulation in the first place.

When pollution controls for automobiles were being first debated, the most logical strategy, mandating smaller cars and engines as the foreign car makers were already marketing successfully, was rejected in favor of retrofitting catalytic converters onto existing engines. American car makers favored this approach because they could continue marketing their profitable gas guzzlers by simply adding on a device at no competitive disadvantage (since all carmakers had to do it at once) and simply pass on the additional costs to the consumer.

The idea was that the smaller foreign engines would be so handicapped by these grossly inefficient add-on devices that it would cut into compact car sales. What the Big Three did not realize was that this dubious strategy would backfire when the foreigners invested in re-engineering their products so that they could maintain performance and economy under the new regulations and still put out a car with more appeal and utility to American consumers. The decline of the American auto industry began in earnest at that point, although to this day, they and their apologists continue to insist it was all the fault of those damned environmentalists.

Individuals may display a spectrum of political and economic positions, but collectively, in corporate bodies, only short-term profit and blind greed seems to operate. The only question that remains is why did the foreign marques successfully adapt to this rigged market while the American industry did not?