Of course they do. People have limited time and energy and can't possibly be expected to have a good enough understanding of everything they touch in their daily lives to be able to "understand" them well enough to have sufficiently calibrated bullshit detectors for them all.
Maybe you're an expert in ICEs and this was obvious to you. Would you notice if your cell phone charger was actually pulling 10 amps out of the wall instead of the 1 it was rated for? What about if your non-GMO strawberries were actually created in a lab? Your organic beef injected with hormones?
The whole point of having these standards is so that consumers can rely on them and don't have to independently analyze everything they buy themselves.
They didn't call those bands "rage against the machine" and "public enemy" for nuthin now did they? I mean, in all seriousness, why be so serious? Simple points need to be understood, not simply dismissed out of hand. In theory everything the government or your employer tells you is true. In reality, they have alot to gain from asymetric information distribution, both in terms of negotiating financial outcomes but also in terms of maintaining their political power base.
All you have to do is look at how much gas you put in the damn thing and divide by how much youve driven since you last topped up. Not a deep investigative effort
That's like saying someone threw a rock at you and because you didn't look around before it hit you, its your fault.
The cheating is the problem, not the fact that people are ignorant about it.
Sorry, that BS. Nobody wants to conduct a research experiment every-time they purchase splenda to see if it might give them cancer in 10 years. It is impossible to live life that way. Social guarantees that your water supply does not contain poison, and that the car you purchase doesn't not fall apart and kill you at 45 mph when it worked fine at 20mph when you did the test drive, are and should be expected. Just because cheating is widespread does not make it your fault for not knowing it.
nobody wants to read website TOS either, but that's not how the world or the law work. there is a line between 'street smarts' and blind faith in people you don't know telling you stuff. 2x4's are not 2x4...that's something everyone probably should know...similarly, EPA fuel mileage is not accurate...and never has been...its not anyone's fault that everything in the world is not "literally" true
The same transaction costs argument for regulatory disclosure apply to the quality of such disclosure as well. Ever try reading nutritional labels? It goes on and on...has very little to do with one particular instance.
That being said, a auto is a capital good and a substantial purchase and investing some time to understand the buying process is both economic and sensible. so in this case the faux shock/outrage seems particularly misplaced...as the arguments for ignorance are weak indeed.
