Smart cars? Get in line!!!

I have been shopping for a fuel efficient auto for the past couple years. Not 20-30mpg like the auto giants would have you believe is a fantastic number but rather 35-55 and beyond! There are cars that get that mileage and some can even do it at a reasonable cost. Not 50grand but as low as $11k-$15k. A couple years ago I found the Smart Car and LOVED it right off the bat. They finally released it for sale here after it already being available in the rest of the world for quite some time. We are always last. On purpose I am sure. After all our government has their fingers in the world oil pie! Anyway… I called about getting a Smart car today and found that there is a LOOONG waiting list. Well over a year. The manufacturer is shipping 20, 000 units to USA each year and the waiting list has surpased 30,000 people. Each paying $99 to be on this list. During the waiting period they are spending TONS driving their current gas guzzler. Just like me! I want something NOW! I don’t want to wait until there are no suckers..uh I mean buyers for my V8 vehicle. Next year NO ONE will want to buy my car! So it looks like I need to trade in on an interim vehicle. What are my choices? Prius? $25,000. WHAT??? The Smart car is going to be $11k-$15. Honda Civic? $23k-$30k. unless of course you get the one with no anti-lock brakes, hub cabs and nothing resembling creature comforts. VW has a great bit of technology in their clean burning diesel cars. Only available overseas. Not here in the good old USA yet. I wonder which politicians are the ones slowing down the manufacturing of efficient vehicles. The very same ones in bed with the oil companies! They grow rich and we take it deep in the shadows as we pay $4 per gallon at the pump and higher. Where our our choices in the land of freedom. Realistic choices, not “Walking” or “carpooling”. Those are great ideas for those who live in the urban areas. The areas that people who are concerned about gas prices cannot afford to live anyway. Another story…Another Rant.