Another loser to add to Obama's list

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Of course CAFE standards are a good idea but they're not a solution.

John

I disagree. Increased motor fuel taxes are a good idea. CAFE standards are a bad idea. Look at the number of SUV's and large pickups on the road and the relatively light demand for fuel efficient vehicles.

As for the government investing in electric vehicles, if we had an appropriate gas tax reflecting gasoline's cost to society (in terms of pollution and Mideast wars), there would be a demand for electric cars. Until then, there won't.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by finnbow

I disagree. Increased motor fuel taxes are a good idea. CAFE standards are a bad idea. Look at the number of SUV's and large pickups on the road and the relatively light demand for fuel efficient vehicles.

As for the government investing in electric vehicles, if we had an appropriate gas tax reflecting gasoline's cost to society (in terms of pollution and Mideast wars), there would be a demand for electric cars. Until then, there won't.

Yep.

Regards,
Dave

[ebacon]

Here is A123s stock price history. They went public in the fall of 2009 and then fell flat on their face.



This is a typical signature of a sows ear that was dolled up by VC money and then dumped on the highest bidder in an IPO. What most people don't understand is that the IPO is the exit strategy. It is not the beginning of something new like it was in the old stock market.

Look at other VC dumps and see how they have fared since their IPO. Facebook. Zynga. Vonage. I think LinkedIn is the only one that has surprised by remaining somewhat bouyant. It ends up that corporations are using LinkedIn to search for talent. Monster.com is old news and IMO will soon be nothing but a spam board.

[ebacon]

For the record I'm OK with CAFE standards. They push technology and create good work for engineers.

On the flip side local governments need to have the balls to stand up to developers and say enough is enough. We are not going to let you cheaply build in green space while people abandon the cities and let them go to pot.

It's easy to see that one size fits all law will not work. A medium sized city such as Knoxville faces different challenges than a large mature city such as Detroit.

I wonder if the people of Spring Hill, TN can empathize a little with Detroiters now that Saturn went down. Is the Spring Hill plant still running?

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by ebacon

For the record I'm OK with CAFE standards. They push technology and create good work for engineers.

On the flip side local governments need to have the balls to stand up to developers and say enough is enough. We are not going to let you cheaply build in green space while people abandon the cities and let them go to pot.

It's easy to see that one size fits all law will not work. A medium sized city such as Knoxville faces different challenges than a large mature city such as Detroit.

I wonder if the people of Spring Hill, TN can empathize a little with Detroiters now that Saturn went down. Is the Spring Hill plant still running?

Pretty tough to do in a revenue starved jurisdiction which, thanks to the Republican anti-taxation agenda, is pretty much every one.

John

[ebacon]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Pretty tough to do in a revenue starved jurisdiction which, thanks to the Republican anti-taxation agenda, is pretty much every one.

John

It's also pretty hard to do in a revenue starved nation which was impregnated with Clinton's free trade wank-off to Rand's atheist bullshit.

Idle hands don't generate tax revenue. That's the fact.

Who was it that said he didn't care if Americans made potato chips or microchips? I could have swore it was Clinton but haven't found the quote.

It should be a Republican challenge to find it.

[ebacon]

Here is a seed to the microchips/potato chips debate of the early 1990s.

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articl...t-potato-chips

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by finnbow

I disagree. Increased motor fuel taxes are a good idea. CAFE standards are a bad idea. Look at the number of SUV's and large pickups on the road and the relatively light demand for fuel efficient vehicles.

As for the government investing in electric vehicles, if we had an appropriate gas tax reflecting gasoline's cost to society (in terms of pollution and Mideast wars), there would be a demand for electric cars. Until then, there won't.

I've been thinking about this. I don't like paying ~$4/gallon.........

But, realistically, paying that high price is the only thing that has made me remotely serious about conserving fuel. I still like my fast cars, Lord knows. But, I take far less unnecessary trips now than I ever did.

There's what we "like" and then there's what works. I'm just sayin'.

Regards,
Dave

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by Bigerik

Yup. The Bush bailout.

And, yes it is as least as good as a 3 series. In a lot of ways, better.

The trouble with the 3 series is that you need one for each foot. We win the lottery and much as we love them the two 2000 Impalas get traded in on a couple of Volts.

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by ebacon

IMO the electric car stuff was a loser from the get-go. It's an example of make work instead of honest work.

Hey everybody, we need jobs! Let's electrify! Then a hundred years later it's hey everybody, we need jobs! Let's go to fossil fuels and cool engines that go vroom-vroom!

Ridiculous economic masturbation.

There are only a few areas of honest work. Food, clothing, shelter, entertainment, and transportation.

Food is largely automated. The remaining workers are low paid. The food industry is tapped out for meaningful growth.

Clothing work has been shipped overseas. The clothing industry is tapped out for meaningful growth.

Transportation is beat down by foreign sourced goods in the auto market and domestic competition in the airline market. Trains are monopolized. The transportation industry is tapped out for meaningful growth.

Entertainment still has some legs.

All that's left is housing. We don't need any more houses but who cares. Houses make a good shell game for the ego.

So we are where we are; watching MTV Cribs and arguing with each other. Ridiculous. And not a single politician or presidential candidate is asking whether continuous growth is even a good goal.

The Pavlov condition of jacking off to failures on your opponent's watch seems to be a strong one.

Damn Eggs, I agree with the entirety of your post. Excellent observation. Of course, we're supposed to be the "knowledge and information" society, as though, no other populace could fulfill that role. The post WWII consumer society could indeed be an aberration that was predicated on the unique circumstances. Keep in mind that continuous growth is ultimately self-limiting.