Great Depression of 2016

[hemet dennis]

I do realize that. I'm just not one of them.

Then you will be among the millions that will pass on EV's.

Care for CNG ?

 

[mrchicks]

No, not really. I'm perfectly happy with the vehicles that we have.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

At that rate you can just take your lawn tractor, and not buy a new car.

My lawn mower cost more than that thing an uses more fuel an tops out a 5MPH

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Oh, an it seats one... That looks like it holds 5 at least...

 

[rufus]

Those lithium ion batteries tend to explode when they overheat. Not a good thing for Arizona.

 

[rufus]

hmmm! My computer took a turn for the worse. So my son put something called ubantu on it so that I could still use it. Now I am getting all of these ads in foreign languages.

 

[EweSheep]

Sadly, we have lost ownership of a good many industries. While a company may still have the same name and the product look the same, where it is made has changed. Foreign investors do not buy US companies to deal with truculent labor unions and a plethora of government regulations. No, they buy companies to make money, acquire technology and patents and provide jobs for their own people. If you really want to know who owns a company, look at where it is made.

Brands we think of as being US companies may be owned by foreign entities. Think Schwinn, Chrysler, and Ames/True Temper, they are all foreign owned. They produce in countries with low labor cost and minimal government regulation.

It is better to buy something used in the second hand than to buy something new that is made in China.

What would happen if the Chinese (and other similar nationalities) would rise up, demanding to better work conditions, and better pay? I forsee that coming once those people realized that they would stand up and demand to be treated better and be paid better than the overcrowding motel/dorms near factories, living poor for years.........and yet, government turned a blind eye to what it is happening to their people and the environment of polluted waters and soil......... Come to think of it, our American companies are responsible for their demise and by that time, China and Japanese would run them out eventually unless they are too wrapped up in the $$$$$$$$$ signs.

 

[EweSheep]

I would be careful about tariffs. they can back fire. Much of the Japanese Auto market moved jobs on shore to avoid tariffs against foreign autos but it also resulted in significant foreign investment. It didn't really save American autoworker jobs as much as it gave Japan greater control over domestic policy because of their investment. American auto workers still needed huge bail outs and are still struggling to compete. (For many reasons) Other tariffs tend to shut down our exports to foreign markets.

The easiest way to get Americans back to work is to get the boot of government off Americas neck and unleash the freedom to earn.

Take a look at Mitsubishi Motors here in Normal, IL. It was booming until union laborers, higher wages, and poor automobile performance and safety records and testings really tested the auto plant. It used to be very popular, got the town increased ten fold in ten years, lasting roughly twenty years before it started to go downhill. Driving by the highway on I74, there were so many cars, trucks and vans sitting on huge lots, waiting to be sold/deliver to other dealers elsewhere......... not too many people buying new cars. If their cars got into a minor fender bender or door being dented a bit, many of them would just take the insurance money and put it in their household bills or whatever they need or would like to have.

Illinois is going downhill in jobs. Chicago is of a different "state" than us, downstate. Our governors (past and present, the last two and Quinn) do not live in their assigned residence in the governor's mansion in Springfield, IL. An empty house. We are still paying to heat and cool it. Why aren't they LIVING in it?!? Why don't we sell the mansion? Make it as a museum, probably not because our governor wants to cut back more on the museum expenses, laying off employees, relying MORE on volunteers.

As for Walmart employees, yep, they ARE on food stamps, have basic health care with no dental or vision care, more out of pocket medical co pays (remember the PPO providers, that will go on the wayside) and less specialized care (chiros, midwives deliveries, caretakers for elderlys).

As for doing away with Medicare and Social Security for elderly and disabled people, I don't see that happening since we have the highest numbers of people are entering 50 years old and older, living longer and some simply just can't work and not enough employers that would hire handicapped and elderly folks in the workforce besides being door greeters and cashiers.

The balance of the young employees vs old employees are off skewer. There are a lot more older folks entering retirement than young people when comes to paying taxes.

As my hubby said, like FDR, if you can put MORE people to work, they will have MORE money to spend after bills has been paid. If you pay them less, the less they will spend since they will be more focused on surviving to get by.

For goodness sakes, we, as the nation, are RICH in our resources (food, medicine, power) but yet, we can't seem to support those who are in need. Too many of our Vietnam vets are not getting the care from the now corrupt VA medical care....the VA is just too stupid to realize the enormonity of the impact it created. They are simply just too far removed from the reality of John P. Soldier is faring in the real world and filled with empty promises of college tution being paid in full, full medical coverages and "we will take of you" after they served their time. Our boys coming home isn't going to get better care than our Vietnam vets are receiving........downright shame! I guess they don't have a choice either. Either way, they are screwed.

 

[EweSheep]

But the current fuel taxes are not keeping up with the cost, so every year we add to the highway fund from the general fund. The general fund has no money left so they borrow more money to fix the roads.

So we agree that the roads need to be fixed.

Do you agree that the debt is to high ?

We had that issue here in IL, guess what happened? They couldn't come up with additional money to fix roads, so they put higher fees on license stickers a few years ago.

It is not working......they are trying to come up with MORE taxes OR raise the fees on license stickers. Driver's license fees has gone up as well.

SMH

 

[EweSheep]

No just that I've really started taking a critical eye to what people are saying.(and what they are not saying)

There were a lot of assumptions in the presentation.

The battery swap idea is great and exactly the kind of way you solve the range and charging problems.

I'm not saying we wont move to electric cars. I just think the future is much further off than they realize because they aren't going to get there before other economic realities set in.

If he thinks he is going to be able to have the billions of ready batteries and charged on the grand scale he hasn't really scaled the cost not only producing the batteries but the cost of the infrastructure that will charge the. Where is the electricity generation going to come from on the scale he is talking about.

I think we will get there I think its promising progress and he has thought a lot more about making it possible. I like the commitment of we are doing it but 2 cents a mile is nice to say I want to know how you arrive at those costs because when something sounds too good to be true it usually is.

This reminds me of the oil embargo in the 70's when car companies were trying to get cars to get better gas mileage/electric cars but it failed miserably because it was so costly and therefore ineffective.

I don't see how electric cars can benefit us right now. Who wants to wait four hours at a gas/electric shop to charge up? Unless you got all the time in the world, it probably would work but not a good idea for a traveling salesperson or techinical repairmen. Not so good for hauling and I don't think they can come up with better trucks that would be labelled as 50 mpg, fully loaded.

Any possiblity of having a "Star Wars" travel pods? Sorry, the NASA space program pretty much gutted. So much for Space 1999's wonderful adventures that one day we will live on the moon but have NO way of supporting it.