What Happened to “Alternatives”?

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It’s interesting that one rarely hears about “alternative” fuels now that we are being herded into having no alternative  . . . to “electrification.” This tells us that the point of the thing was always the elimination of alternatives.

Every rent-seeking business desires exactly that.

Recall the words of John D. Rockefeller, who infamously said that “competition is a sin.” The government agrees. It is why the government does not allow it – as regards itself. There is no alternative to it. One size-force-fits all. Corporations – which are creatures of the government that have come to own the government – like that very much as well. It is why they are “all in” on “electrification” – and the elimination of alternatives to it. For they control and profit from it.

What do you suppose it will cost to buy an EV when there is no alternative to buying (and using) EVs? How much do you suppose electricity – to feed the EV and to heat your dinner and your home – will cost when there is no alternative “fuel” available to apply cost/convenience pressure?

The intention – the final goal – ought by now to be as obvious as the intention (and final goal) as regards “masks” and those drugs they’ve been pushing as the sole alternative, too.

If you need more clarity consider the way alternatives such as hybrids and high-efficiency diesels have gone from being cheered and promoted to pariahs (in the case of diesels) and dismissed (in the case of hybrids). How much have you heard, for instance, about the just-redesigned Toyota Prius? As opposed to how much you have been hearing the latest six-figure EV like the GM Hummer or Tesla’s Cybertruck?

The new Prius averages close to 60 MPG and can probably reach that if driven gently. It can go 600-plus miles in between fill-ups and it can be filled up in about three minutes since its tank holds just 11 gallons of gas.

Its base price is also just $27,450 – or about $20k less than a base model Tesla3.

In other words, it is one Hell of an alternative to the Tesla3. Many more people could afford this alternative – and be freed from being tethered not just to a power cord but also a seven-year debt load. You can see why such alternatives are not wanted. Are being inveigled against as being less than “zero emissions.”

Which is true, of course.

They are nearly “zero emissions” cars – and that is said to be not quite “clean” enough. It is a claim of the same species as the ones made three years ago about a “deadly virus” with an infection fatality rate of less than 1 percent for most healthy/not-elderly people. The actual threat is immaterial in both cases. It is the vehicle for the propagation of hysteria – for the purpose of control, facilitated by consolidation; i.e., the elimination of alternatives.

Imagine a new Prius that weighed 1,000 or 1,500 pounds less than the just-redesigned 2023 model’s 3,097 pound curb weight. As most economy cars used to weigh.

This could be achieved by leaving Toyota free to lighten up the car rather than being obliged to pork it up out of necessity – so as to “comply” with one-size-force-fits-all “safety” standards that have nothing – nothing at all – to do with whether a vehicle is safe to drive. A 1970 VW Beetle was – is – perfectly safe to drive. If you crashed it, your risk of being injured or killed would probably be higher than it would be if you were driving a new Jetta – but that doesn’t mean the Beetle is likely to crash.

You merely assume more risk if you crash.

Shouldn’t people be free to choose that . . . alternative, if it saves them money? If it suits them – rather than someone else?

If Toyota were free to focus on economy rather than compliance, it could have built a Prius that weighed closer to 2,000 pounds, like the economy cars of the Alternative Days – and that would have probably allowed for 70 MPG or even better than that. Along with even-closer-to-zero “emissions,” too.

Have you heard anything about the Mirai? Probably not – and for the same reasons. This Camry-sized (and so family-sized) sedan burns hydrogen – an alternative fuel that produces “zero emissions,” unless you count water vapor. The hydrogen isn’t actually burned, either. It is used to power fuel cells that, in turn, power the electric motor that turns the rear wheels. It has a range in excess of 400 miles and costs about the same as entry-level electric car like the Tesla3, a Civic-sized sedan that is too small to serve as a family car.

How about the L1? This was a diesel-electric hybrid VW was developing. It averaged 150 miles-per-gallon.

There are – there could be – a slew of such alternatives and (if they were available, if they were encouraged rather than discouraged) there would be cheaper electricity and EVs, too – because there would be competition and because there would be less pressure on limited supplies of the one-size-force-fits-all fuel, electricity.

Having alternatives is good for everyone – but very bad for the relative handful of someones pushing for the one-size-force-fits all “solution”  . . . to a problem that doesn’t exist.

. . .

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63 COMMENTS

  1. There will be huge opportunities for community-scale car builders. In the 1920s, there were over 200 car manufacturers. the 2020s will be that way by the end.

    • That would be nice if that developed. However so many roadblocks will be put in the way of that business model developing, it will likely only result in a handful of high end expensive custom builders.

      Its very difficult to build affordable cars if you are limited to 500 units a year. That is the limit put on those businesses by Congress (which legalized it. but then basically hobbled it in the same bill).

  2. One’s heart rends for the underpaid, overworked employees of the EPA, struggling against impossible deadlines to ban fossil fuels and ICE vehicles:

    ‘The stressed-out, stretched-thin Environmental Protection Agency is scrambling to write about a half dozen highly complex rules and regulations that are central to President Biden’s climate goals.

    ‘The new rules have to be enacted within the next 18 months — lightning speed in the regulatory world — or they could be overturned by a new Congress or administration.

    ‘Career employees are being “worked to death” said Betsy Southerland, a former top E.P.A. scientist. “They’re under the greatest pressure they’ve ever been.”

    ‘Even with the new climate law, the president can’t achieve his goal without new regulations designed to cut carbon dioxide and other pollutants from power plants, cars and trucks.

    ‘EPA administrator Michael Regan said the millions of dollars now available to make automobile manufacturers move away from fossil fuels had led the agency to consider whether it could impose more stringent emissions goals than initially conceived.’ — NYT

    https://archive.ph/P0EWE#selection-895.23-895.400

    Double down, in other words, before whooping R-party Visigoths in red face paint ride over the horizon to interrupt the planned dismantling of the industrial economy.

    Time is of the essence, comrades! /sarc

    • A challenge for the global warming/climate change religious cult….

      This is a very simplified version of the 38-page technical paper written with Professor Wijngaarden which explains in detailed mathematics and molecular thermodynamics why we are not in trouble with carbon-dioxide.

      ATTENTION: For those who disagree with Happer, let us see your detailed mathematical / scientific rebuttal. Put up or shut up you morons/liars pushing fake science global warming bs….
      Remember that an attack ad-Hominem concedes that you have no logical rebuttal for the argument presented.

      How to Think About Climate Change…. William Happer….your chance to hear a real scientist

      The global warming green agenda pushed by ecofascists is based is purely political and religious, based on fake science, like the Climate change false narrative, the new GAIA cult religion, a big favorite of the communist, reset, one world government, satanic cult freaks,

      CO2 bs = insanity. another nutcase theory for low iq leftist morons

      Climate change just like bat germ bs is purely political and religious, based on fake science. Climate change, the new GAIA cult religion, like it’s brother bat germ hoax, a big favorite of the communist, reset, one world government, satanic cult freaks,

      People in the environmental movement are now just political activists, social activists, entrepenuers trying to make money, just a way to get a huge amount of cash, they have no formal science education, they just use fake science, their beliefs, so it is just a religion.

      They take more and more extreme positions to keep the good guy bad guy narrative going, like banning all hydrocarbons, which is impossible and insane.

      They hire the best PR firms to push their bs narrative and their main focus becomes just fund raising, just a racket.

      They lie and use photo shop to back up their lies, like the island of floating plastic in the ocean twice the size of Texas, ……it doesn’t exist it is another lie…….it is remote so it is hard to fact check

      They pick something that is invisible or remote or both, like CO2 so it is harder to fact check. Big pharma did this with the bat germ narrative (bat germs are invisible) they just used a cgi image…lol.

      All the environmental problems they talk about are all lies, it is all fraud. Some of them are being charged with fraud now.

      These green morons have zero science to back up their propaganda, (they quote crooked scientists not real science), all the claims they make are from corrupt, bought/rented loser low grade scientists who use fraudulent data and fake science to make these claims, they are intellectualy and scientifically bankrupt.

      All the very best top level Phd scientists say they are wrong….lol

      Watch one of the few un-silenced actual top level scientists in the world in this video…..

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA1zUW4uOSw

  3. We have two major auto manufacturers coming out saying that EV’s are impractical and unsusatianable, Paul Philpott of KIA USA is saying that affordabke EV’s are not viable – which os of course the whole point, but suggests that KIA as well as Toyota will be rebelling.
    The Germans meanwhile are suffering from an epidemic of stupidity. Pushing like cmad for EV’s while shutting down their nuclear plants and bulldozing entire towns to expand coal mines, all for The Climate you see.

    • Hi Alex,

      Yup. It gives me hope that all may not be lost. I wish Dodge/Ram/Jeep were not owned by Stellantis, which has embraced the EV tar baby, unfortunately. The decision to stop making V8-powered cars like the 300 I recently wrote about and – most of all – the Charger and Challenger – will have disastrous consequences for those brands. I know the new “Hurricane” six is powerful. It doesn’t matter. It’s not a V8. And for people who love cars like the Charger and Challenger, only a V8 will do. Without one, they are no longer what they were. They are more like what everything else is.

      “Electrifying” them will simply further erode any reason for their being.

      • I am hopeful, I see signs that reality is starting to set in in some places. I sent a letter into Car and Driver suggesting that they change their name to Golf Cart Monthly, they tradiotnal auto press has drowned in the Kool Aid.
        However a conversation with the guy I know at Porsche whom I have known for years telles me there is push back in the company. My dealership had to build a new building and move because the locak utility would’t put a new 5kv substation necessary for the Taycan chargers.
        My neighbor across the street probably would have gotten a Tesla logo tattooed on his arm if his wife would have let him, has his for sale. A disaster trip from Jacksonville Fl to Gatlinburg soured him. He planned it all out but didn’t factor in the physics of going up the moutain and how it affects the range. he had to have it trailered to Gatlinburg then had to rent a Tahoe because the chargers were down for several days. Then it took him 3 days to get home. a little over 500 miles.
        I can do a round trip on a single tank in my TDI.
        Anyway, how 2 year old Tesla X battery is shot, an all night charge from a 220 service gets him 43 miles of range, not enough to get to work and back. The battery is aomse cray cost he wouldn’t even tell me, Tesla is not honoring the warranty due to “abuse”.
        I figure the whole experience probably cost him 40 grand assuming Carmax takes it. he owes more on it than they are offering.
        Don’t give up on Stellantis just yet, I was in Rome over the holidays and saw more perol plowered Jeeps there than I see here, the Italians love them. I saw a few Teslas but mostky the EV’s are VW UP! electrics and Smart [sic] Cars. I think they like them because they can park then perpendicular to the curb in a very small space.
        Sadly I might have to give up on VW, I have had a VW or a Porsche since 1968 ( among other things ) But we will see I suppose. Myself I think sanity will eventually return, the US Feral Government is the poster boy for unsustainable operations, and they did back off like frightened rabbits from the gas stove ban. Hopefull that will be the start of a trend.

        • Man, once again, I’m reminded of that, ‘Star Trek, the Next Generation’ bit about, “Make. Go faster.”

          “he had to have it trailered to Gatlinburg then had to rent a Tahoe because the chargers were down for several days. Then it took him 3 days to get home. a little over 500 miles.”

          It also reminds me of some gadgets I’ve created to try & solve a problem I had & they failed miserably & were a waste of time & money.
          I guess the time lag is greater when goobermint is behind the idea?

          ~ “Markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.” – John Maynard Keynes, 1930-something.

          • Except that EVs are being pushed to solve a very different problem than they one they tell us about.
            The real problem is the riff-raff (us) have freedom of travel without having to get permission from our overlords.
            We can go anywhere we want any time we want without supervision. THAT is the problem they are meant to solve.

  4. no alternatives….just the WEF orders….coming to all G7 soon……

    Scotland’s insane Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (the WEF agenda)

    They want to switch to 100% wind turbine and solar as a power source…but they are only provide intermittent power, so they want to store electricity in batteries….

    There is one part to the “green” EV revolution that we have written about – but that no one else is talking about: the incessant need for cobalt and the “appalling” way that the battery metal is mined and produced.

    I’ve never seen [a cobalt mine that did not rely on child labor or slavery] and I’ve been to almost all the major industrial cobalt mines,” he told Rogan.

    Every smartphone, every tablet, every laptop and crucially, every electric vehicle” needs it, he noted. “We can’t function on a day-to-day basis without cobalt, and three-fourths of the supply is coming out of the Congo.

    the Congo is sitting on more cobalt than the rest of the planet combined.”…china grabbed it all…. this green bs just benefits china….anyone pushing it is a ccp shill….

    Grid scale battery storage technology doesn’t exist. California tried it and the lithium batteries caught fire……

    Banning ice powered equipment and vehicles…

    Electric vehicles can’t plow snow or fields, harvest corn, empty buckets, excavate ore, raise wind-turbine masts, or perform any other economic task for which ‘grunt’ is required. Notwithstanding, from 2030, diesel and petrol engines will be prohibited.

    Shutting down oil production……..

    Scottish Government is irreversibly disbanding the North East’s oil and gas industry communities and with them, their 50 years of institutional knowledge of oil and gas operations, all the jobs gone….a wef order….

    Their government is trying to purchase two green ferries, at the same price as 34 regular ice powered ferries….

    Hydrocarbon gas is to be phased out of Scottish homes from 2030…..they will all freeze to death…..

    The wef agenda is equalization of all nations into 3rd world countries. somebody said….. beat the world back in to neanderthal societies.

    Comrade Sturgeon a wef puppet implementing their agenda…She has filled every cabinet position with clueless wef stooges,

    Sturgeon has implemented the wef agenda…

    She has bankrupted the country, destroyed the education system, the roads network, the island ferries, the NHS, she has torpedoed the independence momentum (the last thing she wants is independence), she has invented new genders to support her, pouring vast finding into every LGBT* organisation and fast-tracking her friends into government, and has bribed all mainstream media in Scotland…..all wef owned G7 leaders did the same thing..

    She railroaded everyone into lockdowns and injections, brooking no dissent….all wef/who orders…

    She is the most destructive and incompetent politician in the western world, but good at following wef orders to do their work…….

    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/dangerous-fantasy-scotlands-net-zero-energy-transition

    • This green crap is a nightmare….

      They cannot recycle the blades on any modern windmill the carbon fiber is coated with forever chemicals. We rape the earth and fellow humans as it takes 500,000 cubic feet of earth to make one EV battery.

      Open Pit Mining is destructive to our planet in the worst way. It is the anti to Green . Then they process it with chemicals that result in open discharge to the atmosphere and lakes full of the worst chemicals known to man; all in countries that have no EPA, killing children in the congo mining cobalt for batteries….. .

      Lastly we cannot recycle the batteries,they will only leech into our ground water when buried. This is simply a future train wreck on the way to a means to an end.

  5. I never state that xyz is more efficient than abc. What business is it of anyone elses what we choose to drive or burn driving?

    It’s none of their damned business and I don’t care. This is pushing me towards driving what the hell I want and how fast I want to drive it. I suspect I’m not alone.

    I am practically alone, however, in not ceding one millimeter on their turf. I’ll bring the environmentalists to mine. Screw them. I’ll pound sand into their piehole

    • Hi John,

      These “climate” people are cult people – like the COVID people. For both, neither is ever “too far.” Or, as the red leg Union butcher put it in The Outlaw Josey Wales, “there ain’t no end to doin’ right.”

      • Eric,

        As someone who likes drinking coffee, driving a late 1990s truck that runs on GAS, and eating MEAT, I’m not giving up any of them to satisfy a bunch of climate change zealots or billionaire psychopaths bent on perpetual control over the masses.

    • @Zane “Can someone explain what this CO emissions crap is?”

      I will be glad to explain the CO2 “problem”. Not a problem. It is a political stunt, to enslave us. Liars, like Al Gore have made a fortune trading carbon credits based on the falsehood that CO2 is a pollutant that must be regulated. CO2, is however, a life gas we can not life without.

      CO is carbon monoxide, deadly, and CO2 is carbon dioxide, and a life gas on planet earth. Without CO2, plants would die then us. CO2 is what comes out a gasoline or diesel burning car tailpipe. Any fuel combusted is about 50% CO2. It doesn’t matter what fuel, gasoline, firewood, coal, methane aka natural gas, all produce about 50% carbon dioxide when burned.

      http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/eoc/special_topics/teach/sp_climate_change/p_burning_gasoline.html

      https://i.imgur.com/0pGyrbx.png

      In fact, a log rotting in the woods produces the exact same amount of CO2, but over a longer time period, if the log burned in a wildfire. And the amount of CO2 the planet produces is far greater than anything man produces. One major forest fire in California produces more CO2 than all the cars over a year.

      ———————-

      https://skepticalscience.com/human-co2-smaller-than-natural-emissions.htm

      Human CO2 is a tiny % of CO2 emissions

      “The oceans contain 37,400 billion tons (GT) of suspended carbon, land biomass has 2000-3000 GT. The atpmosphere contains 720 billion tons of CO2 and humans contribute only 6 GT additional load on this balance. The oceans, land and atmosphere exchange CO2 continuously so the additional load by humans is incredibly small. A small shift in the balance between oceans and air would cause a CO2 much more severe rise than anything we could produce.”

      ——————–

      CO2, which comes out the tail pipe, is the very same stuff you exhale, so the danger with demonizing that gas is that you are essentially demonizing anything that exhales, like human beings. Crooked politicians, anxious to demonize something to control us, have chosen to demonize CO2. THIS WAS THE EXACT SAME THING THE CHURCH DID BACK IN THE MIDDLE AGES, THEY SAID YOU WERE GUILTY FOR BEING BORN, YOU HAD ORIGINAL SIN, and thus you had to go to their church and get saved. Now to get saved, you have to stop burning fossil fuels, so they say, but it is a big ruse.

      CO2 is also a trace gas, and the concern is the increase in this trace gas, from 290 parts per million to current 415 ppm. They have made this increase an alarming myth for the public, when most of earth’s 4.5 billion year history CO2 has been above 3,000 ppm, almost 10 times higher.

      This chart shows CO2 for the last 600 million years:

      https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-cf251da98fec56eda1b5799f4102a403

      As you can see, CO2 is very low on a geological time scale.

      The bottom line is this, CO2 is near all time geological lows. It is not a pollutant, it is life gas, and idiot clowns like Al Gore who alarm the public are raking in millions from the scam. oth Al Gore and Greta Thunberg have never taken any collegiate level science courses, and no nothing about climatology or chemistry. They are actors hired to push the false narrative.

      Any person wondering about this issue should ask why no expert in the field of climatology is ever on the television. Only the hacks are, because it is pure propaganda that is being pounded into the heads of the dumbed down slaves. And the Covid narrative is the same, another fabricated story to stamped the masses into getting the death jab.

      We are ruled by pure evil.

      • Sooner or Later God’ll cut ’em down

        Figured that was the case, I remember in elementary or middle school (It’s been decades since I went) they taught about the plants needing CO2, so when you see these sheeptards bleeting about the dangers, it makes ya wonder how they manage to even live at this point, how they’re still breathing.

        Ya Expat, who doesn’t love that movie? I gotta visit the D.R., it’s killer vacation there xD Sadly though, I can’t drink, allergic to brewers and bakers yeast, but I’d consider that sometime

    • Woooo Dude!!!! Brawndo Rules!!…….

      Quite frankly Z…Iv’e given up on Stupidlandia….aka usa…RE long term viability.

      Check out the Salcedo area in the DR (Cibao valley) or if you are really into Robinson Crusoe land…a weird little route over the eastern DR low mountain range only 50 miles from fat body Punta Cana south of a town called Miches…..Why Wait ???…get lost now!

      Fortunately the Covidiot lemmings are dying off….actually a wonderful and carefree way of separating the stupid from the smart!!

      The greater Antilles rock…..Become conversant in Spanish and head for the incredibly fertile and libertarian Dominican Republic……

      I love the advice of AGW’s in the DR…”Señor Agente…que cerveza mas fria …por favor??”

      Gee whiz no F…ing breathalyzer and a bottle opener will be provided!!

      Good luck.

      Go Freedom!

    • Envirowackos should be recognized as mentally unstable and approached that way, starting with that mentally unstable Bolshevik brat Greta.

      Greenpeace Co-Founder Patrick Moore Says Climate Change Based On False Narratives
      Moore said:
      “Many [so-called] ‘environmental’ leaders were now saying that ‘humans are the enemies of the Earth, the enemies of Nature.’ I could not accept that humans are the only evil species. This is too much like ‘original sin,’ that humans are born with evil, but all the other species are good, even cockroaches, mosquitos, and diseases,” Moore argued.

      He said the new dominant philosophy is that the world would be better if fewer people existed.

      “But the people who said this were not volunteering to be the first to go away. They behave as if they are superior to others. This kind of ‘pride’ and ‘conceit’ is the worst of the Cardinal Sins,” Moore said.

      the demonization of CO2 as “completely ridiculous.” He added that CO2 is the basis of all life on Earth and its concentration in the atmosphere today, even with the increase, is lower than it has been for a large majority of life’s existence.

      Rising CO2 Correlates With Increased Plantation: Study
      A study in 2013 found that increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) have helped boost green foliage across the world’s arid regions over the past 30 years.

      the climate is that the Earth is colder today than it was for 250 million years before the Pleistocene Ice Age set in. And CO2 is lower now than in more than 95 percent of Earth’s history.

      from zh comments…
      climate change is caused by sun cycles, you can’t control it, that is insanity…
      Sun is the main driver of climate on planet Earth.
      Changes in the solar cycles (Schwabe (11 yrs.), Hale (22 yrs.), Gleissberg (90 yrs.), Suess/DeVries (200 yrs.), Eddy (1000 yrs.), Hallstatt (2300 yrs.))

      The environmental movement has always been the home of the communists and anti capitalists. They are a demon possessed death cult.

      It is not just Greenpeace scaring people to extract money; There is a lot of money in having gov regulators force you to buy an EV, solar panels, subsidizing wind farms, etc. Crony capitalists have hijacked teh farce to make a buck. Tesla would not exist and you would not know Elon Musk’s name if it was not for the carbon credits and $7,500 a vehicle subsidy.

      Cap and trade , CO2 emissions trading is very big business .Ask Goldman Sachs.

      https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/greenpeace-co-founder-patrick-moore-says-climate-change-based-false-narratives

      • Greenpeace Co-Founder Patrick Moore Says Climate Change Based On False Narratives
        Moore said:

        “Many [so-called] ‘environmental’ leaders were now saying that ‘humans are the enemies of the Earth, the enemies of Nature.’ I could not accept that humans are the only evil species. This is too much like ‘original sin,’ that humans are born with evil, but all the other species are good, even cockroaches, mosquitos, and diseases,” Moore argued.

        the wef/who/big pharma with the marxist/satanist government is using the same line….people are evil, must be culled….

        their logic is….your body produces viruses, which according to them are evil….that means you are evil and must be eliminated…..

        the reality….your body has exosomes which produce viruses as a cleaning agent, to clean up toxins…..saying that is evil is like saying your right eye is evil and must be removed…

        or your mind is evil so the head should be removed….that is getting close to what lefist/marxists think of conservatives….

  6. The elites and the wef, using corrupt politicians to complete their agenda 2030, are lying about the global warming green agenda….

    Why are they pushing EV’s based on the CO2 lie?

    The VW XL1 diesel hybrid emits far less CO2 per mile then an EV…..

    the VW XL1 hybrid diesel produced emissions of 21g of CO2 per km…far cleaner then an EV….

    A current-model large EV car emits about 88 grams of CO2 per kilometer,…

    EV’s are way dirtier, pollute far more and they are ramming them down your throat….why?…to stop. restrict mobility…you will walk and not very far….lol

    Buy an XL1 VW diesel hybrid…..a greater collector car and will last 100 years are more…… it is made of carbon fibre…so no rust…it is diesel powered so no tune ups and a very long life…

    the XL1 is very economical 300 mpg highway….the average EV gets 20 mpg….the reason to push EV’s is not fuel economy, there is a different reason….

    dieselgate happened so they could push EV’s

    https://www.topgear.com/car-news/hybrid/buy-volkswagen-xl1-auction-become-hypermiler

    • The controllers probably know that EV’s pollute more then ice vehicles….they will be banned later too…..that is why there isn’t thousands more charging stations and grid upgrades for more electricity generation…

      The goal is the end of privately owned vehicles, or any kind of travel/mobility…you won’t need them when you are confined to a 15 minute travel restriction in a big city, where you live in a closet sized room, fed drugs to keep you happy….did you notice the legalization of all drugs……corral the useless eaters/invasive species in a tiny zones in a big city….disarmed with no money, neutered…..then they can be dealt with……

      • So pray this is the case:

        https://s3mag.com/shell-volta-theory-based-off-the-la-streetcar-scandal/

        “SO WHAT IF…..
        Shell were to buy Volta, just to ultimately pull the plug on it? What if the oil industry’s long-game strategy is to impede the growth of the EV charging infrastructure… by purchasing charging companies, just to essentially kill them. Kill the EV infrastructure; kill the EV movement. If the EV charging network doesn’t grow exponentially in the next 1-6 years… then the whole EV movement starts to fizzle like a dollar-store firework. Shell, BP, Exxon, Chevron, etc… they’ve got the financial power to whack a lot of moles right now, before those moles become monsters for the oil companies. Let that swim around in your head a little bit lol. And read the story on LA’s streetcar scandal if you don’t already know about it… it’s really interesting.”

    • I never state that xyz is more efficient than abc. What business is it of anyone elses what we choose to drive or burn driving?

      It’s none of their damned business and I don’t care. This is pushing me towards driving what the hell I want and how fast I want to drive it. I suspect I’m not alone.

      I am practically alone, however, in not ceding one millimeter on their turf. I’ll bring the environmentalists to mine. Screw them. I’ll pound sand into their piehole

  7. My wife has a Toyota Corolla with the 1.8 liter Atkinson cycle engine, and it gets very good gas mileage, around 38 combined.

    Now imagine, you build a smaller Toyota, a 3 cylinder, 1.0 liter (like the fuel economy champ, the 1990’s Geo Metro) and use that same fuel efficient technology.

    Well Toyota did.

    https://newatlas.com/toyota-atkinson-engines-improved-thermal-fuel-efficiency/31615/

    “Toyota has announced the development of two hyper-fuel-efficient small-displacement petrol Atkinson cycle engines: a three-cylinder 1.0-liter and four-cylinder 1.3-liter which will be introduced across the range from next year in 14 different variations. The smaller engine will deliver 78 mpg (US) in the Toyota Aygo, an improvement of 30 percent.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Aygo

    Unfortunately, such a great car is not available in “free” Amerika, which just so happens to be the largest car market in the world.

    You ought to ask why not.

    https://car-emissions.com/cars/model/toyota/aygo

    check out the mpg numbers,

    Aygo, 1.0 VVT-i 5-speed Manual

    2016 68.9mpg

    I believe such high mpg is possible, because I have achieved over 60mpg in a tank of gas several time with my aging ’93 metro with nearly 300,000 miles on it. Such a high number, only happens in the summer time heat as fuel economy goes down below 50 mpg in the winter, as the fuel injector cold start uses 3x the fuel, see chart:

    https://metrompg.com/posts/photos/chart-warmup-z.gif

    I also did a hyper mile test, with nearly bald tires @50 psi, turning the engine off on down hill grades, and never exceeding 40 mph. I got 3 data points average 74 mpg.

  8. As the guy that the “one size fits all” never fits in, it’s a world that needs to not happen. I am guessing most readers of this site are also people that the “one size fits all” doesn’t fit in.

  9. Just a hunch here, folks.
    I am guessing the constant shilling for all electric everything is only the prelude to a serious putsch for the mandatory reintroduction of nuclear fission power plants, in order to “save the planet” (snicker).

    Born in 1949, I’m old enough to remember the heady days of the 1950s, when we were told that nuclear (fission) power would be “too cheap to meter,” and the “all electric home” was the Way of The Future). Neither turned out to be true over the past 70 years or so, but some of these bastards refuse to give up.

    • Hi Adi,
      I remember that phrase too, a lot of the new homes built around here in the late 60’s – early 70’s were all electric. I worked for the local electric utility and they had just opened up their first nuclear plant and were planning a second one, but all their other generation was oil-fired. Then came the Arab oil embargo and the rates went through the roof; after that a lot of the utilities skirted bankruptcy and those construction plans were cancelled. All those people with electric heating kept their houses below 65 degrees and eventually got gas or oil heat.

      • Hi, Mike,
        >first nuclear plant
        I suppose that would be Yankee Rowe.
        Interesting what Wikipedia has to say about its decommissioning:

        >While most of the grounds were released as safe, a cask storage facility remained under NRC supervision. 533 spent fuel assemblies weighing approximately 800 lb (360 kg) each are still on-site. They are contained in dry casks made of 21 inches of reinforced concrete, surrounding a 3+1⁄2-inch-thick steel liner, with each cask weighing 100 tons. The sixteen casks sit on a 3-foot-thick concrete pad. These will be located at the site until the U.S. Department of Energy completes a permanent storage facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel and the spent fuel stored at Rowe can be transferred to such a future federal facility. The time frame for removal of spent fuel from the Yankee Rowe site is unknown.

        Worse problems here in SoCal regarding San Onofre:
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Onofre_Nuclear_Generating_Station
        >In August 2014, SCE announced decommissioning would take 20 years, cost $4.4 billion and spent fuel would be held on-site in dry casks indefinitely,

        Problem is, early promoters/enthusiasts failed to consider the entire fuel cycle, from uranium mining, continuing through plant construction and operation, to long term radioactive waste disposal. Those hazards and costs are still with us, except that in today’s more “environmentally conscious” world, they may be more difficult to ignore, at least in the U.S.
        China & other 3rd World countries? Perhaps not so much.

      • Green Energy and the electrical grid recently. The gist of the article was that a natural limit exists that will prevent renewables from comprising more that around 35% of the grid.

        The reason is that renewables intermittent nature requires a large back up of fossil, nuclear or hydroelectric (FNH) to balance out the on/off nature of renewables.

        The calculations suggest that as you add an additional 5% renewables, you’ll need to add roughly twice as much backup FNH capacity to stop the grid from crashing.

        As nuclear takes a decade or more to bring on stream and we’ve already built dams of consequence in virtually all suitable locations, were left with using fossil fuels to back stop renewables.

        Which brings us to the unkindest cut of all: Adding more renewables means that you must increase CO2 emissions twice as fast or crater the grid. Until now, FNH generation hads been able to “paper over” the stupidity of renewables, but Germany is hitting the wall of that stupidity and has turned to buring huge amounts of dirty coal to make the renewable math work.

  10. I heard that at the recent WEF conference the Mafiosos [The non-Eye-talian kind] proposed “battery passports” [Like vaccine passports, but for one’s EV]. Yep…it’s all about control- the true purpose of pimping heavier cars which consume more energy, in the name of “saving the planet” and “reducing emissions” (which of course, such vehicles don’t).

    Another interesting take-away from the WEF conference is that it was stated that we have “100 days to prepared for the next p(l)andemic”. So…100 years without a pandemic, now they supposedly not only come and go on a regular and recurring basis, but they even know that they’re coing, and when! Just shows ya what a crock of shit it all is.

    And just coincidentally, that Bourla guy,the CEO of Pfeizer happens to be on the board of the WEF. My, my! Just as the meme states: “The people who believe that world is ‘over-populated’ want to ‘save your life’ by injecting you with their vaccine”.

    Oh, and the framework for the actual vaccine passports is already being constructed in the EU…..

    Find a remote place in some far-off corner of the world if you want to escape this stuff, because it is coming, and coming very soon, and there will be no escaping it in the surveillance state! If you think the tyranny’s bad now….. If we’re going to live off-grid and apart from the developed infrastructure, as will be necessary once this crap is implemented, better to do so where one doesn’t have to also avoid their neighbors; the government agents, and their Star-Trek cattle-prods and ear-tags. Better to just have to deal with nature, than to have to deal with nature while also battling extreme surveillance and tyranny.

    • And PS: Don’t think that the Repugnantcans will save us. Remember, this all got it’s start under The Orange Doofus’s administration- and even in the better red states, like SD and FL, there were still business closures, prohibitions of public gatherings/events, rent moratoriums, etc. -and even mask mandates for a certain period- and the declaration of ’emergencies’.

      And The Orange Prick is STILL running around claiming to have saved “100 million lives” by ‘fast-tracking’ the [non]vaccine!

    • The last escape was a sailboat….you could go anywhere without needing fuel and catch fish to feed yourself……..

      The WEF won’t allow that either….no property ownership, including boats, vehicles, land, houses, RV’s, money, nothing….so no escape….you will live in a closet size room in a big city restricted to traveling 15 minutes in any direction…like a rat in a cage

      ….they say you will be happy….they will feed you drugs so you are happy……so their model is the homeless in the city…..live in a tent, own nothing and high on drugs….if you survive the cull temporarily…..

      They are going to ban fishing and hunting too, so cutting off another free food source….for protein you will eat bugs……

      The G7 countries are the most dangerous….find some faroff backward country without a wef controlled government (all G7 have wef controlled governments now)

      https://www.technocracy.news/wef-private-property-and-privacy-will-vanish-by-2030/

  11. Government went “One size fits all” mandate happy the past few years. As everyone here may know, first it was “Everyone MUST wear face diapers and stay socially distant”, the claim being that those who didn’t were asymptomatically spreading the ‘Rona to grandma & killing her, and if the Biden Thing (Or whoever’s running it) had their way, it would have eventually been “Everyone MUST get that COVID jab”. They even had the gall to try to frighten the masses into getting jabbed with the claim that we were in a “Pandemic of the unvaccinated” and that last winter was going to be a winter of “Severe illness and death for the unvaccinated” until it was becoming too obvious that was complete bull crap.

    Over the past year, there have been attempts to expand one size fits all mandates to the climate change fear porn, with insane claims that to save the planet “Everyone MUST eat bugs and drive EVs”, “Give MORE MONEY & POWER to billionaire elitists and government.”, “Give up your gas stove and buy an electric stove”, etc.

    The time is now to stand up and unequivocally say “NO!” to those who try this crap again.

  12. The hydrogen fuel cell’s main problem is fouling of the membrane that the gas passes through. For a 2 week space mission that’s not an issue, splashdown will happen before it becomes a problem. But for a vehicle that you need to run a little longer than an Apollo Command Module, it is a very expensive wear item.

    My guess is that Toyota has been working up a way to either get much longer life out of the fuel cell, or they have a way to manufacture at volume and replace it easily. But it still isn’t going to be something the cost of an oil change, more like a timing belt replacement. So if they can get 100K miles out of a cell membrane they might be on to something. But then you still have all the other issues of an electric car, namely lack of support infrastructure, and it is even worse because you cannot plug in at home.

    And of course Hydrogen must be produced, not extracted. It has to be considered an energy transport mechanism, not a fuel source. Nice thing is despite the “Oh the humanity” public preception, it will likely be safer than gasoline in an accident due to it being much lighter than air. So any pressure tank rupture will cause the gas to quickly rise away and disperse into the air, spoiling the oxygen/hydrogen mix. And the small size of the molecule means it won’t collect under structures like gasoline vapor.

    Early reports show that one of the main practical issues is what to do with the water byproduct? Apparently putting your foot into it releases a torrent of water out the back (and on to any vehicles behind). If the hydrogen drivetrain becomes mainstream we might end up running wipers all the time.

    • RK,
      Once upon a time I was arguing that Gasoline was just as dangerous as Hydrogen. My opponent insisted that Hydrogen is explosive, to which I replied, so is gasoline. A gallon of it will launch a 3000 pound car 30 miles.
      Being a retired plumber, I witnessed too many natural gas main breaks. None ever lit off, because it’s so much lighter than air. Right at the break it’s too rich to light, and ten feet up too lean. The main danger was the diesel backhoe picking it up and revving the engine to destruction. Which just so happens I never saw either, because most backhoe operators were aware of the danger and immediately killed their engine when they tore up a gas main.

      • > Right at the break it’s too rich to light, and ten feet up too lean.
        Exactly right. The mixture is explosive only if the combustible gas (any combustible gas) has concentration greater than the LEL (Lower Explosive Limit) and less then the UEL (Upper Explosive Limit) for that gas, or mixture of gases.
        Here are some numbers:
        https://www.crossco.com/resources/technical/defining-lel-as-it-pertains-to-calibration-gas/

        As we know, gasoline vapors are heavier than air, which is why gas fired water heaters in garages must be elevated above the slab, to keep the gas flame above any gasoline fumes.

        Aside:
        Years ago, our then city manager told me a horror story about some *IDIOT* who had set up an automotive paint booth in his residential garage. Fortunately, the City found out about it, and got it dismantled, before El Pendejo managed to blow himself (and possibly his neighbors) up.

        Hats off to skilled equipment operators, BTW. I’ve worked around backhoe operators who could part your hair with the teeth on that bucket, and working around whom I had no qualms whatsoever as they dug to expose hydrocarbon lines in refineries.

      • Hydrogen vs Battery comparison.

        Toyota was more interested in hydrogen fuel cell/electric tech (the advantage…. refuel in 3 minutes just like an ice vehicle, also no up to 1800 lb batteries like in a tesla, so makes more sense, it is the only electric technology that will work on big trucks), the problem is very few refueling stations yet.
        Toyota had a lease for their Mirai for $600.00 per month which included all the fuel, a great deal.

        Their new offering includes free fuel for 6 years, when they ban gas and diesel and electricity costs go up 10 or 20 times current rates, this might be a good backup…..free fuel.

        this is better than a battery EV, 3 minute refueling, no up to 1800 lb of batteries, free fuel (a friend has a tesla who uses a super charger at a mall, it costs almost as much as fueling an ice vehicle), if you charge at home the cost will keep increasing with electrical grid issues, no long charging waits, won’t burn your house down when recharging, no $22,000 battery dead after 10 years so car is worth zero after 10 years like a tesla.

        fuel cells win on range because they can use 100% of it. BEVs are ideally kept between 20% – 80% of range because of dangerous, lithium fire bomb battery, fire danger safety issues…

        At the core of Mirai, hydrogen from the fuel tank and air entering from the intake grille meet in the Fuel Cell Stack. There, a chemical reaction involving the oxygen in the air and hydrogen creates electricity—powering Mirai. (electricity made in the car) In the end, the only by-product is water. zero emission.

        With a tesla the electricity is made (burning coal in some places) then transmitted 1000’s of miles at times, then you wait for hours to recharge, battery EV’s don’t work, they knew that 100 years ago.

        Tesla battery after 9 years 135,000 miles? battery dead can’t be used. replacement cost $22,000. residual value of car = zero

        Fuel cell lasts 5000 hr. x 40 mph = 200,000 miles, even then has lost only 30% of efficiency, so still can be used, as a used car. car still has residual value, plus it is a toyota.

        At end of life Toyota takes the fuel cell and recycles it, the up to 1800 lb lithium fire bomb tesla battery goes into the landfill, probably.

        Hydrogen fuel cells make more sense then battery EV’s, gas powered ice is way better, diesel powered ice is best.

        Hydrogen can be produced using a number of different processes. Thermochemical processes use heat and chemical reactions to release hydrogen from organic materials, such as fossil fuels and biomass, or from materials like water. Water (H2O) can also be split into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) using electrolysis or solar energy. Microorganisms such as bacteria and algae can produce hydrogen through biological processes.

        Anybody who has studied Energy knows that solar and wind are no density sources.
        And these batteries are essentially very low density as compared to nuclear And hydrocarbons.The only way that an electric vehicle would work best is by hydrogen electric. We are doomed if we keep going down this chemical battery BS. The infrastructure should have been close to 100% nuclear as far as electrical generation.

        We could save the hydrocarbons for other uses in raw materials. Nuclear power plants could make plenty of hydrogen in the off-peak hours enough for the infrastructure for the hydrogen cars and other vehicles.

        Nuclear has the highest ratio of density in fact 1 pound of uranium is about the size of your fingertip and can power an icebreaker ship for one day. And guess what there is plenty of uranium on the planet to power the world.

        https://www.toyota.com/mirai/

    • Hi, RK,
      >And of course Hydrogen must be produced, not extracted. It has to be considered an energy transport mechanism, not a fuel source.

      *NOW* you’ve got it! Put that one up in flashing neon…
      So, the present competition between energy transport mechanisms (absent some as yet not invented technology) amounts to batteries versus compressed gases (H2, CNG, etc.). Both routes (and any likely to be discovered, IMO) involve the *chemical* transformation of matter, because that is the level of reality at which we humans experience the universe.

      >if they can get 100K miles out of a cell membrane they might be on to something.
      Well, that is what Toyota is warranting for their Mirai. We shall see…

      >you still have all the other issues of an electric car, namely lack of support infrastructure
      Yeah, well… when gasoline autos were first invented, there was no refueling infrastructure for those, either. I assert that if a free market, as opposed to government coercion, is allowed to operate, the required refueling infrastructure for whatever technologies are seen to be viable *will* be constructed, ITLR.

      >putting your foot into it releases a torrent of water
      Tongue in cheek this AM?

      From memory (IIRC for a Toyota Mirai, check my number) 5.6kg H2/400 mi claimed range
      => 5,600g H2 / 400 mi = 14g H2 / mi
      Since water is H2O, and atomic mass of oxygen = 16 (hydrogen = 1)
      molecular wt H2 = 1 + 1 = 2
      molecular wt H2O = 1 + 1 + 16 = 18
      => 14g H2 = 7 mol H2 => 7 mol H2O = (7)(18) = 126 g H2O / mi
      1g H20 (l)= 1ml (approximately) => 126ml H20 / mi = 0.024 ml H2O (l) / ft
      Or, (0.024 ml/ft)(300 ft) = 7.76 ml / football field (as liquid H2O)

      The amount which can be absorbed into the atmosphere as vapor before saturation, and hence, precipitation, clearly depends upon the local relative humidity. Obviously, in a rainstorm, relative humidity = 100%, so if you are driving an H2 vehicle in a rainstorm you will be “spewing” (is that the word) liquid H2O out your tailpipe. Will anyone notice? I think not, comrade.

      Further calculation, as they say, is left for the reader. 🙂

    • tl;dr to RK’s post: There’s no getting around the laws of physics. Time, distance, mass, cost, efficiency. Change the value of one…it affects all others in the opposite way. I can grasp this as a high-school drop-out [and so can most others here]….but apparently the eggheads and most of the ‘highly-educated'[indoctrinated] can’t.

      • Hey Nunz, Adi, RK,
        All of this finagling re hydrogen, CNG, batteries etc. is akin to re-inventing the wheel. There already exists the perfect solution: gasoline or diesel! I was looking forward to VW’s proposed diesel electric vehicle but the PTB killed that off for sure, not to mention almost killing off Volkswagen. It should be as plain on the nose on their face by now to anyone who’s not a climate hysteric that the only “alternative” we’re allowed is to have zero mobility under the Eye of Sauron.

        • LOL. 🙂
          Mo’ bettah watch yo’ back, Mikey.
          Dey be comin’ foah yew.

          > Eye of Sauron
          which has been on the dollar bill for many years.
          Not like they are hiding anything….
          <>

        • Why are they pushing EV’s that get 20.8 mpg when there is a fuel shortage?

          Should be still selling these:

          the 2014 Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion diesel, is capable of a claimed 88.3 mpg imperial, or 73.5 mpg U.S….. 100 mile fuel consumption = 1.36 gallons

          An Ev is 25% efficient in turning original source of energy, petroleum in this example into mechanical energy to push the car down the road. (under not ideal conditions, like in very cold weather, it might be 12% efficient).

          Most electricity is generated burning hydrocarbons, how green is that?

          90% of electricity is generated by burning coal, gas and oil, 5% is nuclear, solar and wind turbines are a joke, there is a small amount of geothermal and hydro, depending on the location. In U.S. 40% is coal.
          Thermal efficiency of power plants using coal, petroleum, natural gas or nuclear fuel and converting it to electricity are around 33% efficiency, natural gas is around 40%. Then there is average 6% loss in transmission, then there is a 5% loss in the charger, another 5% loss in the inverter, the electric motor is 90% efficient so another 10% loss before turning the electricity into mechanical power at the wheels.
          33% – 6% – 5% – 5% – 10% = 25% efficiency for EV’s.
          (under not ideal conditions, like in very cold weather, it might be 12% efficient).

          NOTE: a diesel is 50% efficient….lol…

          34.7 kwh of electricity is equivalent to 1.02 gallons of gas

          what they are getting in the real world:
          What test drivers are actually getting driving EV’s in the real world is they are getting 2.4 miles of range for every kwh used or using 41.66 kwh to go 100 miles.

          So to end up with 41.66 kwh of electricity which is equivalent to 1.20 gallons of gas to push the EV 100 miles down the road 4.80 gallons of fuel were burnt to generate the electricity in the power station, remember net 25% efficiency. 100 miles using 4.80 gallons = 20.8 mpg,
          what they are actually getting is 20.8 mpg, but they will lie and say it is 120 mpg.

          VW diesel 100 mile fuel consumption = 1.36 gallons
          EV 100 mile fuel consumption = 4.80 gallons (back at the power station)

          so this VW diesel gets 3.5 X better fuel economy then the 20.8 mpg EV….so what do they do?….they ban the diesel and force you to buy the EV…..why?

        • Hey Ya, Mike!

          Exactly! “We” pretty much perfected internal combustion engines a few decades ago (And the young’uns donm’t even realize how great and simple and cheap they could be, if it weren’t for all of the government-mandated add-ons!)…..and now they’re proposing all of this dysfunctional, complicated, expensive, dangerous garbage that doesn’t work, to replace that which works great and has been doing so for 100 years now, and for which a very robust infrastructure already exists, and ironically, which has LESS environmental impact than all of the crap they’re seeking to replace it with.

          It’s insanity….but sadlyu, insanity seems to be rampant in every sphere of society these days.

  13. Re: Shouldn’t people be free to choose that . . . alternative, if it saves them money? If it suits them – rather than someone else?
    Yes of course. And the fact that motorcycles can currently be driven on DOT roads, makes the safety cults argument mute.
    But it’s not about any of that, nor safety. It is only about limiting competition and as John states below, not allowing ‘new’ or ‘young’ Manuf. in mostly from the 3rd world, but could also limit alt cars made in the US. Regs have been ever-increasing since the early 70’s to ‘limit’ the then new competition from Japan.

    • Well said, ChrisIN! IU live on fumes, but I’m very happy driving my 10MPG vehicles because I like them, and they offer me safety and comfort and utility- which are the things I consider important, rather than the few hundred dollars a year I might save if I were to drive a gas-sipper. If I commuted 100 or two miles a day I might think differently, but I’d never live like that, so it’s a moot point….to me. But der Kommissar deems it fitting that I should adopt the mentality of a city/suburb-dwelling gray flannel suit Dockers wearing cubical-inhabiting nine-to-fiver….

  14. How about one of those small and affordable cars from Tata of India? As you’ve said in the past the only transportation our masters will let us have is public transportation (if we’re “good”, vaxxed, and have a great social credit score) , others wise it’s the shanks mare for you. It’s all about control.

    • ‘How about one of those small and affordable cars from Tata of India?’ — Landru

      With hopelessly Woke US and Europe committing economic suicide, India may be the last redoubt of technological freedom to build gas-electric and diesel-electric hybrids such as the Prius and L1 described above.

      India has the manufacturing infrastructure to produce cars (eg, Tata), tractors (eg, Mahendra), and motorcycles (eg, Royal Enfield). In the latter case, Royal Enfield tapped UK engineering expertise to update a 1960s design with modern engine, suspension and braking. I checked out an INT650 the other day — it moved me more than the Ducati Scrambler I used as a comparison in the same showroom (no reaction to it at all).

      Forcing costly and dysfunctional (for non-urban uses) EeeVees on Americans will erode living standards, plain and simple. It will not do to claim, ‘But my other [non-EeeVee] car is a Prius for long-distance trips.’ As Eric points out, ‘they’ are going to seize your Prius [along with your guns], and then you are sh*t out of luck.

      Don’t depend on RINOs to change any of this, even should they obtain control of Big Gov in 2024. They stand for nothing, and ‘represent’ whichever corporate donor stuffs the largest wad in their pocket [or rectum, as the case may be].

      America, Land of the Log-Rollers: read the NYT’s article today, Omnibus Bill’s Little Secret: It Was Also a Giant Health Bill. They had to pass it to find out what was in it.

      https://archive.ph/e31ia

      • Jim,
        “With hopelessly Woke US and Europe committing economic suicide”
        Hopefully much of the rest of the world learns from that. Government in charge of an economy is not a good idea. Instead of promoting and facilitating productive enterprise, they are far more interested in promoting graft and bribes.

        • Very true, John. Which is probably why Indians who come here tend to dominate now in the medical/pharmaceutical cartel.

          India has to have functional low-cost vehicles, because those who could afford to buy and maintain expensive delicate ones are much rarer in India- Same reason you can still buy a mobile home here in KY or in MS, AL, etc. but not on Long Island or the Gay Area. Where there are plenty of middle-class and rich people, the government has an interest in keeping the real-estate prices (and thus the property taxes) high….but in places where the average household income might be $30K a year….that wouldn’t work so good.

          A software developer in SF or NY can easily make $150K a year. Many of those programmers are immigrants from India who made $30K a year in India at the same job. The only reason they have alternatives like Tata in India is because they can’t get blood from a turnip.

          I’d love to see someone driving a Tata…so when they leave, I can say “Ta-ta!” 😀 (Judging by those Roxor Jeep clones, which are like Cadillacs compared to a Tata car, I wouldn’t think too highly of Tatas. My friend in FL has a Roxor…never uses it…it breaks down just sitting in his driveway!

          • The East Indians I knew, did business with, were smart, very good at business…..

            The official statistics completely destroy the narrative about the US as a “white supremacist country”. White people are almost at rock bottom.

            Median U.S. Household Income, 2018

            Indian $119,858
            Chinese $81,487
            Japanese $80,036
            Pakistani $77,315
            Argentinean $74,857
            Syrian $74,680
            Turkish $72,231
            Armenian $70,909
            Chilean $69,725
            Ghanaian $69,343
            Nigerian $68,658
            Guyanese $68,393
            White $65,902
            Black $41,511

            Life expectancy is highest for Asians, 86 years, Hispanics, 83, white people 79, American Indians 76, black Americans 75.

  15. My lifetime experience with “one size fits all” is that such fit nothing. Included in that are “universal fit” products. Regulation always favors the bigger. The smaller are financially incapable of defending themselves from them. Back in my new construction plumbing days, I saw it happen a lot. A small contractor working on a shoe string budget would be “penalized” for a “violation”, and there went their profit on this job, often incurring a loss instead. Including at times the loss of their business. Larger contractors swallowed the loss, and made it up on volume.
    Why a very successful mechanical contractor was talking to an early twenties plumber I don’t know, but he told me that the best investment he ever made was a $5K contribution to the political party in charge.

    • Good points John.
      Happened to our small biz startup of just my wife and I. When it was just us, the larger competition didn’t care, even when we hired our first employee, they yawned. But 5-7 years later and we got to 5 people, then they started to attack. Literally selling jobs under our cost for 6 months at a time, etc.. And it darn near worked too, we were strapped. But we kept to our plan of no-debt and minimalist expenses. Over the next 5-7 years they did orchestrated attacks. It was so obvious. And it sucked, every time. But then we got to 10 people and they couldn’t defeat us anymore.
      It funny to watch the next episode of our biz as we recently expanded to a new region of the US, and the local Big Reps are doing the same exact thing. I can predict it on a watch. And they don’t understand why we are still there (because this time we have our own ‘bank’ to get through the attacks).

      • Chris, thank goodness you’re not in a place like NY or CA (Not that you don’t have it tough enough already) where the competition wouldn’t even have to do what you describe….the regulatory goons would ‘take care of you’ (and not in the good sense of the phrase!).

        30 years ago, living on Long Island, I was out of town (A trip here to KY to scout it out) and there was a problem with the gas water heater in the house my mother and I lived in…so she called the “fully licensed” big plumbing company to fix it. They ended up leaving the flu pipe disconnected!

        I was a handyman at the time, and used to do a lot of plumbing. Never did anything wrong, and people loved me because I’d give them quality honest service at a great price (Never had to advertise, had enough bidness from word of mouth)- yet I had toi always worry, because the county would often set up “stings” to catch those terrible unlicensed people, like me! (Never got me, thankfully!). Imagine if I had ever left a flu pipe off?! But as long as you’re “licensed” and pay lots of taxes (and charge a lot of money…and buy expensive permits for every job…which, in NY cost more than the job itself)…no problemo!

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