How did the government get into the business of decreeing how many miles-per-gallon new cars (and trucks) must deliver? The authority to do this is nowhere to be found in the Constitution – though some will say (rightly) that there were no cars (or trucks) around when the Constitution was ratified and became the law of the land in 1789.
Ah, but there were horses – and carriages. And for some reason these are not mentioned in the Constitution as something over which the federal government has regulatory dominion. That reason, of course, was that the writers of the Constitution and the people who ratified it did not grant the federal government the authority to exercise regulatory dominion over horses and carriages. People were free to buy (and ride) larger or smaller horses – and ride in smaller (or larger) carriages, as they liked.
Of course, it was still America in those days. A place in which the federal government didn’t involve itself much – or even at all – in people’s personal decisions as regards the things they wished to buy and were once free to buy (or not) as they liked. It being their money and all.
Fast forward a couple hundred years. It is the early 1970s. It was still a time when people were largely free to buy whatever car or truck (the replacement for the horse and carriage) they liked. That changed when the government asserted regulatory dominion to decree mandatory gas mileage minimums for all new vehicles – cars and trucks – which it justified doing (as per usual) on the basis of a lie.
The lie was that if the federal government didn’t “intervene,” the car (and truck) buying public would be forced to buy “gas guzzlers,” because that is all the car industry (in cahoots with the oil industry) would sell them.
No finer example of the phenomenon of projection could be conjured.
It is the government that relies on force – to compel people to buy what they otherwise wouldn’t and which would be available for those who did want to buy it (assuming it was of value to them).
It is a lie that, prior to the federal government decreeing mandatory MPG minimums (the formal term in bureaucratic language is Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements) there weren’t fuel-efficient cars (and trucks) available. Does the VW Beetle ring a bell? It was available in the U.S. for more than two decades prior to the mid-1970s, when the government said it just had to get involved, to make sure efficient cars were available, so that people wouldn’t be gouged by “gas guzzlers.” There were also a slew of Japanese economy cars, such as the first Honda Civic and the Datsun B210. These came to market because enough people wanted them – or cars like them – to make it worth putting them on the market.
The “problem” – from the point-of-view of the authoritarian busybodies that hew to the regulatory warrens of the federal hive (where they have power over the market, which they despise as reflexively as Dracula loathes the rising sun) is that not everyone wanted to drive an “economical” car.
Many wanted – and still want – to drive a larger, more powerful car (or truck).
The ridiculous unchallenged premise is that such people were forced to buy such “gas hogs” and that – absent the good offices of government – the industry would build nothing but. To appreciate the absurdity of this, think of a restaurant that doesn’t offer what people want to eat – and are willing to pay for. How long do you think such a restaurant would remain open for business?
How is it any different as regards cars – and trucks? If “gas guzzlers” weren’t what people wanted – if what they wanted were cars (and trucks) that prioritized gas mileage over other considerations – what would prevent the car industry from building such cars? Why would they abstain from building them, if there was a market for them? 
Wouldn’t abstaining cost them sales – and thus, profits?
When you examine it closely, the supposed justification for federal intervention holds water like a pasta strainer.
Of course, it never really was a justification – in the sense that the government was “looking out” for the average guy. It was an excuse – to screw the average guy. Who is no longer able, for the most part, to buy a “gas guzzler” – because these have been made so expensive that only the affluent can afford them. Something like a Chevy Tahoe, for instance, is very similar in layout to something like a Chevy Malibu from the early ’70s in that both are full-size, rear-drive, six-passenger family vehicles and have V8 engines. The difference is that a new Tahoe starts at $52,600 while a 1972 Malibu sedan stickered for $2,640 (or $19,598 in today’s devalued currency).
It is true the new Tahoe is a fancier, more luxurious vehicle. But the deeper truth is that the ’72 Malibu was an affordable vehicle, even if it was a “gas hog.” The people who bought it could afford the gas – because the vehicle was affordable. And those who didn’t want to spend the money on gas were free to buy a more “efficient” vehicle.
What’s happened is that all vehicles are now more “efficient” – courtesy of government – and also a lot less affordable. Courtesy of the same government. Its CAFE mandatory minimums have decreased the amount of money people spend on gas. But they have also increased the amount of money they have to spend on a new vehicle – and they have winnowed out of affordability the kinds of vehicles average people used to be able to afford – like the Malibu – while making modern analogs like the Tahoe the kinds of vehicles only a relative few can afford.
If the government ever gets around to regulating restaurants as it has vehicles, most of us won’t be able to afford steaks, either. Like full-size, V8-powered family vehicles, they will be for the affluent only.
Just as the regulatory regime intends.
. . .
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Eric: “That the Biden Regime appointed this cult leader head of the
Centers for Disease Control – giving her [Mandy Cohen]
federal authority over the entire country…”
I don’t believe she was “given” authority over Florida. Which
makes sense, since there is no legitimate authority to give
her most anything through the CDC, or any other
Constitutionally illegitimate “authority”.
Florida Gov. DeSantis, at the beginning of Covid, went along
with the Feds, but when reminded that the small businesses
he was closing were mostly owned by Republicans, and
just may affect their votes, the policy instantly changed.
“You may not be interested in politics, but politics
is interested in you
Government has overstepped it’s bounds a long time ago, incrementalism as Eric purports. Now with the current bunch of woke lunatics – educated in government indoctrination centers called public schools – they believe they have a god given right to regulate every single thing down to how you wipe your ass.
They have assumed total authority over our lives then have the gall to call us free, a democracy – which is real demoncrazy, as they act like crazy demons, stealing elections, then saying it was legit. We are literally ruled by the worst criminal scumbags in human history, baby raping, blood drinking, reptilians, or some other disgusting thing because they are definitely not human beings.
A few days ago this insane warmongering Jew called Antony Blinken (Neocon nutcase who runs the State Department) said nuclear war is no worse than climate change. Well climate change is a hoax, and nuclear war would end our society and put us back to the stone age, or at to 1850s horses and carriages.
Then also this week our glorious Jewess Treasury Secretary threw a fit when Fitch downgraded UST debt from AAA to AA+, which is of course, still way the hell to high. We all know that they have no intention and no ability to pay off the national debt in constant dollars – which means their deficit spending is a monumental fraud – and then to hear them whine about the downgraded credit rating – and then Biden blamed Trump.
There should be no A’s in Uncle Perv’s credit rating, just B’s, and C’s because they have no money and 33 trillion in debt. Bond rating houses are not very good at their job either, Lehman Brothers debt was not downgraded until 2 weeks before they went out of business. So whoever lends to the USA is taking quite the risk, because of who they are lending to – hard core con artist criminals.
They steal our money with taxes and inflation then start wars, blame the other side, are greatly smug in their criminal endeavors like doing a huge false flag like 911 where they blew up the World Trade Center complex with controlled demolitions and said some towel heads with box cutters did it, and they told that huge evil lie to give themselves permission to bomb the crap out of the Middle East. They blamed the victim of their aggression. Who does shit like that? Oh yeah, I know, the tribe.
Shrub said “they hate our freedums” and “not to tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories”. Yeah, he said both of those because he is guilty as hell as participating in murdering 4,000 Amerikans on 911. Netanyahu said 911 was good for Israel. Yep, he said it, because he was the architect of 911.
Take Afghanistan, which had nothing to do with 911, we went there as overlords and murdered and destroyed a nation, just because that is what Israel wanted. Then after tyrannizing those backwards peoples who had no navy, no air force, just tribal warlords with Toyotas and AK-47s, we packed up and left all our shit behind – the idea being that they will start more wars with our free military equipment to require us to respond with more war and ka-ching for the defense contractors.
The USA makes war just to make money on war materials – and paid for out of your pocket. It is a huge transfer of wealth from the productive hard working people to the slimey parasites that slither around the District of Criminals. Boy do I hope Russia puts a czar bomb on their operation.
And what would be our loss if a whole bunch of blood thirsty criminally insane psychopaths were vaporized? We would be free again, to build cars the way we wanted them. Believe me, it would be worth it.
The first nail in the coffin for the Automobile as we know it came with the Motor Vehicle Highway Safety Act of 1966. What that legislation did was “require” states to create state Departments of Transportation with their little safety fiefdoms therein. It required the adoption of the manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices in 1971. Later, the safety offices developed “safety programs” and worked with the state patrols to enforce “55” after the speed limit went into effect in January 1974. On the federal side, the Act created the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety administration. In the early days, we got 5 mph bumpers, seat belt interlocks, collapsible steering columns, and 3 point seat belts. Later on, it was airbags, later it was FMVSS that dictated car design (after 2007). That’s where we are today. In addition, NHTSA actually enforced CAFE measures and ensured that the 55 mph speed limit was complied with and studied as well.
The second nail was the Clean Air Act of 1970, which initially set up pollution standards. The pollution standards took effect almost immediately and went through 1981. After 1981, they essentially were frozen. When the Act was rewritten in 1990, congress delegated all regulation to the EPA.
The bottom line of all of this is that it started as an ostensibly “good idea” and morphed into this. I think we are worse off because of the path we have traveled. Looking back, I would have allowed more brown air, lower “safety levels” for the freedom from enforcing these idiot rules.
Hi Swamp,
You got me thinking (always good) about the “smog.” We grew up with it – and yet, we live. Yes, I know the air wasn’t pristine. But how actually harmful was it, really, to live in say LA in 1970 vs. 1980 vs. today? It was certainly safer to live in LA in 1970 and 1980 than it is today!
I watched an Iowa State D.O.T. brand new spiffy pickup truck drive slowly along the highway today, like every year, several times, two guys with the AC on high, the driver’s side window closed, the passenger side wide open so the passenger could direct a full steam from a hose connected to a tank of who-knows-what weedkiller as he sprayed it up and down about 15′ out.
…”What a waste of money” was all I could think. That, and, “it’s poison, idiots”. “Breathe deep”?
a full steam???
Yeesh, a full stream.
The ‘founders’ we revere today gave us this government from hell. It was a complete lie to begin with. On the lie that they were going to make some changes to the Articles, the changes they made was what today we call a coup. They threw out the Articles and inserted today’s constitution they knew had more holes then Swiss cheese,,, one that any ‘lawyer’ with a beginners license and a third grade education (today) could manipulate with ease.
From that point on everything was a lie, including the constitution itself. It should be obvious that what NPCs call the Bill of Rights was only thrown in to get the ratification of a few states. Even the rat-ification was totalitarian. It only required the approval of nine states.The rest dragged in kicken and screamin. They have finally overcome the amendments supposedly guaranteeing certain rights. The ‘founders’ knew that would happen.
First thing Washington did was send the military up to show those in the Whiskey Rebellion who their daddy was. Poor bastards thought they fought a war over taxes. Stupid them. He also signs a bill for a central bank. Supposedly said he knew it was unconstitutional but decided to sign it anyhow. Great guy!
So those lies and 250 more years of more lies and wars here we are hoping to keep our homes, cars and children safely away from their dystopian grips. They are already mandating those killer shots for children which mums and pops are lining them up like good little gullible sheep. Lambs to the slaughter! Funny how they have the ‘right’ to off their children in many many different ways.
The WEF, Davos and ilk are still in business working feverishly day and night to destroy anything resembling a decent society exchanging it for a despotic and depraved one. They have just succeeded in removing daily news from the internet in Kanada. And Kanadians are only slightly more gutless than Americans.
Personally I’m putting $500 on the parasites. The land of the free moochers and home of the NPCs where everyone in the world is a citizen if/when they cross the invisible southern border can not seem to muster up the backbone to say no.
You said it. Great comment. The lies are much much broader an older than most people can imagine, and all those lies go really deep.
My money is on a very agonizingly slow collapse.
And superb blog post by Eric!
A few bloggers discuss these topics, but nobody gives detailed examples that bring it all home like Eric Peters!
Re: using global warming bs to get rid of ice cars….then all cars….off to the 15 minute city/prison gulag….you will own nothing then get culled….the Luciferion Aristocracy
has decided there is too many useless eater slaves, so a cull is planned…..
The freemasons are the political arm of the Luciferion Aristocracy
The Great Global Warming Swindle Film – A Scientific Reply to Bro. freemason Al Gore’s ‘Climate Emergency’
https://freemasonrywatch.org/blog/2021/09/27/the-great-global-warming-swindle-film-a-scientific-reply-to-bro-al-gores-climate-emergency/
Horse thieves do not have a license to steal.
Some have been found hanging from trees.
You tame and train horses, becomes an investment. Tack, oats, carrots, apples.
The horse is yours, the horse wants to be with you. Will be willing to help out. Mules too, they’re ready to go.
Dot gov would ban horses and mules and catlle and looks like you also. The no good filthy swine that they are.
The horse doesn’t want his comfort level afflicted, the horse is happy to carry the sleigh, knows the way.
The horse doesn’t want to be sold at an auction for slaughter.
Dot gov is analogous to horse thievery.
Out to steal all they can.
From you.
The trouble is like any subject one has to be significantly self educated to ever detect the government lies. The media and government deceive people constantly. When I started learning about cars as a teen I learned that Ford had made a huge effort to sell safety in the 1950s that fell flat. But the talking heads on TV were saying the government forced automakers to make safer cars. No government forced people to buy safer cars. Fuel economy the same thing. Not only were there fuel sipping cars going back to day one but in the time giant gas guzzlers, 1959 Ford introduced the Falcon for….. buyers that desired high fuel economy. Chevy and Chrysler had similar cars. Then some years later the Japanese makes showed up aiming for the same.
The people who wanted those cars bought them. The people who didn’t, didn’t. This upset the control freaks. Control freaks have to make others do as them. And then came CAFE.
Indeed I remember reading a yellowed old Motor Trend a long time ago from about 1959 where there was an economy race. Mopar won it so soundly with a fleet of the cool new Valiants (specially tuned, as I recall they got better than 40mpg). It was always available, it just didn’t make enough money for the management and bean counters even then. So they upsold to the bigger iron- but you didn’t have to buy it.
Can’t remember the model number but back in the 60’s my high school shop teacher had a rear engine BMW with a 3 cylinder engine. Was fairly quick too, the few times I rode in it.
People think that those big boats were gas hogs. They only became heavy drinkers after the unleaded gasoline mandate. I’ve mentioned it before but dad’s ’76 Charger Daytona and grandad’s ’73 Coronet had the same 318 engine, and similar options packages including AC. IIRC the Coronet got about 18 MPG, the Daytona, with all the added vacuum lines and reduced compresson, only gets about 12 MPG on a good day. Even the mighty Oldsmobile 455 Toronado that pulled the GMC RV (Featured in Strips as the EM-50) could get about 10 MPG depending on how full the water and waste tanks were. And that’s carbureted, not fuel injection.
And there were plenty of small American cars too. The Dodge Dart, Ford Pinto, Ford Falcon (and Mercury Comet), Corvair, and I’m sure others I don’t remember. They were basic and entry level cars so they weren’t kept or collectible. And they got fairly OK mileage too, at least for a world where gas was $0.25 gallon.
As for the justification for DC overlord rule, here it is:
Article I, Section 8, Clause 3:[5]
[The Congress shall have Power] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
That one magical phrase, not even a complete sentence, has done more to justify the destruction of freedom than anything else in the whole document.
Indeed, RK –
I am guessing part of the reason the pre-smog cars did better than the early smog-era cars was the former had higher compression engines while the latter often had almost absurdly low CR. For example, my ’76 TA’s 455 had 7.6:1 CR from the factory. It made 200 net horsepower and managed about 12 MPG.
Right. The whole point of adding tetraethyl lead was to boost octane and reduce the chance of self-detonation (knock) when compressed. Higher compression means a bigger stroke for the same amount of gas and a more efficient engine. Once the lead was gone engineers had to reduce compression until a substitute could be found.
Huh:
“Certain automakers, like GM, cozied up to Biden and got on the EV bandwagon, ignoring the realities of what this administration aimed to ultimately do. Now that things are firming up with these new CAFE standards, GM seems to have realized its gross miscalculation.
While in a way we think it’s hilarious that GM is dealing with the consequences of its actions, at the same time we also know government fines as well as the development costs required from automakers to comply with sharply increasing regulatory requirements will only put the squeeze on consumers. In other words, if you think vehicle prices have been out of control in the past few years, hold onto your hat because what the Biden Administration is pushing to do is almost guaranteed to spike prices far beyond anything we’ve seen yet.”
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/gm-lashes-biden-administration-plan-170000207.html
(BTW you can thank the New Deal and the Supreme Court’s evil decision in Wickard v. Filburn for the regulatory apprataus… seems that they discovered that the Interstate Commerce Clause could be used to scrap the entire rest of the Constitution…)
Indeed, every single thing you do has an effect on interstate commerce. Including how many times per day you wipe, and how many sheets of TP you use. Can’t wait for the “smart” TP dispenser.
Excellent article. There is no justification for the government requiring mileage requirements on automobiles. It’s actually a “taking” as it limits the market for the gas companies.
One could make the argument (I know not popular here) that emissions may be a concern of the government as it effects air quality. But one does not necessarily follow the other.
A point in fact is that the mileage requirements were a response to the Arab oil embargo of the mid 1970’s and were meant to reduce US dependence on OPEC oil.
those around at that time will remember the problems increased oil prices (and decreased supply) caused to the economy. It rocked the US like nothing had since the Great Depression.
At one time the President ordered a price and wage freeze. Yes that’s right, you could not raise the prices on anything, or increase anyones salary! You think mask requirements are bad imagine a lock put on the complete economy!
It was a bad time and much that came out of it haunts us to this day.
Thanks, Krusty
Part of the problem, I think, is general ignorance – as regards intentions, especially. Many people hear: The government is making vehicles more efficient! And they believe this. Just as they believed Face Diapers “work.” Somehow, this insouciance and laziness has to be overcome…
Sadly, Eric, people do not pay attention, in that the government never did anything to “help” anyone. Love him or hate him, Ronald Reagan’s quote regarding the nine most dangerous words in the English language were very true. And even if the Feds did want to help (and I will try not to die laughing as I type that), they will always manage to screw it up for the rest of us, while enriching themselves at our expense, and enslaving the rest of us in the process. And yet, we never learn.
“You think mask requirements are bad imagine a lock put on the complete economy!”
We don’t have to imagine it. We lived it two years ago with the consequences still unfolding. The entire economy was locked down over the common cold.
Hi Pug,
A good friend of mine had his business – the Bent Mountain Bistro – destroyed by these weaponized hypochondriacs. The closed him down for months; when they allowed him to re-open, he was only allowed to serve at half capacity and had to keep the bar closed. Imagine the effect on his bottom line. The bottom line is he had to close – for good. His tale is just one of tens of thousands just like it.
And people wonder why I’m relentless about “masks” and all the rest of that sick shit.
All of this usurpation brought to you by FDR
Re horse and buggy days: did govcorp.com (or at least the local version of it) have some authority over the ’emissions’ of that time? Were people held responsible for when and where their steeds ’emitted’? Not being snarky, just wondering.
In cities you had to pick up the crap. Yes their were ordinances about it, still on the books, as nothing is ever repealed.
Correct. There are actually diapers for horses, used today in events like parades.
“It’s for your own good.”
Everyone remembers Cool Hand Luke and, “failure to communicate”. But, it was the above line that started the exchange. It is the essence of GovCo’s paternalistic mentality.
You are too stupid to run your own life but, smart enough to vote into office those that lust to do the job for you.
I wish you’d quit bein’ so damned good to me, boss…
‘A new Tahoe starts at $52,600 while a 1972 Malibu sedan stickered for $2,640 (or $19,598 in today’s devalued currency).’ — eric
As part of its CAFE regs, the US fedgov has decreed different MPG requirements for different classes of vehicles, with light trucks (including SUVs) incurring a more lenient minimum than traditional sedan-like cars.
Thus cars shrink to meet strict MPG minimums which are headed up to 50 to 60, while SUVs and pickups still offer the space and load capacity that buyers want … but at a higher price, as they drag down the CAFE.
Speaking of the dead-letter Clownstitution:
‘President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.’ — Wikipedia
* laughs cynically *
Nixon had NO authority to create a new cabinet department by executive order. Nor can such a decree be ‘ratified’ by ‘committee hearings.’ This is how Third World countries are governed, at the whim of the ruling clique.
Michael Regan, current ‘administrator’ of the EPA, is a usurper and a scoundrel. He should be prosecuted for impersonating a government official.
Actually as a usurper and a scoundrel Regan is not impersonating a government official, he is the epitome of a government official.
I agree, Pug –
As a kid, I admired Rrrrrrrreagan. Because I was a kid and naive enough to believe his words. Rather, to allow myself to believe what I thought I heard him say. Trump has a similar kind of appeal. People think they hear him advocate for freedom. In fact, he advocates for fascism, just as Rrrrrrrrreagan did. The both hump the flag and clutch their oversized Bibles while slobbering over anything that wears a uniform and expecting everyone else to do the same.
I remember when Freehold Toyota was at its original location over 50 years ago. Toyotas have been available here for decades. Back then, all they made was small, fuel efficient cars. And yes, I remember seeing VW Beetles and Fastbacks when I was little; they were everywhere! My uncle had a couple of ’em when he was in college eons ago. One of them had a fuel pump held together with a C clamp! Or was it two C clamps? I can’t remember. Even so, that SOB ran, and could be kept running with a basic set of hand tools…
I love to watch reruns of Adam 12 and Dragnet, (back when most cops were actually decent people). One of the things that I’ve noticed on both shows, which were made late 60’s/early 70’s, is how many small cars there were. In all the scenes where Joe and Bill or Reed and Malloy are riding the streets of LA, the little Toyota Coronas, Datsun B210’s, Fiat whatevers and VW bugs are everywhere. I don’t remember seeing a lot of that stuff back then, but I lived in a fairly rural area where Chevy pickups were the most common vehicles. My point is though, if you take a good look at old tv and movies, as Eric indicates, not only were there lots of efficient small cars available before government decrees, there were plenty of them on the road.
Jamie Somers’ 1975 280Z on “The Bionic Woman”.
A sportscar a school teacher could afford.
Hi Roscoe
My sister bought a brand new 74 240z, and she made less than a teacher. She was a cashier at a furniture store!
74 240z = that car was Fun!
A buddy owned one in the 80’s, I got to drive it a few times, pure joy.
A good memory was hitting a patch of mayflies under a streetlight late at night, caused us to do a 360 on an empty 4-lane street, Laughed our asses off on that whoops.
Dang, quick search & I couldn’t find a video of the Bionic Woman & her car.
Hi Helot,
I agree! The original 240Z was everything a sports car should be. Light, agile – and manual! Brilliant in-line six. Not hugely powerful but all kinds of fun to work. It’s just tragic that people who weren’t there will never know.
My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs McCloud, looked like Mary Tyler Moore and drove a Corvette. She lived across the street from my best friend and hired us to do chores for her in the summertime. Her husband was program director for WCRO 1230 AM. They were the coolest couple in the world (at least ours).
Ditto all of that, Floriduh –
Especially as regards cops – as distinct from the Tacticool’d and tattoo’d fags (Southpark usage) who style themselves “law enforcement.” When I was a kid back in the ’80s, you could talk to most cops on equal terms. If you got pulled over for some traffic thing, it was common then to get out of your car and walk up to the cop’s car to talk. This Hut! Hut! Hut! stuff was confined to SWAT teams and they confined themselves to dealing with actually dangerous criminals.
I miss the past.
Lots of ex-military goes into the police force these days, hoping to double dip pensions. The latest trend I’ve noticed here is that the real grifters will get 20 in the military, 10 with the cop gig, and then try to squeeze another 5-10 out of a management position at a big tech consulting company with set asides for Veterans as part of their Defense contract jobs, the incentive being the employee stock purchase plans offering shares at a discount and cash out at will.
I experienced that management “talent” about five years ago. if you think they’re bad when they Hut Hut Hut on the side of the road, imagine that in an office setting where they can’t easily be fired. Compounding the issue for me was that the manager filled a race quota too.
I lived in the Greater Los Angeles area during that period. Cars and police, while very significant measures of change, are (obviously) not the only things of great importance that have turned that area into absolute shit.
Cops were mostly decent and reasonable people that you rarely had to deal with and they were very respectful and courteous if you didn’t make them be otherwise. Very few neighborhoods were “no-go zones” full of scary gangs and nothing like the skyrocketing crime-fest that is the norm there now.
Just like cars, that is before the government got through with it. I’d say about ’75 or so, after that, every aspect of life has *progressively* gone to shit.
I was born in Van Nuys in ’65 at the Olive View Medical Center very near the Corvette on a pedestal GM plant which was dismantled years ago. Now Van Nuys is very scary — do not go down the wrong neighborhood street. People have been murdered for exactly that in Van Nuys.
My late grandmother lived most of her life in Pacoima, CA (home of Richie Valens BTW). I lived with her on and off there until just before ’85. Went from a nice neighborhood to gang land and home of the ultra-violent Foothill Division (aka Rodney King beaters).
I’ve had fuckers brandish weapons at me just walking down the street there. Been confronted up to my face with a gang of angry Mexicans in front of granny’s house. Drugs galore, poverty, dirty, trashed houses and “projects” in the area.
The complete Democrat utopia manifest.
They didn’t *just* destroy affordable vehicles and freedom of choice. They burn it *all* to the ground. Everything.