Tag: cars

Watch this as fast as you can: A whole new approach to “Don’t break the speed limit” commercials

“Enjoy the Ride” is a commercial produced by the Western Australia Office of Road Safety. They abandoned the typical threatening and frightening approaches and tried to show drivers that there’s a better way to look at driving and life.

“Enjoy the Ride” is a commercial produced by the Western Australia Office of Road Safety.

They abandoned the typical threatening and frightening approaches and tried to show drivers that there’s a better way to look at driving and life.

Don’t get us wrong. We’re pretty sure everyone completely ignored this commercial and continued driving like maniacs, but we still like the way they turned the problem upside down and inside out and came at it from a whole new direction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRwfwyaHXDk

Gallup: Americans don’t want electric cars no matter how expensive gas gets

No matter how hard the Obama administration tries to cram these lemons down our throats, America doesn’t want them. Not even if gas goes to $10 a gallon.

The headline on a recent Gallup poll cracked us up: “Electric Cars Not an Attractive Option to Many Americans.”

It might just as well have read “Americans Don’t Like Getting Poked In the Eyes With Sharp Sticks” or maybe “Americans Like Pounding Their Heads Against the Wall Because It Feels So Good When They Stop.”

The bottom line: No matter how hard the Obama administration tries to cram these lemons down our throats, America doesn’t want them. Not even if gas goes to $10 a gallon.

barack obama electric car
We're willing to bet the immense IHTM fortune that this is the only electric car Barack Obama will ever drive

Gallup has the details:

Americans are less likely to say they would buy an electric car than they are to say they would buy a more fuel-efficient one if gas prices rise to the $5-per-gallon range. Just 12% say at that price, they would be willing to buy such a car that they could drive only a limited number of miles at one time. Another 10% would make such a purchase if gas prices are in the $6- to $7.99-per-gallon range and another 9% if gas prices reach $8 to $10 per gallon. Still, 57% say they would not buy such an electric car no matter the price of gas.

High-income Americans are about twice as likely as those with low incomes to say they would purchase an electric car if gas prices rose to the $5 range. Otherwise, no matter whether respondents view higher prices as temporary or permanent, or the degree of financial hardship high gas prices are causing them, electric cars are equally unpopular as a response to high gas prices.

Who cares? Certainly not an administration committed to destroying the oil industry. Not an administration that believes in the religion of global warming. Not an administration that’s committed to “fundamentally changing America.”

And therein lies the rub. You can fundamentally change America all day long, but you can’t change market forces.

Source: Gallup

Hypocrisy: Head of DNC, who knocks Republicans for not supporting US carmakers, drives a Japanese car

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz rails on Republicans for opposing the administration’s giveaways to the autoworkers union. But she drive a Japanese car.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Barack Obama’s brand new, hand-chosen Chairwoman of the Democrat National Committee, spoke at a forum sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. She was fired up. She was angry. She took the Republicans to task for opposing the administration’s giveaways to the autoworkers union.

“If it were up to the candidates running for president on the Republican side,” Wasserman-Schultz said, “we would be driving foreign cars.”

Why, those damn Republicans! Those evil conservatives! Those awful import-buying, Tea Partying …

Unfortunately, reporter Michael O’Brien of The Hill followed Wasserman-Schultz into the parking lot to see what kind of car she was driving.

Oops.

The Congresswoman climbed into 2010 Infiniti FX35. And last time we checked, the Infiniti was a Japanese car.

This woman could make the Democrats think of the good ol’ days when Howard Dean was the party’s chairman.

Michael Moore: Obama should force GM to kill internal combustion engine

Michael Moore and Lawrence O’Donnell. Put ‘em together in front of a camera and the socialism just begins to spontaneously ooze. Or spurt. Or gush. Yeah, gush is a better word.

Michael Moore and Lawrence O’Donnell. Put ‘em together in front of a camera and the socialism just begins to spontaneously ooze. Or spurt. Or gush. Yeah, gush is a better word.

Here’s Michael Moore explaining how President Obama should use government control of General Motors to bring about a socialist workers green paradise:

The auto thing is a good example, too, where I wish Obama would just … if he would just ratchet it up another notch. Yes, you saved the jobs of all my friends back in Michigan but now that we sort of control the car companies let’s get them doing mass transit. Let’s get them doing things that are going to save this planet. Because the internal combustion engine is not going to get us to the twenty-second century. That’s just not gonna, we’re not gonna have a planet. That has to stop. And I just thought, jeez, when you have this power you can do things. And he’s just kinda like, “Nah, we’ll just get the money back from the auto companies and it’s all gonna be ok.”

Putting the questionable constitutionality of Moore’s dream aside, we have one question:

Do you really expect anyone to believe you have friends, Michael?

Fat chance.

Obama to motorists: The problem with you is that you don’t give enough money to me

To make things a bit more fair the Obama Administration has started looking into the possibility of instating a mileage tax.

It is said that only two things are certain in life. Those two things are death and taxes. This statement is not entirely true. Any number of Americans don’t pay taxes. We call the majority of those people Obama supporters.

To make things a bit more fair the Obama Administration has started looking into the possibility of instating a mileage tax.

obama mileage tax
Some cars will undoubtedly be exempt from Obama's mileage tax

The Hill drives home the point:

The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive.

The plan is a part of the administration’s Transportation Opportunities Act, an undated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly.

The White House, however, said the bill is only an early draft that was not formally circulated within the administration.

“This is not an administration proposal,” White House spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said. “This is not a bill supported by the administration. This was an early working draft proposal that was never formally circulated within the administration, does not taken into account the advice of the president’s senior advisers, economic team or Cabinet officials, and does not represent the views of the president.”

News of the draft follows a March Congressional Budget Office report that supported the idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven.

We hope the Obama-bots won’t be too worried though. It seems entirely likely that a significant portion of the funds generated from this mileage tax could be used to provide bus passes.

– Written by Kip Hooker at TheVitaminPress.com

Source: TheHill.com

Congratulations! You now own nine of the worst cars on the road!

Don’t run out to the garage looking for them. You only own them because Barack Obama and Tim Geithner “invested”$80 billion of your tax dollars in General Motors and Chrysler.

Forbes magazine did its annual “Worst Cars on the Road” review and you may be disturbed to learn that you own nine of the eleven on the list.

Don’t run out to the garage looking for them. You only own them because Barack Obama and Tim Geithner “invested”$80 billion of your tax dollars in General Motors and Chrysler.

2011-dodge nitro
Don't you find it somehow appropriate that a car named the Dodge Nitro is a bomb?

Here’s the bad news from Forbes:

… with three exceptions–the Mercedes-Benz S550, Smart Fortwo and Nissan Titan–all of the cars on this year’s list of the Worst Cars on the Road are (still) made by domestic companies. That includes the Dodge Dakota, Chevy Tahoe Hybrid and Chrysler Town & Country. The only American car company with zero vehicles on the list? Ford.

Ford? You mean the same Ford that declined your tax dollars? The same Ford that now has the largest share of the new car market? The same Ford that is reporting record profits?

Yes, that Ford.

Oh, by the way, just in case you were wondering, here’s the complete list of the Loser Eleven: Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, Dodge Nitro, Jeep Wrangler, Dodge Dakota, Mercedes Benz S550, Chrysler Town and Country, Chevrolet Colorado, Chevrolet Aveo, Jeep Liberty and Nissan Titan.

Source: Forbes

High speed trail: Texas may raise speed limit to 85 mph

A bill has been introduced into the Texas legislature that would raise the speed limit to 85 miles per hour.

Gentlemen, start your pick-up trucks. High speed rail is out in the Lone Star State, but high speed trail may be in. A bill has been introduced into the Texas legislature that would raise the speed limit to 85 miles per hour.

Please note that ABC News frames this as an anti-conservation story, not a states rights story:

Consumers will see an “increase in demand for petroleum because as we go faster our cars get a lot less fuel efficiency,” says Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, a gas price sharing website.

The bill, introduced by Texas Rep. Lois W. Kolkhort, would make the 85 mph limit the highest in the country, according to the Dallas Morning News. A similar plan is being considered by the state Senate, according to the AP.

But first the measure, which is part of a larger transportation bill, must pass engineering testing and other studies before the Texas Department of Transportation authorizes it.

It’s almost guaranteed that the Feds are going to hate this law almost as much as they hate Arizona’s illegal alien law. Why, how dare those damn cowboys flaunt their disrespect for President Obama’s Department of Transportation.

Good luck getting your electric pick-ups up to 85 mph, buckeroos.

Source: ABC News

Orders from Obama: 100% of federal vehicles must be green by 2015. All except his, that is.

Of course, as we’ve come to expect from this administration, 100% doesn’t eally mean 100% and the rule of law is often replaced by the rule of “good for thee, but not for me.”

The Obama administration and Government Motors bet the windfarm that electric and hybrid cars would be the latest rage, but they’re so expensive and impractical that no one’s buying them. What’s a president to do?

The Detroit News reveals that President Obama intends to rig the game by having the federal government buy the cars in massive numbers:

obama-chevy-volt
President Obama wonders how far he could go between charges in a bulletproof, bombproof Chevy Volt limousine

Obama announced the plan this week to “green” the federal fleet.

“I’m directing our departments and our agencies to make sure 100 percent of the vehicles they buy are fuel-efficient or clean energy cars and trucks by 2015. Not 50 percent, not 75 percent — 100 percent of our vehicles,” Obama said today at an appearance in Landover, Md., at UPS facility.

Of course, as we’ve come to expect from this administration, 100% doesn’t eally mean 100% and the rule of law is often replaced by the rule of “good for thee, but not for me.”

The U.S. Secret Service said today that some federal vehicles for law enforcement and security purposes will be exempt from President Barack Obama’s directive that all federal vehicles purchased starting 2015 be advanced technology models.

Secret Service spokesman Robert Novy said the directive wouldn’t apply to vehicles used for some law enforcement or security reasons by various federal agencies.

“Certain specialized vehicles including those with law enforcement and security specifications are not subject to this directive,” Novy said.

That would include the GM-built Cadillac presidential limousine and other vehicles in the motorcade.

Interesting, isn’t it, that this regulation should be proposed by someone whose only driving experience has been driving the nation to the edge of bankruptcy.

Source: Detroit News

The Eurocrats are at it again. Now they want to ban cars from all European cities.

Eurocrats have decided they can cut CO2 emissions by 60 percent by 2050 by outlawing internal combustion engine cars in all European cities.

Eurocrats is such a perfect name for the nameless, faceless and seemingly senseless bureaucrats who people the European Union. Now these geniuses have decided they can cut CO2 emissions by 60 percent by 2050 by outlawing internal combustion engine cars in all European cities.

bonnie-and-clyde-car
When cars are outlawed, only outlaws will have cars

The Telegraph UK has the story:

The European Commission on Monday unveiled a “single European transport area” aimed at enforcing “a profound shift in transport patterns for passengers” by 2050 …

Top of the EU’s list to cut climate change emissions is a target of “zero” for the number of petrol and diesel-driven cars and lorries in the EU’s future cities.

Siim Kallas, the EU transport commission, insisted that Brussels directives and new taxation of fuel would be used to force people out of their cars and onto “alternative” means of transport.

“That means no more conventionally fuelled cars in our city centres,” he said. “Action will follow, legislation, real action to change behaviour.”

The Association of British Drivers rejected the proposal to ban cars as economically disastrous and as a “crazy” restriction on mobility.

“I suggest that he goes and finds himself a space in the local mental asylum,” said Hugh Bladon, a spokesman for the BDA.

Too late, Hugh. He already works for the European Commission, which may not be a mental asylum, but is virtually indistinguishable from one.

Source: Telegraph UK

Audi proudly introduces the shittiest car on the road today

Imagine the grand unveiling at the Frankfort Auto Show. A sexy model pulls away the sheet hiding the newest Audi as an announcer says, “Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the all new 2010 Audi e-Tron.” And the French reporters fall to the floor, laughing hysterically.

Imagine the grand unveiling at the Frankfort Auto Show. A sexy model pulls away the sheet hiding the newest Audi as an announcer says, “Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the all new 2010 Audi e-Tron.”

And the French reporters fall to the floor, laughing hysterically.

Gas2.org has the story of Audi’s shitty day:

audi etron
Introducing the exciting new 2010 Audi Excrement-mobile

Naming cars in this day of globalization has become an exercise of gargantuan proportions. For marketers and brand managers, the trick is to avoid a name that can be translated as something less than appealing in one of the dozens of languages you plan on marketing in. Even so, every now and then we get one that is slightly out of place, but usually it’s not a huge misstep.

But has Audi crossed the line from funny to major blunder in naming their entire upcoming electric car brand “e-tron”? It appears they have because, as it turns out, the word “étron” in French means “excrement.” And Germany and France even share a border!

Audi’s e-tron brand has certainly had its fair share of the limelight—garnering lots of hype from the first entrant, the R8 e-tron. It’s a super sexy electric rocket that Audi says they will produce in a limited run. But now imagine it if you happen to speak French; “super sexy crap rocket” doesn’t really have much of a ring to it.

A personal story from the editor:

Back in my ad agency days, a client once asked us to translate its successful American ad campaign into German. We hired a translator to do the work. Unfortunately, no one at the agency nor at the client’s American office spoke German, so no one realized that two letters had been transposed in the final version of the ad. Our mistake, in retrospect, was in not having someone in the client’s German office proofread the ad. As soon as it ran, the client was flooded with phone calls. Turns out that as a result of those transposed letters, the headline said, “Our products are assholes.”

I feel Audi’s pain.

Source: Gas2.org via Tim Blair

Obama touts glory of electric cars, neglects to mention their $33,000 batteries

The President is out there touting an electric car that uses a battery that is, all by itself, more far expensive than the average car. And this is what he uses as an example of the success of his stimulus program.

You get to attend a lot of nice parties when you’re the President. For example, President Obama traveled to Michigan the other day to get down and get funky at the opening of a high tech battery factory. Of course, he touted the factory’s products as evidence of the success of his stimulus program.

The Associated Press reports his electrifying comments:

battery-for-electric-car
In case you've ever wondered what a $33,000 battery looks like

“This is about the birth of an entire new industry in America, an industry that’s going to be central to the next generation of cars,” Obama said Monday in a phone call broadcast at the opening of A123 Systems Inc.’s lithium ion battery plant in Livonia, Mich.

“And it’s going to allow us to start exporting those cars, making them comfortable, convenient, and affordable. …. When folks lift up their hoods on the cars of the future, I want them to see engines and batteries that are stamped: ‘Made in America,’” Obama said, according to a transcript of the call released by the White House…

Buried waaaaaaay down in the story was this little gem:

Costs are high. The government has estimated that a battery with a 100-mile range costs about $33,000, although stimulus money could bring that down to $10,000 by the end of 2015.

Got that? The President is out there touting an electric car that uses a battery that is, all by itself, far more expensive than the average car. And this is what he uses as an example of the success of his stimulus program.

Lunacy. Complete lunacy.

Source: Associated Press

Former Car Czar Steven Rattner rats out Obama

Steven Rattner, President Obama’s original Car Czar, has written a new book called Overhaul that says Obama was “out to get” GM and Chrysler. Obama’s decisions, Rattner says, were political, not economic.

Steven Rattner, President Obama’s original Car Czar, has written a new book called Overhaul that says Obama was “out to get” General Motors (GM) and Chrysler. Obama’s decisions, Rattner says, were political, not economic.

rattner obama
President Obama is not smiling about Steven Rattner's new book.

Here are the highlights (or lowlights, if you prefer) from the Huffington Post:

  • When Obama was told of the plan to pay GM CEO Rick Wagoner a $7.1 million severance package after Obama ordered that he be sacked, Rattner writes: “Suddenly I felt that I was indeed in the presence of a community organizer…”
  • Rattner describes presidential political adviser David Axelrod coming to car meetings armed with poll data to support the takeover and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel identify Congressmen in whose districts large Chrysler facilities were located.
  • ”[Obama’s economic team] veered dangerously close to having the government take control of the two most troubled banks, Bank of America and Citigroup.”
  • ”If his team had linked arms with the outgoing administration, as President Bush’s advisers had proposed, billions of dollars could well have been saved.”
  • Rattner says Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual dictated Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s schedule, public appearances and staff selections.
  • He says Obama economic advisers Larry Summers and Austan Goolsbee and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair as enemies who slowed down decision making with infighting
  • Rattner said Obama was frustrated with the auto companies from the start: “Why can’t they make a Corolla?” he has Obama asking.

We just hope that someone sitting around that big conference room table had the guts to look at the President and said, “They could make a Corolla, Mr. President, but because of the union workforce and idiotic governmental regulations, it would cost twice as much.”

Source: Fox News

Electric car sales in Spain skyrocket by 1500% in one year

Spain’s government-backed REVE electric car and wind power project said 15 cars had been sold so far this year, in addition to one last year.

electric car spain
Its power source is electric, but its sales are anemic

There was an old Cold War joke about a two-man footrace staged between John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. JFK won the race handily and the next day Soviet newspapers reported, “Khrushchev defeated all but one competitor in the big race, Kennedy finishes next to last.”

Consider that the inspiration for the headline on this story about sales of electric cars in Spain. The BBC reports that:

Spain’s plans to have 2,000 electric cars on the road by the end of 2010 have been dealt a blow as figures showed just 16 have been sold.

The government-backed REVE electric car and wind power project said 15 cars had been sold so far this year, in addition to one last year.

They’ve sold 16 electric cars in the whole country in two years. At this rate, Spain’s electric car owners club could hold its annual convention one good-sized, gas-guzzling SUV.

If electric car sales are this anemic in an enlightened European country like Spain, what are the odds that a big car lovin’ country like the United States will be able to meet President Obama’s goal of having 1,000,000 plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015?

He’s completely outta gas on this one.

H/T: Tim Blair

Road rage! You own the companies that makes the worst cars on the road

Congratulations! Your tax dollars are building four of the ten worst cars on the road. Considering all the car companies in the world, this is a truly remarkable achievement for Obama Motors.

cadillac escalade
Introducing the 2010 Cadillac Piece of Crap

Congratulations! Your tax dollars are building four of the ten worst cars on the road.

Considering all the car companies in the world, this is a truly remarkable achievement for Obama Motors.

Let’s be specific. We’re talking about the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Aveo and Chevrolet Colorado, made by General Motors, and the Dodge Nitro, made by Chrysler.

Forbes reports this remarkable story of American manufacturing know how:

If you want to drive something dependable and long-lasting, steer clear of these vehicles.

With a 22% improvement in sales last month, and despite the six-month, $4.3 billion loss it announced Wednesday, General Motors is likely to have its strongest spring and summer in years. Plus, the automaker had critically acclaimed new products at the recent New York Auto Show and the much-anticipated Chevrolet Volt is due out this fall.

Year-over-year sales of GM’s Cadillac division alone are up almost 76%; sales in the Buick, Chevrolet and GMC divisions were each up more than 40% for March. The industry as a whole was up 24.3%.

Unfortunately just because GM’s cars are selling well now doesn’t mean they’re the best bet for durability or value — yet. It’ll take awhile before GM’s new direction shows up in tangible new products at the dealership.
Four of the seven vehicles on our list of the worst-made cars on the road come from GM brands. And all of the cars on the list — including Chrysler’s Dodge Nitro and Jeep Wrangler — are made by Detroit’s Big Three. Only one car on the list is made by Ford Motor (NYSE: F).

This reminds us of a former client, a production manager at a major semiconductor company, who once stood before an international sales meeting, looked with disdain at his worldwide sales force and said, “Last year you complained that we made shit. (pause) This year you’re complaining that we’re not making it fast enough.”

Never laughed so hard.

Source: Forbes

ObamaCare meets ObamaCar

Now that Obama has taken over the car companies and healthcare, it’s only a matter of time until the two industries begin intersecting at intersections across America.

Now that Obama has taken over the car companies and healthcare, it’s only a matter of time until the two industries begin intersecting at intersections across America.

What could go wrong?

Toyota admits electric car market is running on fumes

Toyota, the world leader in fuel-efficient hybrid cars, admits that plug-in hybrids don’t have much of a future. In fact, Koei Saga, Toyota’s guy in charge of advanced technology and battery development, sounds particularly grim.

Ugly, expensive and inefficient. The automotive trifecta. This is not good news. Not good news at all.

Toyota, the world leader in fuel-efficient hybrid cars, admits that plug-in hybrids don’t have much of a future. In fact, Koei Saga, Toyota’s guy in charge of advanced technology and battery development, sounds particularly grim.

The New York Times reports the devastating details:

He said that limited range means that E.V.’s work best as “very small commuter-type vehicles” for use in major metropolitan areas (he used Europe and Japan as examples). Asked if longer-range E.V.’s were possible with current technology, he said that could happen only “if we forget about battery life and if we forget about the cost incurred for replacement of those batteries.”

Battery cars capable of extended highway travel are relatively far in the future, Mr. Saga said. He envisioned such electric cars working best if they could obtain electricity not from batteries, but from an interaction with the highway itself. Just such a system has been tested by the Advanced Institute of Science and Technology of Korea, which uses induction strips and inverters embedded in the road to recharge batteries when cars drive over them.

Asked if the world’s vehicles would ever be exclusively electric, Mr. Saga said, “In my personal view, I think we will never abandon the internal-combustion engine.” He did envision a possible future for fuel-cell vehicles and internal-combustion cars that burn hydrogen, however.

Our advice: Keep actor Ed Begley, Jr. away from the harakiri ceremonial swords.

Source: New York Times

Chrysler’s electric car program shorts out

Chrysler has disbanded a team of engineers dedicated to rushing a range of electric vehicles to showrooms and dropped ambitious sales targets for battery-powered cars set as it was sliding toward bankruptcy and seeking government aid.

The Chrysler Peapod has come to the end of the road
The Chrysler Peapod has come to the end of the road

Chrysler, part of the Obama Motors cabal, says its electric cars are dead. Not the batteries, the whole damn program. A huge pile of your tax dollars were at its bedside when it died.

Fox News reports Detroit’s latest tale of woe:

Chrysler has disbanded a team of engineers dedicated to rushing a range of electric vehicles to showrooms and dropped ambitious sales targets for battery-powered cars set as it was sliding toward bankruptcy and seeking government aid.

The move by Fiat SpA marks a major reversal for Chrysler, which had used its electric car program as part of the case for a $12.5 billion federal aid package.

As late as August, Chrysler took $70 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a test fleet of 220 hybrid pickup trucks and minivans, vehicles now scrapped in the sweeping turnaround plan for Chrysler announced this week by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne.

So Chrysler used the electric car scam to get a $12.5 billion bailout and then took another $70 million in grants and now they’re closing down the program less than 90 days later?

Bait and switch from a car dealer. Who ever would have expected that?

Source: Fox News

Now you can drain your bladder and fill your gas tank simultaneously

The new Mazda CX-7 4WD uses a special liquid similar to human urine to reduce emissions. The special compound, which goes by the name AdBlue.

The Mazda CX-7, a car that runs on pee, is the perfect car for Washington, DC, a city that runs on bullshit
The Mazda CX-7, a car that runs on pee, is the perfect car for Washington, DC, a city that runs on bullshit

Perhaps that’s not a scientifically accurate description, but it’s close enough for blogging purposes.

The new Mazda CX-7 4WD uses a special liquid similar to human urine to reduce emissions. The special compound, which goes by the name AdBlue, is 1/3 urea and 2/3 demineralized water.

The technology, which is common in Europe and Australia’s trucking industry, is called selective catalyst reduction. Without getting over our heads in scientific jargon, it injects AdBlue into the car’s exhaust system and renders NOx emissions harmless.

According to The Age Australia, “Regulatory authorities in Europe and the United States are planning to introduce strict new limits on diesel emissions in the future, which will eventually make the urea-based systems mandatory equipment on all cars.”

We’re not that impressed with a car that runs on pee. We’d be a lot more excited if they could develop a car that runs on bullshit.

Hell, in that case Al Gore could put OPEC out of business all by himself.

Source: The Age Australia

13 unintended consequences of Cash-For-Clunkers

The following list probably doesn’t include all the problems Cash for Clunkers will cause – for the fact is that all the unintended consequences may not be known for years – but it’s a pretty good jumping off point.

cadillac-ranch

There’s one law politicians always choose to ignore. Unfortunately, it’s the immutable Law of Unintended Consequences.

It was sitting out there screaming, “Look at me,” when Congress passed the Cash-for-Clunkers program, but no one in Washington, DC paid any attention to its plaintive wails.

So now we all get to live with the unintended consequences of this unmitigated disaster on wheels.

The following list probably doesn’t include all the problems C4C will cause – for the fact is that all the unintended consequences may not be known for years – but it’s a pretty good jumping off point.

1. You think it’s hard to find a good, honest mechanic now? Fewer clunkers on the road means fewer clunkers being repaired. Repair shops that specialize in older cars will really feel the pinch and many will undoubtedly go out of business.

2. Brother can you spare a muffler? Spare parts will cost more. Cash-for-Clunkers regulations dictate that any spare parts must be scavenged from the clunkers within 180 days. After that, all remaining parts – no matter how valuable – must be shredded. The Law of Supply and Demand dictates that scarcity of spare parts will lead directly to more expensive spare parts. Collision repair shops that depend on buying useable doors, hoods, and other body parts from salvage yards will undoubtedly see price increases.

3. Inflate to $4,500. Older cars will cost more, pricing them beyond the means of the poor who need them most. Since the Cash-for-Clunkers law requires that all trade-ins must be destroyed, the program has taken 690,114 (and counting) vehicles off the used-car market. A contracting supply will lead directly to price the smaller pool of remaining used vehicles. Unfortunately, that means the low-income people most likely to buy clunkers will not be able to afford them.

Continue reading “13 unintended consequences of Cash-For-Clunkers”

The “new” GM comes up with “new” ideas
by stealing them

Now that President Obama has written out a big, fat check to General Motors and put a 31-year old crony with no business experience in charge of it, you’re probably wondering what they’re doing with the money. The answer, according to Wired, is stealing the best ideas from tax paying entrepreneurs.

GM engineer "reverse engineering" another company's battery technology.
GM engineer "reverse engineering" another company's battery technology.

Now that President Obama has written out a big, fat check to General Motors and put a 31-year old crony with no business experience in charge of it, you’re probably wondering what they’re doing with the money.

The answer, according to Wired, is stealing the best ideas from tax paying entrepreneurs.

GM invested $25 million in the 33,000-square-foot Global Battery Systems Lab to develop and test the drivetrains underpinning the Chevrolet Volt and other hybrid, battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

The automaker believes the facility, at its sprawling Warren Technical Center campus outside Detroit, Michigan, will help make it a market leader in battery and EV technology.

So far, so good. But here’s where it gets a little iffy:

The lab also features a thermal shaker table for testing the structural integrity of each pack and a battery tear-down workshop for failure analysis and reverse-engineering competitors’ batteries.

Please allow us to translate: We gave GM billions of dollars so they could rip off good ideas from the entrepreneurs and companies who helped contributed to their bail out.

Perfect. Just friggin’ perfect.

Source: Wired via PlanetGore

Michael Moore proves that Moore is less. Less for you, that is.

Alternate energy: Power the homes of several average American families for a year with the fat sucked out of Michael Moore's wattle.
Alternate energy: Power the homes of several average American families for a year with the fat sucked out of Michael Moore's wattle.

For some reason, we’re on corpulent corporate bashing Michael Moore’s email list. 

Yesterday we got an email from our pal Mike that proved he’s as good an economist as he is a film maker.

He presents a 9-point plan to revitalize America. It involves mass construction projects including bullet trains, light rail systems, fleets of electric cars, windmills and solar panels, and hybrid cars and busses.

But how, you may ask, can we possibly afford all this? Well, Michael has the answer to that, too.

“To help pay for this, impose a two-dollar tax on every gallon of gasoline. This will get people to switch to more energy saving cars or to use the new rail lines and rail cars the former autoworkers have built for them.”

Yes, $2 per gallon. Overnight. Bang. The price goes up more than 50% overnight.

We have a better idea. Enforced liposuction on all obese film makers. Burn it like they used to burn whale oil back in the 1800s. We’d cut our foreign energy dependence overnight.

The email letter on his website.

Obamanomics: Elevating the circle jerk to an art form

obamanomics, copyright IHateTheMedia.com

Bad news for American workers and taxpayers. That auto bailout isn’t quite working the way they hoped it would.

According to a leaked document, GM plans to sell Chinese-manufactured cars to American consumers as soon as 2011.

Here’s how Fox News reports it:

General Motors is currently the best-selling foreign automaker in China, and Buick is number one brand overall, part of the reason that the nameplate was saved during a recent round of cuts that included the elimination of Pontiac. As an example of the growing influence of that marketplace on the company, the interior of the upcoming replacement for the Buick LaCrosse sedan was designed at a GM studio in Shanghai.

According to the report, GM plans to sell nearly 18,000 Chinese-made vehicles in the US in 2011, with that number rising to over 50,000 by 2014.

The chart above shows exactly what a circle jerk this is.

China buys US government debt. The US government uses that money to bailout General Motors. General Motors manufactures cars in China which it then sells in the United States. Americans buy those cars which gives GM the money to pay back the government which then pays back China.

The end result: The Chinese get the jobs. The Chinese get the money. And the only thing Americans get is the shaft.

Source: Fox News via BluegrassPundit.com

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