A moment came when Captain Smith knew the Titanic was doomed – and from that moment on, saving the ship was no longer important.
Surviving the inevitable sinking was.
This seems to be the case with VW. Like Titanic, the company is taking on water.
You can feel the list.
People are looking for the exits.
The trade publication Automotive News reports that about half the roughly half-million owners of diesel-powered Volkswagens fingered by Uncle want cash rather than their cars.
This is understandable, if regrettable.
First, there’s no fixing the “affected” cars. That is not the right word. To make them Uncle-compliant, it will be necessary to break them in some way. Whether it’s a new/reprogrammed ECU – the computer that controls the engine – or something more involved, such as physical modifications to the vehicle – it will not run better afterward.
It will merely be Uncle-compliant.
Most owners, of course, are not especially interested in that. They are interested in things like mileage and performance. They bought the diesels for these reasons – not because they complied with Uncle’s fatwas.
If either mileage or performance are diminished as a result of the “fix”…   well, would you keep a car that had to be taken in for mods (apparently, several will be necessary) that would likely result in poorer mileage and/or performance if you had the option of getting a fat check instead?
Exactly.
Besides which, VW has yet to figure out what the “fixes”(plural) will entail exactly. It is not an easy thing to engineer a car after it has left the factory. They are still trying to figure it out – with the first of at least 11 “fixes” per car scheduled to be announced in September. No one really knows how it’s going to work out.
Or, when.
Whatever VW’s engineers do come up with, it must first be approved by Uncle before whatever it is can be done. Expect this to drag on for a long time.
Then it will be on the owner to schedule a service appointment – perhaps several – and deal with the hassle of that.
Most people dislike hassles and avoid them, when possible.
It is much less hassle to dump the car – and collect a check.
Especially when the check is based on the pre-fiasco retail value of the car. Post-fiasco, the retail value of VWs generally – not just the diesel-powered ones – has plummeted by about 20 percent. If you own one of these cars and elect to keep it, that is a 20 percent haircut for you.
Possibly much more, the longer this drags on – and the more damage done to VW’s brand.
Who signs up for that?
Even if you don’t care about resale value and intend to drive your car for as long as it still runs reliably, the uncertainty about the viability of VW itself is unnerving.
VW has quite possibly been mortally wounded by this business – like the iceberg did to Titanic.
One billion dollars is a thousand million dollars. This is a large sum, even for a multinational corporation like Volkswagen.
$10 billion – the sum Uncle strong-armed VW to agree to “set aside” for dealing with the mass-buyback and whatever “fixes” are deemed necessary to make the remaining cars Uncle-complaint – is an almost incomprehensible amount of money.
And it is only a small percent of the total sum VW is on the hook for. Which is around $50 billion, plus or minus. This encompasses state and federal fines as well as mea culpa diversions of resources into make-work projects such as “zero emissions” vehicles and similar programs to “mitigate” the asserted harm caused by VW building diesels to customer rather than Uncle-approved standards.
Additional penalties will be applied if VW does not succeed in reducing the aggregate emissions of all the “affected” vehicles by 85 percent – either by buying them back and crushing them or by, er, “fixing” them.
There is no geld for this.
The total liability exceeds what VW earns. Forget profits.
If VW survives, it will be no less a miracle than Titanic arriving in New York instead of on the bottom of the Atlantic.
And all of it because of no good reason.
Titanic sank because it was going too fast (and turned too slowly) and struck an iceberg, which gashed its hull just enough to breach all of its water-tight compartment. But at least the iceberg was real.
VW is being sunk over something phantasmagorical. The “threat” asserted by EPA to the environment and public health of a fractional increase in tailpipe exhaust emissions from cars that would have been considered fully emissions-compliant by circa model year 2000 tailpipe emissions standards.
Were those cars “dirty”? Did anyone die – or get a cough – from getting too close to their tailpipes? How about bringing him up to the podium?
Anyone?
The “cheating” VW diesels are just as clean – probably more clean – than those circa model year 2000 cars. It doesn’t matter. Only compliance matters.
No matter how expensive, no matter how ridiculous.
No matter whom it actually hurts.
No matter whom it actually destroys.
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good info. thanks for sharing
VW/Audi should just leave the US market and tell Uncle to go pound sand. And Merkel (or her successor) should leave NATO, like de Gaulle did, and order US troops out of Deutschland.
Hi John,
I suggested that to VW people I know. They sighed and told me upper management is desperate to kowtow to EPA. This is typical, in my experience.
As an aside, I think it’s also why Trump is so popular among so many. Yes, he’s a dick. But he’s not an ass kisser.
That’s rare nowadays.
I’ll start by saying I’m not against emissions standards, if you look at picture of China’s cities today, or even L.A. back in the 70s, the air quality in L.A. has improved with tougher standards.
That being said, there are financial rules that bankers seem to have ignored/broken that have reaped them huge profits with only minor penalties (in terms of what the probably gained), LIBOR rigging, laundering drug money, etc, with a ‘slap on the wrist’ and ‘don’t do that’ in response.
Would seem to make more sense to me to say ok, we’ll ‘grandfather’ in the existing cars, you stop selling new models that don’t comply with the standards (fix it going forward), maybe give each owner $1k or something, a fine for the manufacturer, and – face it – the existing cars will slowly work this way out over the next 15-20 years probably due to accidents, wear and tear (rust in the northeast), etc. You’re talking a small fraction of the total vehicles in the country, and while some percentage of that will still be on the road in 20 years, I’m betting it’s under 5%…
…and it might even increase the resale vale of the cars.
Hi Pete,
I’m not against reasonable emissions standards.
The problem is we’ve arrived at the point of unreasonable ones; of diminishing returns. Increasingly high cost to achieve minimal gains. This has been true for years.
What I mean is that cars have been “clean” since at least the mid-late 1990s. Very little pollution emanates from any modern car. The regulatory apparat focuses on the remaining 3 percent or so of exhaust volume. But is this cost effective? Is it realistic?
At some point, unless internal combustion is banned, we will have to accept a certain amount of “pollution” as a result. But if this amount is so small such that the air quality is not meaningfully affected… well, what’s the problem?
We’ll never have perfectly pristine air. Not without shutting down industrial society or limiting access to powered machinery. Which will mean people like you and I (ordinary people) don’t get access to powered machinery. But people like Hillary (and Trump) will not be denied…
Making engines more economical with fuel injection and longer-lived engines with better ring sealing and better pistons and valves have done much to cut down on unburned fuel which translates to cleaner emissions. This was being done before catalytic converters and would have happened without CAFE.
Where I live, there are many days you couldn’t tell what our local air quality might be except “silica-enhanced”. We’re probably at greater risk for breathing problems from the environment. When I was a kid the old swamp cooler was literally a breath of fresh air the dirt from outside would be trapped in it and could be washed out on decent days. Before that we hung wet sheets over the doors and window even though dirt might build up on the floor. The wife and my first house was old and on the edge of a cotton field. It was always a fight to keep the dirt from building up on window sills, counter tops and the floor.
I used to get a lot of that “Why did you bring that dirt with you?” from people I knew who got our dirt storms delivered to their non-blowing part of the country. We’re probably one of the few places on earth you can get a blizzard so nasty you can’t see to drive…….frozen dirtballs and when it was warmer, mudballs.
“We’ll never have perfectly pristine air. Not without shutting down industrial society”
And what will that mean? A drastically reduced standard of living for everyone! The Industrial Revolution and resultant division of labor have made it possible for even the so-called ‘poor’ in the West to have things that were not available to anyone, even emperors and kings, less than 100 years ago.
The Law of Unintended Consequences will take a big bite out of everyone’s butt, even TPTB.
“We’ll never have perfectly pristine air. Not without shutting down industrial society or limiting access to powered machinery. Which will mean people like you and I (ordinary people) don’t get access to powered machinery.”
I take Republican and Democratic e rags plus tree-hugging stuff. It’s one of those know they enemy kinda things. What I find amazing is the group that wants to leave oil in the ground, not just allergic to pipelines(by far the safest way to move it)but don’t want it accessed and the same with coal.
So let’s give them a taste of their own medicine and have everyone burn whatever they can find combustible in the winter. Hell, just burn your trash in a stove. Your city neighbors won’t mind a bit. Drive through neighborhoods where everybody is using a wood stove and the air quality is terrible, to the point you can barely see in places.
Pete,
I agree with Eric.
However, the reason that pollution became a pervasive problem, not only air, but water was that property rights were subordinated to some form of the greater good concept, and according to Rothbard, “For a New Liberty”, pp 254-262, the courts deliberately allowed this from mid 19th century on. Real victims of (air) pollution were forced to bear the cost of industrial pollution in the form of lung disease, etc. because public policy as defined by the state was more important.
VW is the victim of the bureaucratic disease of top-down command. In the present era the courts have deferred to the executive branch to impose their solution to the pollution problem, rather than having the litigants, plaintiff and defendant argue this out in a court of law to decide what level of pollution is harmful and leave it to the polluters to figure out how to meet that level. I realize I’m generalizing here, but I think that’s the gist of it.
Government is the cause of pollution for it manages the commons. In the USA the pollution problem should have never happened. Why? Because of property rights polluters were hauled into court very early on. The problem is that government owns and operates the courts and as a result it sided with government’s friends, the polluters. People were told to go pound sand and prove that the pollution wasn’t just an annoyance but actually harmed them. Prove it not only fouled their land but caused harm. Science didn’t advance to meet the courts’ requirements until the mid-late 1960s.
As a result of the people’s anger the EPA was created. The EPA grants writs of pollution. That is it decides who may pollute how much. This is great for the friends of the government for it keeps competition, who can’t get the grants, away.
China is at least on paper, communist. This means people can always pound sand no matter how angry they get. The pollution they have is the result. China is the model for the world. Notice how CO2 in the USA is some huge issue but CO2 in China is no issue. Real pollution in China is no issue. That’s because it’s now a political tool to increase government power. China’s government already has achieved the power and thus needs no correction from the people who work to shape society.
Roughly a decade or decade and half ago new cars reached a threshold where the intake air was often more polluted than the exhaust. The early gains are always very cost effective but when a threshold like this is crossed it becomes not only pointless but very very very expensive.
What would be the acceptable threshold for a polluting act to be considered a tort?
This is a question that must be faced by both a society ruled by the state and one ruled by a legal system founded on property rights and therefore evolved out of voluntary relationships.
We know the former is in fact riff with corruption, subordinates the individual to the state, and generally rules in favor of those with political power. We theorize the latter system, if it exists, will tend to be executed honestly, and have as its goal a reduction or elimination of the conflict.This is so because this justice system, like other goods and services will comprise justice type businesses competing with each other in a free market. Corruption, extortion, and political privilege will exist but it won’t be masked, rewarded (by hapless taxpayers) and institutionalized as in the state, but rather viewed as the crimes that they are by the general population of this hypothetical society.
How these latter kinds of societies will come about and if they will, is anybody’s guess. I think they are achievable if people are willing to live free and honest lives.
Society has managed to mostly deal with noise, smells, light, and other issues between neighbors without violence for the most part so there is probably a way to deal with chemical emissions as well.
Would there be some reasonable limits? Most likely. There are for noise and more. But we accept that there will be some noise from certain things.
The problem is that pollution was never worked out without violence one way or the other.
One thing that really chaps my nether parts is folks (people? Idk) who move to ‘a nice place in the country,’ then sue the neighbor because they don’t like the aroma from his hog barn.
I would sometimes have those kinds of buyers when I was selling real estate. To be honest, I tried to steer most of them out of doing it. I even printed a pamphlet “So you want to move out to the country?”. In it I described some the realities of living in the country. Most city and suburban folks believe most rural areas are “vacant land”, which is far from the case here in Indiana and most places.
I noted that living next to a farm field is basically the same as living next to a factory or warehouse, because in many ways it is. Farmers use loud heavy machines on their fields, often early in the morning, or late at night to avoid the heat of the day. There are heavy trucks in the fall (or whenever something is harvested). There are often bad odors from animals or chemicals. Often tilling will cause minor flooding problems next to fields. The farmer won’t care that it put a big puddle on your driveway, to him your presence is an annoyance.
People forget farms are peoples business and livelihoods. Your complaint about noise and odors are keeping them from earning a living. You driving a four wheeler on their property is trespassing, plus you’re damaging crops or fields. Just because there is no fence doesn’t mean it not private property and that you’re not welcome to even walk through.
Then there is the issues of long periods of power outages, fallen trees and unplowed roads after large snowstorms. And that you have to have a unpaved driveway because you can’t afford to blacktop a half mile. Or that you have a septic field instead of a sewer. Or that you have to maintain a water pump because there is no city water. Or that a crappy internet connection cost $200 a month if it’s even available. Oh yes, Starbucks is hours away.
Most of those people are actually just looking for that large lot subdivision on the edge of town. Thankfully most of my clients got what i was telling them.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your POV, the People’s Republic of Maryland does have a ‘Right to Farm’ law. As long as the farm was there before your house was, you have no standing to sue. Apparently this even applies to industrial type hog operations that expand after you move in.
btw, I’m happy to have a well, rather than an ‘EPA approved water source.’
In the House of Good Will
I draw deeply from the deepest well.
The deepest well that brings me mirth
Living water from the earth.
Yes, that is a real issue. And it can be argued out on the basis of property rights whether you agree with the particular resolution or not. The aroma was not a problem for the previous owner because he didn’t live there. But now someone bought the land, built a house and is living there. Is the smell a nuisance, a violation of property rights?
Should the fact that the hog farm was there before adjacent property changed hands negate the owners claim, or take precedence over his claim that the hog stink is an invasion of his airspace and a violation of his property rights? Why would he buy the property in the first place? So that he could take the pig farmer to court?
What about the hog farmer who wants to purchase a farm next to a country subdivision for the purpose raising hogs?
In both situations would it behoove the prospective buyers to know how the courts have dealt with these situation, or what the established neighbors think?
That flaw does exist, but without government I feel it would not. It didn’t seem to exist until modern times so I have a feeling that the expansion of government over time is what allows it to exist. People seemed to be able to work it out for centuries when government didn’t do and wasn’t expected to do anything about it. When its courts wouldn’t even bother with a such thing or when they did would come up with some sort proper response such as “you moved next to a race track, what did you expect” ?
Like traffic I feel it is the government violence in what it chooses to enforce and not enforce that gives people the ability to move next to something and then demand it be shut down. It takes an special kind of stupid otherwise so I suspect they move with full knowledge they can use this leverage. They rarely try it with a military base or big corporate facility*. Almost always with something small enough that government would like to crush them just for the sake of doing so.
*Mostly all such cases are when such things change how they operate, thus increasing levels or who gets the noises and smells.
I agree. Zoning is a good example of the state mischief you’re talking about. They take away your right to control your own property, then when it suits them they call a hearing to change the zoning on a piece property and being very “democratic” they call for response from the neighbors. They thrive on creating conflict (and divisiveness) amongst us, and between us and them. That is in the nature of the state. That is their purpose as you suggested.
“I will crush your will with my will since I’ve convinced you that my will is the law.”
Zoning is a clear statement of “You don’t own that!”
And Historical Preservation Areas are zoning on steroids.
If you think something is important enough historically to be preserved, then buy it and preserve it. Don’t have enough to but it yourself? Then pass the hat. But don’t stick a gun in someone’s ribs to help you.
Tobacco heiress, Doris Duke restored over 80 rundown colonial home in Newport R.I. all with her own money and other private sources. They are owned by a private foundation started by her, and over 70 of those homes are rented to tenants. Beautiful workmanship and colorful, too.
She had wide ranging interests and lots of money to enjoy them. She built an Islamic style mansion in Hawaii which is now a public museum owned and operated by a private foundation dedicated to Islamic art. She had the good sense not to will it over to some govt. agency. Check it out: http://www.shangrilahawaii.org/
Hi Art,
Thanks for hipping me to this; very interesting! I didn’t know much, if anything, about Doris Duke other than that she was an heiress.
Often these people are your neighbors who want some power. They run for city council not to help anyone but themselves. Once they’re holding some power then people are forced to speak with them who would otherwise wave or give them the finger depending on how they felt about the person. One of the big things for people like that is to “get a name”. They want to be recognized. They know being on the city council will get them things they could normally not have. Whether it’s power or what they take as respect or adulation, doesn’t matter. It’s all done in a selfish way. They are the “me” crowd, the “see me” crowd, the “hear me and obey me crowd” as they have an orgasm of dreaming of signing their name to that new ‘WTF” ever it might be. In the end, it’s power.
Right on, Eight –
My friend Graves (recent poster) and I know a fellow who fits that description exactly. He’s a smarmy/pushy little prick who everyone dislikes and tries to avoid. Naturally, he wants to be elected to a political office. So far, we’ve been lucky. He has been rejected by the voters, too.
Zika much? A bit off topic, but check this out:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/09/joachim-hagopian/nwo-depopulation-agenda/
And check out this turn of phrase – “the powers-that-shouldn’t-be”
PtB, doctors shovel a lot of old untrue shit every day. They also fail to recognize risks from new sources which makes it all worse.
I had felt bad for weeks, achy joints, running fever, headaches, etc. Of course I’d been sprayed so many times that year by the boll weevil bunch I could have been sick from the poison they used. We had one place we used, a strip of pasture with a house and barn and working pens that we used to work cattle for ourselves and other all summer. We got sprayed twice there. Death from above guys were getting paid by how much they sprayed so they would turn their pumps on and never shut them off till they were empty.
I finally went to the doc. Skeeters had been bad that year and I’d been outside almost 24 hrs a day for months(lost a lot of weight) since I had 3 jobs going and 2 I could do at night, metal fabrication and irrigating.
The doc looked me over and said I definitely had an infection of some sort. I had entered my symptoms into a site for disease ID and it matched Lyme’s disease to a T. I told my doc about that and he guffawed and said I shouldn’t believe everything I heard(him?, telling me that?) and I laughed with him thinking what a dolt he was. Less than two weeks later a case of Lyme’s disease was identified in a 15 year old a quarter mile from his office. I didn’t make another expensive visit so I could go back and razz him. The ironic thing was him prescribing me the same med used to treat Lyme’s disease. I did get well.
“I did get well.” I guess you were lucky. Some Lyme’s seems to be ‘curable’ by treatment, and some only mitigated, with symptoms continuing indefinitely. I know a vet who got it, her doc would only prescribe for a certain time course. So now she has a series of dogs, cats, rabbits, etc., for whom she prescribes the meds.
Franz Oppenheimer’s The State
http://anarcho-capitalist.org/wp-content/pdfs/Oppenheimer%20(Franz)%20-%20The%20State%20Its%20History%20and%20Development%20Viewed%20Sociologically.pdf
Eric The Car Guy
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This is a off the present discussion but germain to this site.
As regards to the destruction at Mr. Mooch Musk’s SpaceX launch pad, this article discusses the likely fleecing of the American taxpayer, again.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/news/a22674/who-pays-for-spacexs-spaceport-calamity/
Hi Art,
In re: “Mr. Mooch” … you just made my day; damn, I needed that! 🙂
Hi Eric,
Yes, like your best friend or your wife or girl friend, I know what blows your top, at least one thing that does. Enjoy the roil.
Eric, how about an article on the two losers who somehow became the libertarian candidates for president. I looked into their views on things like gun control, immigration and trade and discovered it is a real stretch to call either one of them libertarians. What Happened?
Johnson might be called ‘libertarianish’ if you’re being generous. Weld – not at all. He’s ‘Mittish.’
Here’s a critique of Johnson’s “libertarianism”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW5gQo43ay4
Here’s Johnson on Morning Joe being asked what he would do about Aleppo if he were president.
Answer: “And what is Aleppo?”
OY!
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/294947-johnson-what-is-aleppo
Johnson’s a tool.
He favors forced vaccination and believes a carbon tax (to fight “climate change”) is good stuff.
I’ll take Trump.
He’s a saggy Mussolini, to be sure. But he’s not pretending otherwise.
I can respect that.
They say ‘the Mitten’ may endorse GJ. Well, why not? Weld is practically his clone.
J is posing as a Libertarian.
It seems oxymoronic to me to call yourself a Libertarian politician. To adhere to the NAP you would have to refuse to enforce all victimless crime laws, bring all the troops home, shut down the empire and refuse to be embroiled in the political and military shenanigans of other countries.
Then you would promptly be assassinated as JFK apparently was for his plan to pull the troops out of Vietnam.
True for Trump. But you could say Mussolini was a Trump on steroids and not pretending to be otherwise. I fear Trump’s a warmonger.
Clinton recently claimed she would never ever send ground troops into Iraq or Syria. And Bush the elder running in ’88 said “Read my lips, NO NEW TAXES”, and raised them, soon thereafter.
I’ll continue to do my best to steer clear of these Apocalypsians and their lackeys. And to have some fun doing it.
“I fear Trump’s a warmonger.”
He may well be. But we know Killary is one – she has already demonstrated it, both as Senator and as SecState.
As for Aleppo, why should any Amerikan, President or not, know or care where or what it is?
Just in case your question is not tongue-in-cheek:
Why should any American, let alone a president, care whether or not American taxpayers are paying for the American govt to invade various countries in the ME, now focused on Syria, Aleppo being the largest city in Syria, with a four year battle there still going on, using ground troops, in some, in others providing war materials and assistance to various terrorist/freedom fighters depending on how Big Brother sees them at any given moment, and being instrumental in destabilizing these countries, killing and displacing millions of innocent people?
“Boys, here’s a few hundred billion dollars; go wreak havoc on them desert bunnies. Not interested in the details, just keep the bombs bursting and the blood flowing and I’ll make sure the money presses churn and the American people are sucking on their pacifiers. Gentlemen, now go do that voodoo that you do, so well!!”
I think we are on the same wave length, or at least similar.
What I was implying was that Aleppo should not be</i our concern. Syria is a sovereign nation and we should leave them alone instead of declaring that their 'dear leader' is not acceptable to us and they need 'regime change.'
WE need a regime change, to someone who is not CFR. Trump may or may not be that person.
Sorry for not proofing this and seeing the failure to turn off italics.
Phillip the Bruce,
I’m clear now. I read comments from Justin Riamondo and Robert Wenzel who didn’t see why Lib. candidate Johnson should know what or where Aleppo is when he said “what is Aleppo?” when asked about it in an interview. They would make sense if US foreign policy was truly non-interventionist, say in the way Switzerland’s is.
I thought you were referring to Johnson’s gaffe. My apologies for being sarcastic with you.
No problem, I get that way sometimes myself.
So sad to watch EPA gut what is undoubtedly a perfect daily driver kind of vehicle, the diesel. Hell, it’s bad enough they’re retarded enough to keep out loads of already in production awesome vehicles sold in such “primitive” countries like Oz and the U.K. If only my Land Rover was diesel powered, I might be able to break double digits fuel economy…
If everyone had a chance to drive a modern diesel, I’m sure they’d convert. Most of my family owns diesels now after taking a test drive in one. Straight liquid fuel, no hybrid nonsense, gobs of city driving torque and of course, great fuel economy. Even my brother’s tank of an S-class can do 30+ mpg while a gas version might break half that.
This surmounting nonsense makes me want to buy an EV and swap in a diesel just to wave my middle finger at the higher ups since I don’t have to emissions test my car. Sorry, just ranting now.
I’m sure when the batteries puke and the rubes find out that they actually have to write a check to replace them, there will be plenty of Prius and Leaf shells out there. Drop in an LT1 or something, and let the fun begin!
It is frustrating that in Europe, one of the most over-regulated hellholes on Earth, you can still buy a high end car with a manual and a diesel. When you are more restrictive than the EU, you are doing it wrong.
“When you’re more restrictive than the EU, you are doing it wrong.”
This would make a good meme. 🙂
“Only compliance matters.”
That is the object of the modern American exercise. That is what every single institution of significance–in the governments eyes at least–teaches. Compliance. If they don’t, they are destroyed.
It’s a got damn clusterfuck. I feel sorry for my children sometimes. It will get worse, before it gets better.
It will collapse and come to an end at some point. Socialist Insecurity and Med-I-don’t-care guarantee that. They may try to tinker with it, but can’t do anything substantive because then there would be an uprising. It’s just a question of how soon and how bad things get before then.
Hi Phillip,
Historical precedent is that democracies become tyrannies. We’re already there. The only question now is how far it goes.
“Historical precedent is that democracies become tyrannies.”
But where has there been a democracy before? Ancient Greece? But those were ‘city-states,’ small and not very powerful. The ‘United States,’ (as opposed to ‘the united States’) was something new. And did not become a real problem until it made the transition from republic to democracy.
I almost have to laugh at Wilson’s “War to Make the World Safe for Democracy,” since democracy itself is not safe.
Weimar Germany comes to mind…
The German state Niedersachsen owns 20% of VW.
The nation of Qatar owns 17%.
…and I’m proud to be part of a’ Merkin-tilism. Where at least I know I’m free, and I won’t forget the men who died, that gave their debts to me…
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/a1/69/96/a16996f9da5cc1d8df0b668126178471.jpg
Hi Tor,
We’re all caught in the rip tide, aren’t we?
Even if you try to live a very “small” life you still won’t be truly free. One can’t buy a small plot of land, build a little cabin on it – and just be left alone. They will demand property taxes, force you to sign up for utilities and health care. All cost money, forcing you to earn it – which means having to work, which means having to bend knee…
Other than being a homeless person living in the woods, I know of no way to be truly free in this country.
Reagan exterminated the last of the original NAPsters or Flower Children as they called themselves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_child
At the time, it seemed like a whole new world had been born, and living feral and fucking as many nubile females as you could fit in your van by the river was any young man’s birthright.
None of this wage serf nonsense. No punching a clock for the man. Just keep your van running and your weed growing and you were the king of the road.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk_hPTN50UE
You can’t even be homeless and live in the woods for the government has people to run them down and out too.
Nobody is to be left alone. Not even the wealthy. Those who don’t join the club will be attacked by the other wealthy until they aren’t wealthy or they have seen the error of their way.
eric, “how far it goes”. That seems to be the question I’m only guessing is dominating the minds of the predator class right now. I’m reading between the lines so to speak of what I read in the news(internet only). Judging by the sheer amount of things being done to the public and the ever-growing growling of said public, I can only guess it’s being done to push the right buttons more quickly before civilian groups are well enough organized to make a real fight out of it.
So much legislation being considered and being passed recently seems designed for one thing, to bring a state of martial law to fruition. It will be a make it or break it moment in the not so distant future it appears.
Of course what’s happened to the wife and I recently only reinforces my view. From having my ear to the ground, they have tried to keep that quiet. OTOH, I have no need to keep it quiet since it ain’t my neighbors coming after me.
I think it’s time for DeathRace 2025. But, instead of running over common citizens, we need to line up all of our politicians for targets. Especially the “global-warming alarmists”. Actually I’m not worried at all about most of this alarmist propaganda. Primarily because the richest, most self-serving pigs of our society are still in DC. I’ll worry when they actually relocate the entire lot to an underground bunker in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Then maybe we can just roll a big rock over the door let them rot.
Hi Graves!
I like the Death Race 2025 idea. But my Trans-Am is not suitable. That fiberglass nose. I need something more capable. Like the BluesMobile … ’74 Dodge Monaco with the cattle pushers…
My favorite movie!
You need to fix the cigarette lighter though…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKmuKjpKPIo
IIRC a ’65ish Chyrsler Imperial should get it done nicely, these cars were banned from demo derbies because nothing else could take them out…
The Dodge won’t start when it rains. Or dew.
Hard to beat anything with a heavy duty brush guard. Easier to bend back into place too if you hit someone massive.
Death Race is not viable any longer due to the plethora of armed helicopters via state, county and feds of all sorts. I don’t know this from watching movies but from merely having a memory of the last 25 years or so.
At first it was an Aero Especial, no doubt stolen from some unlucky individual and then the black ops jobs a bit later. Only a few years later it was full camo FLIR equipped rocket slung Apache’s. Last month it was some behemoth black and white troop carrier with this and that sticking out here and there.
You know when it’s time to fish or cut bait when they show up since they’re the precursor to ground troops.
“Death Racers.”
Cheesy and corny and “cute” because of it. Like Burt Ward’s Batman.
I like the concept, though. What if we were to just create such vehicles, hiding the obvious weaponry, and take the occasional trip to D.C. to rescind our consent?
In most games, I’m a good gunner… If someone else can drive, since I’m sure there are better drivers here than I can ever be…
If basic rational business practices are to be believed, then something like this can’t be coincidental, or accidental. Sometimes it seems that we are reacting to a movie scene we don’t like seeing. I’m not altogether convinced that this crap isn’t being done openly in public just to intimidate consumers, aka, sheeple. You know that other intelligent people in more influential places have already come to the same conclusions, so the real question is, why are we even seeing this crap play out in the public media? I have a hard time even trusting these bastards with what you and I are allowed to see, much less what we are not seeing. If I, who have no power over any of this whatsoever, am driven to want to choke the living piss out of these extortionists, isn’t it possible that someone else, who does have money and power, is already taking steps to do what we can only fantasize?
Imagine being a 1938 German Citizen, and not having bought into all of Hitler’s war propaganda. They had to have been saying “isn’t there someone out there with the will and the power to save us from this psychotic prick”? Maybe it will take another war, of sorts, to straighten this shit out. But I’m afraid we are going to get screwed at both ends from start to finish.
Conspiracy theories can be fun, but I’m much more interested in conspiracy facts!
Everyone wants a hero. Someone else should take the risk…
Someone else pay the price if it fails.
Return of Kings, the hippie commune lessons – in a REAL society, a culture, you call out those who achieve or are great in some way.
On our artificial society, they change their names and hide the game – but it’s the “old boys’ network” except it’s inbred royalty (Zuckerberg has been outed as coming from one of those families, I think it was Carnegie…)
So those of us who believe in making it or failing on our own merits, we’re screwed. (Kiyosaki comes to mind; supposedly, he’s written a fairy tale, “Rich dad, poor dad”, which no one would know of – but he had a wealthy “friend” who bought enough of the first printing to make the book get on the NYT top seller’s list, and the rest is history…)
I wonder if this is what “they” refer to as “game” on the manosphere sites. It would explain why I’m not exactly rolling in women… Too serious. Life isn’t a game, it’s a one-way ticket, and the “game” aspect is to win. Acquire, build, give back, all at once. But told one set of rules, and it’s the wrong rules? It’s like the old Kung Fu flicks, you find a few where they “taught him wrong,” to preserve the value of their tradition… Bad students are driven away. So, techniques like, “blocking your foot with my head…”
Hard to unlearn it, and the consequences are painful either way.
It ain’t baseball. I don’t just get to say, “well, more practice next time.” If I fail, I lose my reputation, and that’s all a consultant has to bank on. It’s my entire future on the line, so I MUST be honest, plain spoken, and get the job done.
As a “game” example, I’ve seen those with “game” – nothing matters, nothing phases them, they just dont’ seem to care. They’re not invested in the outcome.
Well, if you don’t care, why are you working? Just be a Grasshopper and laugh at the ants already…
But no – they just maneuver it so they’re the ones calling the shots. And the ants labor, live and die, under false “laws”, while the ne’er-do-well grasshoppers sing and dance all day.
Hard work isn’t part of the “game.” That’s for the peons…
Hi Jean,
You struck a nerve there…
I’ve been close to the brass ring. Close enough to know how it – the game – works.
Yes, talent is helpful. But it is far from being necessary.
What is necessary is pull.
When I was a Republican “conservative” (god help me) back in the ’90s, I had more work than I could accept – and it all paid very well. Had I not gone off the reservation and embraced Libertarian ideas (which run contrary to the agenda of the money bags who control Republican/”conservatism,” Inc.) I would be rich and famous today.
Not bragging. I could have followed that path. It was open to me. I turned down a job to be a writer for the Wall Street Journal. Among some other things.
Maybe I should not have turned them down. I sometimes wish I didn’t have a conscience (vestigial though it may be) and could “play ball.”
At least I could afford tech support…
Frankly, I’m still trying to figure out why our own grandparents didn’t laugh their asses off when “income tax” was created out of thin air. Frankly, enough people had to actually think it was a good idea, and voluntarily participate, before any of this idiotic bullshit could even take effect. What would have been the answer if everyone had just said, “no thank you, we are keeping our hard-earned income”, could any conceivable number of federal marshals actually put the entire US population in prison? I understand the dangers of lawlessness, but when did we, as a nation, start happily skipping down the path to sheepleness? Jesus, I think I need to slit my wrists over this one.
Nobody cared because it was only for “the rich”.
The income tax was sold to the public as a minor inconvenience for the very rich, and they were promised that the tax would never affect working people.
This was pretty much the case until World War II and the Victory Tax which brought in withholding from wages. It was supposed to be a temporary emergency measure to fund the war effort, but we all know how that turned out. Today people arrange their entire lives around taxes and accept the situation as “normal.”
The promises made to sell the income tax are right up there with those made when Social Security numbers came about. The public was promised upside down and sideways by government that the SSN would NEVER become a national identifier, that it would only ever be used for Social Security purposes. (Early Social Security cards said right on the face that they were not to be used for identification.)
I know….. history is rife with that kind of crap. It’s just so irritating when people actually believe what comes out of a politician’s mouth. Not that politicians haven’t been lying through their gold-capped teeth for centuries, it just seems to have been snowballing ever since our own post-civil-war “reconstruction”. As you pointed out, major wars seem to breed a public consensus for accepting preposterously idiotic self-screwing “social reform”. Maybe that’s why the most ambitious politicians also promote foreign wars? Go figure.
War is the health of the state.
Hamilton said, “I wish there was a war.”
Etc.
“the most ambitious politicians also promote foreign wars”
Except for Dishonest Abe. He was very ambitious, but promoted a domestic war.
Abe was particularly atrocious. He did what Hamilton wanted to do.
The tragedy is he was initially not popular – and neither was his war on the South. Had the Southern leadership been just a bit smarter, strategically speaking – and pursued the invading federals (and Abe) and occupied Washington after the route at First Bull Run… and then offered terms for a peaceful parting of the ways, it is likely Abe would have been forced to accept (and been deposed) and history would have taken an altogether different and probably much better course.
I know I’ll hear brays about But Slavery!
It would have ended regardless, as it had (and did) everywhere else.
Meanwhile, the World Savers who ran the North would not have been in a position to tip WW I in England’s favor, with the result of that being a reasonable/brokered peace between the warring parties and – probably – no Stalin, no Hitler, no World War II.
In which case, something on the order of, I dunno, let’s say 50 million people would not have been killed.
Not a bad outcome.
Actually, slavery is still practiced in certain backwards countries (almost anywhere Islam is ascendant. Another reason it’s so popular with our elites. That beast – Elites – never changes, they’re sociopaths.)
However, here in the US, we would’ve ended slavery anyway. Mechanization ended it effectively.
Now we have a surplus of unskilled labor, you notice – which lends itself to slavery. People who are starving will exchange freedom for security…
Maybe a nanotech virus to wipe out sociopaths…?
Anyway, fever dreams of my own sociopathic mind aside, we are being set up to devolve into a Caliphate, and it seems like the Unicorn Fart crowd won’t believe – nor object, even if proven wrong! – as they watch their country and history and religion destroyed.
“Better Red than Dead!” isn’t over.
Cue my fever dreams of making the world safe for humans, and free of semi-evolved naked apes…
Slavery is alive and well in the USA. No iron chains, no whips. Just debt, interest, taxes, student loans, medical insurance and Obamacare’s mandate. Far more effective than physical chains and 999 out of thousand or more don’t even know they are slaves.
Morning, Brent!
Yes, it is. Only the plantation is larger and we’re allowed to move from one to another. But we are never allowed off the plantation.
“But we are never allowed off the plantation.”
That’s Uncle Sam’s Plantation. See the book by Starr Parker, a condemnation of the US welfare system that keeps people, especially black, dependent.
True, too true!
But i was running with the frame of the original, which was people in chains, being whipped for refusing to work.
At least now they get paid for refusing to work… (Knew I should’ve made a left turn back at… )
“Mechanization ended it [slavery] effectively.” That plus the fact that they had nowhere to expand. Slavery was economically efficient for crops like cotton. But there was not cotton land in the territories, nor most of Texas, for that matter.
Maybe far east Tx. Any place west of Dallas and you’d have had to arm the slaves because of the Indian things. Out here where I live and west to the Pacific the only towns that date before 1880 were military forts.
From what I’ve read it wasn’t just an ‘Indian’ problem, it was a water problem.
The phrase “west of the Pecos” comes to mind, but that may just be an old lyric stuck in my head.
Dry land cotton all the way to the desert(west of Big Spring). Gonna be a lot of grazer cut twice this year.
Blaming the docility of the masses to the aftermath of the (un)Civil War or any other event that has happened historically in the US is not accurate. If it were; then why doesn’t any other nations have a greater percentage of libertarian-leaning people than we do? The masses in every wealthy country believe in collectivism and democracy even more strongly than our people do. There are some poor countries in Central and South America that have a significant number of people who despise their government, but I doubt that they despise democracy. Returning to a Republican form of government is also a terrible idea that was put forth by the elitist fondling fathers so that they could justify putting down insurrections to their diktats!
I would place the beginning of the submissive and intentionally blind masses at the dawn of the agricultural society and organized religion.
The dawn of agriculture brought a gradual end to the nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The best land was being seized by squatters, which forced the remaining nomads into areas that were less productive in growing human food, which caused them to have to travel greater distances in order to feed themselves and their animals.
Humans learned how to dominate certain desirable animals and birds and went to work domesticating them. The most productive mammals on earth are humans, so of course there arose some people who desired to dominate less perceptive people and use them as livestock.
Religion domesticated the masses by fooling them into believing that God placed certain persons, who claimed direct communication with Him, in charge of them. Stories about a vengeful God who could send people to reside in an eternal lake of fire upon death, along with threats by rulers to put them to death, caused most people to comply.
The people who didn’t want to comply had the option of traveling to somewhere that had no effective ruler-ships until recent times. This was one main reason for pioneers migration further and further west until there was no more west left: To escape government!
It was during this westward expansion that government schools were being created. Forced mandatory attendance of these indoctrination centers world-wide in developed nations further weaken the minds of the masses.
Brian,
Your argument that the state came in to existence via conquest reminds me of a book, “Der Staat” I read by Franz Oppenheimer published 1908. It made eminent good sense to me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_State_(book)
“the Victory Tax which brought in withholding from wages” – courtesy of Milton Friedman, heard of him?
Here is why “Uncle” has such limitless power. If VW Corp. truly has nothing to gain, and everything to lose, by complying with a “court ordered fine”, why are they even participating? Supposing VW were to just “opt out” of selling to the U.S., not pay any fine whatsoever, and at the same time, tell this bunch of government mobsters to go screw themselves, what could be the worst that could happen to VW then? I seriously doubt that the U.S. National Guard would be deployed to VW HQ in Europe to put them under military arrest. When a billion-dollar industry doesn’t have the balls to refuse to participate in this wholesale extortion, you and I won’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell when Uncle come to take our guns, or castrate us to end the possibility of any more rapes. Participation is what legitimizes Uncle’s extortion tactics, and I don’t seeing it stopping anytime soon.
“I seriously doubt that the U.S. National Guard would be deployed to VW HQ in Europe to put them under military arrest.”
Well we are in “need” of a “good war” to cull the herd.
I don’t think it much matters if it is simply a redoubling of the existing wars (terror, drugs, drunk driving, poverty, pollution, human trafficking, et al) or Season 3 of the War With Germany.
Why not Season 3? It would bring back patriotism and all that good shit. Willow Run would be back up and turning out all kings of neat implements of destruction.
A good time would be had by all. We can even give it a cool name like Germanistan. “Fuck those Germanestinians” will be the battle cry that makes Amurka great again.
Think of the benefits. The brothers will be happy because whites will be suspected of espionage and hassled at an unprecedented rate. Our GIs will be able to rape St. Pauli Girls as well as drink them.
And best of all, Roger Penske will be back in Redford, MI making the Cascadia at the newly renamed Detroit Tesla plant.
“phantasmagorical” you say?
You are talking about the company that started in May of 1938?
The company that then changed the name to “The People’s Car Company”?
The state owned car company – Volkswagenwerk?
The company Adolf Hitler cried out “It is for the broad masses that this car has been built. Its purpose is to answer their transportation needs, and it is intended to give them joy.” That company?
Yes indeed, the company that made the car that would have put Ted Kennedy in the whitehouse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TeddyVWad.jpg
Alas the swimmer drove an Oldsmobile.
The FahrvergnĂĽgen company. The company that makes “The Most Loved Cars in the World.”
Phantasmagorical. In this case the Alpha, Mu, and Omega of a car company.
Damn Eric, when you’re on, you’re really on. Masterful!
To paraphrase one of the “greatest states’ men,” I would only ad that it is for the broad masses that this car company has been destroyed. Its destruction is to answer their transportation needs, and it is intended to give them joy.”
(How does one say walking enjoyment in German?)
Tuanorea, your post brought about my memory of the old Volkswagon Beetle commercial I used to see as a youngster in the early ’70’s. Unsurprisingly: Somebody posted it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB9rK8UR0vk
I wonder if the newer VW Beetles float like the old ones did in the commercial linked above?
Thanks Brian.
And thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster that Teddy drove one of these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_2zYlqflZY
I have a strong suspicion that this whole thing is a payoff to the unions by shaking down another foreign automaker. There was the whole Toyota unintended acceleration fiasco and now this.
VW should have given Uncle the middle finger and threatened to leave the US market. There would have been enough wailing and screaming from the stakeholders that they would have backed off.
Hard to defend those that don’t defend themselves…………….
This crap reminds me of the days of my straight pipe chevy. The 70’s emissions controls made the car dangerous to drive (would hesitate and stall when cold, and it took a long time to warm up) as it smothered the engine. So when I installed a larger exhaust system (the system that should have been put in at the factory) my buddy welded on a fake catalytic converter around the exhaust pipe so if someone looked under the car, it appeared that it had one. But the pipe went straight through it without stopping.
It would be ironic if the VW “fix” actually makes the cars dangerous to drive……….
An El Camino is a Chevelle frame but it’s registered as a pickup. So that same tiny exhaust pipe, smog pump, 4 barrel 350 came as a pickup would, no smog pump and a big larger exhaust. Fortunately duel 2.5″ exhausts and a flipped over air cleaner top made it feel like it gained 100 hp. After a while that 350 got replaced with a custom built legal only in states that didn’t give a shit and turned into a 400 hp pavement ripper. It would get over 18 mpg with huge tires and a 3.73 rear gear. No telling what an OD transmission would have yielded. If it ever runs again, we’ll get to find out what it will do with a warmed up 5.3. That’s the beauty of old cars, run what you want in rural counties. I suppose a 572 would fit right in there. Probably a Duramax would get one down the road just fine.
Yup, it was a Chevelle (the “downsized” 1976 Malibu model). Had the small block 305 V8. It did have WAY more power once the exhaust was upsized. It was what was the standard in American motoring for decades, rear drive, V8, living large.
You could even get a 454 big block in one of these.
Don’t forget the 59
It was 78 when downsizing that line happened. El Camino, Chevelle and Monte Carlo. A friend has a Monte that was nearly identical on the inside as my ’77 Elco SS which had a Monte interior, swivel buckets, different dash and gauge package, interior door panels, etc. A friend had a head-on with his 76 elco Classic and bought a new ’78 which was the downsized one. I just saw a perfect ’78, red with black racing stripes SS Elco yesterday, looked great. It was the downsized models that came with 305’s and computer controlled Quadrajets with tubes off the exhaust coming back to the intake.
Most people I knew mashed the tubes shut and replaced the distributor and carb with one’s off 350’s. A lot of them ended up with a 350 of some sort anyway and dual exhausts. That smaller Elco would haul ass with a stout 350. Some of them had 4 speed manuals. I don’t recall ever seeing a factory 4 speed in the big Elco.
PtB, how could I forget the 59 when my uncle had one with a 348 and Powerglide. That was a big looking thing but it was based on the full size car. I doubt it was any smaller than the 73-77 El Camino though. I believe mine showed to weigh 4360 something. Those years were popular on the strip because of their front to rear weight ratio.
I was, and, still am, leaning towards no buyback. I’d have to pony up around 5-10K out of pocket to get an equivalent car. I was planning on taking the cash for the following reasons
1) I wasn’t planning on getting the fix (I have an urea tank so I assume my fix will be all software)
2) Diesels are exempt from emissions in my state.
3) I was planning on keeping the car. If VW tanks, I may just need to find a new service rep.
However, I’ve just had the urea tank heater fail. That’s a total urea tank replacement-at 1K. And the car is less than 5 years old. I guess that’s what you get for putting the urea tank near the exhaust not near the engine, and I guess that shit can and does freeze. Now that’s starting to eat into the cash VW would give me. A few more of those “problems” and I’m going negative and the car is becoming more hassle than the offset.
There are Urea tank delete kits available (they won’t be easy to find, and finding someone to install it even more so). Don’t ask the dealer, they won’t, ask someone with a diesel pickup, that mod is more common for pickups. You may find a racing place that will do it, and you will likely have to claim you only use the car off road for “racing”, wink, wink. The upside, then you wouldn’t need to put in the fluid in at all and you won’t be injecting that crap back into your engine.
However, that option is only if you never plan on selling the car to anyone but the junkyard. You may be able to get away with it since you said your state doesn’t look. Unfortunately, that will void the warranty and you can’t let some government drone inspect the car.
I’d go with that IF I was sure the state wouldn’t change it’s mind about the emissions given the VW “fiasco”. So I’m sitting tight for now….
“Urea tank”??!!??
FLAG ON THE PLAY!
Besides the first thing that comes to mind – ANFO bomb, Uncle now mandates piss powered cars?
Why not, Milorganite is approved for human consumption these days. In fact, it is EPA approved.
Don’t blame this on anyone but VW’s Upper Management! Ok, blame Upper Middle Management too. That’s probably where the actual decision to cheat happened. But that was the result of criminally stupid pressure from the very top to make the TDI Pass Emissions, NO MATTER WHAT!
Sure the EPA emission regs are unreasonable and tyrannical. But Mercedes and Audi manage to make their diesels legal. If it cost more to make it happen….well, that extra cost is a mere pittance, compared to what VW will pay.
Hi Mike,
Some of the Audi (and Porsche) diesels are apparently involved, too.
And with the prestige brands, cost is less an issue. VW’s big “sell” was that its diesels were affordable.
Now there are none such.
The ‘legal’ diesels pay a price in cost (material, energy, labor), fuel efficiency, and power. VW cheated on emissions testing to make those targets.
The bureaucrat does not understand the art of engineering balance. Odds are the net environmental impact of this incremental difference is greater than not having tightened the regs. I suspect that VW could prove that if their executives had the stomach to do so. The additional fuel, the plastics, metals, more time at WOT, etc all should add up to more NOx than the cheat.
VW will get bailouts from Vater Deutschland if there’s any shortfall that might effect German GDP.
Socialize the losses…
Just socializing the losses isn’t enough. Socialize the costs. A successful venture in the early 21st century is one where the costs can be socialized and the profits privatized.
Half the owners of affected VWs are accepting the buyout, my guess is those owners have vehicles that are getting near the end of their life cycle as the two year window runs out. High mileage, expensive repairs, leases ending, wrecks, and other similar factors that affect cars as they reach middle age; those folks will take the money and run. By the time this is over, that 50% estimate may be much higher.
The real question for VW is, how many remaining owners are going to opt for the “fix” and a payout versus ignoring the whole mess and keeping it as is? VW needs 85% compliance with buyouts and fixes to avoid additional fines. Bribery. The temptation for the majority of keepers of getting the fix AND a cash settlement AND keeping the vehicle AND the extended warranty may be VWs salvation.
More importantly, the deal has been agreed to in principle with the EPA. The California air resources board will have to sign off on any fix. My impression based on what I’ve read is that CARB wants these cars off the highway, not “fixed.”
There is a sweet spot calculation that owners are doing now. I’m in fairly good shape with a buyback, but people with the newer models aren’t going to get much of a deal if they take the buyback, and the very old vehicles aren’t worth doing anything to. There are 3 generations of the 2.0 L TDI engine. The oldest is also going to be the hardest to fix, the newest should be “fixable” but who knows what it’s going to do to performance. VW says the fix won’t affect performance, but I can’t really believe that.
“VW says the fix won’t affect performance, but I can’t really believe that.”
Exactly – because if performance wasn’t improved by the ‘cheating,’ why on earth did they do it?
My TDI is an 09 – early in the run – and has over 200k on it. Plus the DSG is scrambled. I just hope I still get a decent buyback. No other viable option.
The original intent by Audi engineers was to make diesel engines appeal to upscale markets by reducing noise, vibration, and clatter. They successfully made diesels as unobtrusive as modern gasoline engines yet without sacrificing performance and economy. Then bureaucrats came along.
I read in the last few days that impending legislation in Ca. to tighten “emissions” even more is going to be adopted by other states also, probably more than less. I hope to hell it doesn’t happen in Tx. but those denizens in Austin aren’t Texans in any way except where they live and pay taxes. I know some that brought everything they’d learned growing up in Baltimore and being military brats to Tx. to enlighten us all.
That legislation doesn’t bode well for VW for sure, a point made in that article.
Even when the scandal was just rumor I’d read a missive from VW saying their future would be focused on additions such as more features, software and amenities and electric vehicles. Yeah hell, I’d go that route too since the Leaf is such a hit and Toyota and GM use the profits from ICE vehicles to subsidize the lost money of electrics. Maybe(probably a fact)they’ve figured out how to make us all pay for them via govt. subsidy and “tax exemptions”……as if those were two different things.
I’ve heard of “fight or flight”
VW did neither.
They didn’t fight (go to bat against the EPA Nazis), and they didn’t flee (leave the US market), they stood there like a whipping post.
If VW folds, it is on the executive team’s head.
I agree, Warp.
Some inside baseball: I was (and still am) so infuriated by this assault on VW that I offered to do some copywriting for them (because clearly, they need the help). I was told the high muckety-mucks wanted to play ball with EPA instead.
It’s amazing, really. You would think they could have tied things up legally for way less than the amount they will pay in fines.
I never heard, how did this come to the attention of the Feds, anyway?
As I recall some university researchers figured it out. No one was actually harmed and these cars are still cleaner than many others. Unfortunately the auto makers long ago stopped fighting draconian regulation and now VW is paying the price. Really the only thing they did wrong was not to fight this.
While the EPA is infuriating, it’s hard to have a lot of sympathy for VW at this point. They should have grown some balls and told the EPA to go screw. Likewise, I hope Apple tells the EU where to shove their 14 billion dollar tax bill. Us peons don’t have much of a chance against the gov’t beauracracies, but these mega corps have the money and power to do something, if only they had the balls.
“They should have grown some balls and told the EPA to go screw.”
Nice idea, but it’s hard to get away with saying that to a GUNvermin agency.
They should have just made a monster donation to the Clinton Foundation.
Having Clintigula back in the White House will be such good times… like the ’90s all over again…
More like this.
I actually did pretty well in the ’90s. I’m guessing that particular history won’t repeat…
By the way, got my magnet – very cool, thanks!
No, the economy has no chance of a comeback under Killary. Billy boy had the fumes of the 1980’s boom pushing his sails, and he was largely blocked in his attempts at “healthcare” and other free sh*t which would have killed the 90’s good years.
Killary has a decade of deep recession in front of her, she doesn’t give a sh*t about “your pain”, and will spend trillions that don’t exist. So we are really facing another decade of deep recession I am afraid to have to say. It’s likely to get a lot worse. Maybe will get lucky, if the rumors of her ill health are true, and she kicks the bucket. At least old joe won’t be moving into 1600, though Kaine is hardly better.
The history books will likely mark our period of time as a quarter century of economic depression. Sucks for guys like me (30’s, 40’s, 50’s) that should be in our peak earning years…………
Except this time they’ll have all the powers they couldn’t get in the 1990s.
Remember, the Patriot Act consisted of largely of previously failed Clinton era police state legislation. Power the Clinton whitehouse wanted but was stopped by the republican congress for nothing more than partisan reasons. With GWB in office there was no reason not to. There is no conspiracy of it being ‘ready to go’ for it probably took only a few minutes to cut and paste it together.
And yet no one cared then…
Still all about whether “our team” is the one breaking the law / passing bad laws…
I was told the high muckety-mucks wanted to play ball with EPA instead.
I swear, Germany has become a nation of such pathetic, gonad-less cucks over the last 70 years that it’s just sickening. It’s enough to make you almost wish that the Nazis had prevailed in World War II…
Liberranter,
I thought you knew better….?
They DID win – by losing. Operation Paperclip brought the Nazis into positions of power and influence in America; I understand it’s not the only operation, but I’d also point out that the toxic elitist ideology was shared both sides of the Atlantic (and Pacific, though they termed things differently there.)
The Eugenics movement, and the Mercantilist nature of things, existed long before WW2, even. WW1 was a family squabble, and then it ended with a lot of pain for Germany.
But the plan to breed supermen existed. Reasons for laws against miscegenation. Reasons for Planned Parenthood (abortion on demand.)
Importing Nazi scientists just put another nail in the coffin of free men.
It was part of the Art of War, to win by losing; women have practiced it since prehistory.
That’s because all CEOs of the top 100 western corporations are brought up through the agenda 21 ranks. These multinationals are the companies that really run our gov’ts. VW is on the hook because of that car that gets between 150-300 mpg. Wouldn’t that really destroy the green agenda that is aligned with agenda 21 and the international bank cartel. I suspect the greens are behind all this crucifixion of VW.
Hi to5,
I’ve considered that angle as well. It is, at the very least, odd that VW’s 100-plus MPG car got very little press and appears to have simply faded away.
“They didn’t fight (go to bat against the EPA Nazis)”
Original Nazis vs. the EPA Nazis, sounds like a great movie. I like the German babes with the thigh highs.