One of the upsides to Coronavirus is downward pressure on the price of oil – helped further downward by a price war between some of the world’s producers. In my area – SW Virginia – the price of unleaded regular gazzuline has already fallen to just over $2 per gallon; it is possible it’ll fall to less than $2 per gallon before spring and that is more than just really good news for people who fill-up.
It is very bad news for people who charge up.
For the whole EV shibboleth, which has already given up on even the pretense of being the means by which driving costs are to be reduced. Remember that one? Back in the ’90s – when gas cost more than it does now – EVs were being developed as a way to get around the then-high and expected to get higher cost of gassing up.
But then the price of gas went down – while the cost of EVs didn’t. The whole EV thing seemed to be on the verge of going away when . . . just like all-of-a-sudden Iraq became the “enemy of freedom” after the country was supposedly attacked by Afghani religious fanatics – who turned out to be Saudi fanatics, if they weren’t something else entirely – it was suddenly all about EVs being the salve for a “climate” in “crisis.” 
And the emphasis shifted to how quick and sexy these EVs could be while salving the climate and signaling the virtue of those within.
Well, they’re about to pay more to signal, it looks like. Cheaper gas is a kind of reverse subsidy, only no taxpayers are being mulcted in the process. Or – put another way – it’ll be necessary to increase the subsidization of economically idiotic EVs, in order to keep them from piling up at railheads and distribution lots on account of their being fewer people willing to pay even more to virtue signal.
As The Kingfish used to say, now lookee here:
If gas goes down to say $1.75 per gallon that means a full 15 gallon tank costs about $25. If the car the gas goes into averages say 27 MPG – about average for a new car – that means it costs about $25 to go more than 400 miles, which is about twice as far as any new electric car equipped with its standard battery (you have to pay thousands more for the optional battery if you want to be able to go farther).
About $100 per month to drive the IC car about 1,600 miles. That’s cheap – which is something no EV that’s available can come close to competing with, even if you don’t factor in the ludicrous cost of the EV itself. If you do, the cost-per-mile disparity is wider than an astronomical unit and that doesn’t factor in the EV’s shorter useful service life (a function of the EV’s shorter battery life).
This could end up killing a lot more Teslas and Leafs and Bolts (oh, my!) than people.
Here’s to hoping!
. . .
Got a question about cars, Libertarian politics – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in!
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
My latest eBook is also available for your favorite price – free! Click here. If that fails, email me at [email protected] and I will send you a copy directly!
Another one bites the dust.
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/attention-nhtsa-second-tesla-week-has-plowed-through-storefront-coachella-valley
Gas won’t remain cheap for long. This will be used to collapse the dollar for a global central bank crypto currency. As the dollar collapses hyper inflation will set in, driving gas prices and everything else through the roof.
And this latest “Corona Virus” is the main reason I don’t drink Mexican beer!! Ayyyee Carumba!!
I think this will get really bad. I have close relatives that have close work/relatives in both China and Italy. We all need to get serious about it. Limit spread and survive. So don’t physically contact folks. Keep your distance. I don’t know that whole the thing is not a scheme to cover the economic collapse and/or kill off 90% of the human race so that the planet survives (The Planet don’t Care, George Carlin). If it is, it may bite them in the ass. Law of unintended consequences. Whatever is going on, be careful, cover your ass (have backup). Survive. It’s going to be an interesting next 8 weeks.
***”don’t physically contact folks. Keep your distance”****
That’s my normal routine……
Same here!
People are going fucking bananas though. The wife wanted me to pick up a few things from the supermarket, usually I like to go first thing in the morning when it’s quiet and hardly anyone around, keeping with the philosophy of avoiding people as much as possible. This morning it was pandemonium. Crazed proles loading up shopping carts with huge amounts of toilet paper, water, all kinds of stuff.
Doesn’t anyone keep at least a few basics around the house? Do they think their tap water is going to get turned off? If things really get THAT BAD their little cart full of terlet paper is not going to help them for long. Frigging morons.
Exactly, Jason! It’s like when snow is forecast….the stores will be packed with idiots “stocking up” on bread, milk and eggs- even if they don’t normally use those things….even if they live 2 blocks from the store and have a $70K AWD crossdresser….and even though the supply chain will not break down because of an inch…or even a foot of snow- even if it actually materializes.
In NY, I used to wait for such scenarios, and go shopping after the snow started falling or was supposed to- the shelves would be restocked, and I’d have the whole place to myself.
We keep a few basics…..like 25lbs of pinto beans. a deer’s worth of venison, a couple hundred pounds of beef, countless frozen chickens, turkeys, fish, all sort of veggies, large containers of many spices, plenty pasta of different types, canned goods such as tuna and some veggies, beef and chicken broth, plenty bread of different sorts, lotsa flour, cornmeal, dry milk, etc. We only have several months of food at any given time. I buy beer and bourbon in bulk as well as cat and dog food. I don’t worry about water too much with 6 wells on the place although it needs to be filtered. Soon, I’ll have (hopefully)mucho veggies in the garden and will can as much as I can produce over what we consume.
People in this part of the country used to have huge gardens, as in many acres. You had no reason to go hungry and people didn’t till chemical farming became the norm and nobody can grow a garden or even fruit trees due to overspray of Roundup.
I suspect it can also get bad for some… especially given a major chunk of the population has never even seen where food/ water comes from and would have no idea how to survive once the supermarket is empty. Living in London know people from Italy and China, and they do tell scary stories. I think another issue which will make it worse in the west is that most people would have no idea what to do to take care of themselves without the government telling them what to do – whereas in China whatever you say – people can figure things out on their own to survive / take care of each other….
Hi Nasir,
I suspect more people will be hurt by the economic downturn triggered by the virus than by the virus itself. So sad – but probably planned. The more I roll it around in my head, the more I suspect that this is the Hail Mary pass being used to get rid of the Orange Man, whose re-election had otherwise been all-but-assured.
One possibility is that with the market crash, new (and used) vehicles may get a lot cheaper.
Remember back in 2009 dealers were practically giving away new pickups.
Vehicles were so cheap I was bumming some money for that $5.26/gal diesel to get back home the day after the crash when EVERYONE on a long list of clients cancelled their new roofs.
May be time to fill up my 44 gallon tank! Haven’t done that in a long time! (Hell, it takes almost as long as charging an EV)
Hi Nunz,
I am not nearly as worried about the virus as I am about the virus becoming the excuse for lockdowns, chaos and – perhaps – martial law and national Hut! Hut! Hutting!
People have been so Geraldo-ized that Fear and neurotic response to it are among the defining sicknesses of our time.
eric, I smell something rank. This is the perfect secret collusion between “enemies” to cause the “banks” to fail, as if they weren’t about to of their own doings, initiate martial law and keep everyone home so they don’t spend their money the banks are about to take. This is just one creepy crawly I can’t seem to get off my back and it gets worse every day.
It reminds me of that event only referred to as 3 numbers. It’s like that dead snake just far away you just catch little whiffs of it at first and don’t notice for a while how much stronger the smell is getting.
Eight – I personally also spam something rank…. this issue was quite obvious for months now seeing what was happening in China. And thats after everyone knows how China lies about everything. The answer was in front of us – in what Singapore / south Korea did to quite successfully control it, despite being in the region and very congested cities. But western leaders just ignored it and did not a thing….
One of the biggest problems in the west right which is a real time bomb and most likely to cause the pitchforks to come out is the off balance sheet / unfunded liabilities in the form of pensions and free healthcare for is an ageing population. To make it even worse, the younger working generations, even those at peak earning years are not making close to enough to pay into and sustain the ponzi scheme. Furthermore, a large chunk of the assets are in the hands of the old who tend to spend less, while the young are unable earn anything (because of constantly being fleeced on earnings) to really buy big ticket items.
Now if an event happened where the older generation was cleared out, those unfunded liabilities vanish into thin air, assts are passed to the younger generation (being taxed in the middle) where they are more likely to be pissed away into the hands of those in power keeping the cycle alive for another few generations….. would that really be such a bad thing if you were one of our dear leaders (who are safely tucked away in their bunkers with ample supplies of adrenachrome or whatever else they want)….
Exactly, Eric. It’s like a hurricane or “terrorist attack”- your chances of being affected by the actual incident may be very low…..but you likely will be affected by what Uncle does about it, or take pains to avoid Uncle’s responses.
I have zero worries about any Corona virus….but whether that virus is “organic” or man-made, I’m sure that it will be used as an excuse to further tyranny and usurp any remaining shards of liberty that may still be lingering.
I can’t even read the one alternative news site that I had been still reading as of late, anymore. Bad enough that it had been consumed by an emphasis on international politics lately…..but now, literally, 50% of the content revolves around the freaking Corona virus! SCREW THAT!
Be like the Amish. Worry about our immediate surroundings….not what goes on everywhere else. Too much opportunity to construct false narratives when one’s only source of info is media story-tellers, as opposed to real people.
Yeah spot on. I myself think the entire thing is 100% fraud lol. MAYBE there was a bioweapon that got a few people sick somewhere, okay, I’ll buy that story, but viruses can’t spread like they’re claiming. Plus, the way they TEST for viruses is completely fraudulent (according to some MD’s I listen to on internet radio shows). I’m not sure viruses even really exist like they say they do. So anyone in a hospital or wherever that dies of ANYTHING, they just SAY it’s from the virus and we’re all supposed to believe that! The hospitals/etc don’t even know how to test for anything… they’d have to do a real lab test with that ion/spectometer thing, or they’d have to do a frequency resonance test, but they don’t do either of those things, they just see if they can culture the supposed virus on a petri dish… pffff. And they can’t tell how MUCH of a virus is in anyones’ body anyway, so it’s all just heresay and made up nonsense. I bet there’s so much fraud & corruption and lies going on about the fake stats they tell us in their fake media. What a joke. If any of this virus nonsense were 1% true, we’d all be dead/extinct a LONG time ago, they’ve been trying to bioweapon ppl for eons yet we’re still here… so it obviously doesn’t spread well, plus ppl have been flying all over the world since 1960’s, yet noone is getting sick or going extinct anywhere. Hmmmm.
Years ago, the CDC was taken to court for numbers they pulled out their ass. They quit speaking of numbers. Now they’re back to it with help from the usual sources, govt., those who want power like the Gates clan and others who want to rob us.
For the record, the CDC never tested or required testing to determine how many people died of flu of any sort.
They’re nothing but a revolving door for Big Pharm and that’s their entire reason for existence. Don’t take my word for it. You can find out their directors and top echelon and where they worked previously. This ain’t my “fact” nor “opinion”. It’s the Facts of what they did and have begun to do again.
I could take accurate numbers of people killed in vehicle wrecks in the US, transpose them and multiply by ten and come up with an atrocious number of deaths on the highways and byways. BTW, there are many nations that the rate per 100,000 deaths from motorcide would inflate the number worldwide by a huge amount.
Grab your AR cause you’re going to need it to fend off the liberals who wouldn’t dare debate you but kill you in a heartbeat to “be right”……as they see it.
Yeah, Harry. Now, everyone who comes down with the plain-old flu, or just the sniffles, is gonna think they have Corona…..and after “the people” demand that testing (Likely being purposely withheld for now, so “the people” will demand it, and thus it will not seem like an Uncle-mandated thing) they can just say anyone has COVID-19, and who will know any different?
The average schmoe isn’t even aware of how many people die every year from the regular flu……so whatever numbers are claimed for Corona- whether it even exists or not, will seem like a lot to them….
You know something is afoot when all of the celebrities and politicians are claiming to be “infected”; and when the silly publicity stunts that the governments of all levels roll-out- like suspending pooblik skool for 2 weeks (Oh, yeah…that’ll stop the virus! Sure….) make no real sense.
Eightsouthman and Nunzio, hahaha lol spot on. Well said.
Hah! All they things “they” tell you to do: stay home if you can, avoid crowds and events – that just describes my normal life.
I go to the “city” (130 mile r/t) maybe 2 or 3 times a year, and to the nearest town (50 mile r/t) maybe once a month. Any excuse to stay home will do for me. I’ve got miles of countryside out here to hike on, firewood to cut and split, and it’s supposed to snow again this weekend so plenty of shoveling.
Good stuff, Anon!
I’m making another run to the sto’ today to stock up on cat food… gotta make sure the Beasts are provisioned…
eric, I ordered 400 lbs of cat food plus vitamins and minerals for people from Sam’s. They deliver. Wish the postal service would service a postal box at the gate for us. They said it was a half mile too far. Ridiculous bs. Some used to have boxes at an intersection but they continually got destroyed by idiot farmers with big equipment but not big enough to not be able to get around the boxes.
We have to go to town to buy a washing machine. I’ll buy a few cases of beer and a case of bourbon and we won’t have to go to the Post Office till we feel like it since we pay bills online. I intend to recharge the deer feeder as soon as these back muscles are up to it. The neighbor and I are going to create our own “special” season. He’s a phenom with a bow.
Like 8-South, I too smell what Elmer Fudd would call a “Big, Fat, Wat!”
I noted a few days ago that somehow, magically, the Israelis say they’re well on their way to developing a VACCINE. Either they had knowledge many months ago of this thing, and of the Chicom cover-up, and worked like hell to make that vaccine, or…they were in it ALL ALONG, and stand to make a literal KILLING on the vaccine! Or, it could be be a bioweapon, designed to sow chaos in the West, and help them assert control since the goy minions in “Murica” won’t all get “woke”!
It’s not as if that hasn’t happened before in the “Virtual” world. Ever notice how many computer viruses seem to come from Israel, and how many “Anti-Virus” outfits were either started in Israel or BOUGHT OUT by them? Coincidence? I’m not so sure…
We’ll see how all this shit plays out. Right out, Orange Man is making pronouncements, the Dummycrats are pontificating about how it’s all Trump’s fault, but somehow, methinks the entire thing is either an experiment gone horribly wrong, ala “Andromeda Strain”, or a deliberate biological attack.
Glad I’m armed and not afraid to use ’em.
I know people who say Israel is our best ally. Gawd save us all from “allies” is all I can say. Izzat what they were when they tried to sink the Liberty? Were they allies when their crew was standing cheering watching the planes hit the towers? Izzat why they secretly buy Soviet missiles to use on American troops? Gee…..ain’t they great?
This whole thing reeks. I’m sure Big Pharma will receive a massive gov’t subsidy from this “pandemic”.
Eric you are too positive…. this will just be an excuse (at least here in Europe) to quite increase taxes on fuel…. and then when oil goes up (which it inevitably will) – they will blame those evil oil companies and the solution will be electric cars…
Nasir, I fear you underestimate the incompetence at work(sic) here. While Wall Street does nothing but rob and plunder, I’d bet they could do the same thing. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all a Wall Street scheme. But it could be worse I suppose. I shudder to think what Bernie or Biden would do. You can bet if Biden did this, his son would be getting richer than the Fed.
Car dealers and Nissan will be shitting the bed before the end of March, calling it.
What is about to unfold over the next few weeks is a test to see how well we have assimilated the government’s lessons in compliance, fear and police state tactics; a test to see how quickly we’ll march in lockstep with the government’s dictates, no questions asked; and a test to see how little resistance we offer up to the government’s power grabs when made in the name of national security.
Most critically of all, this is a test to see whether the Constitution—and our commitment to the principles enshrined in the Bill of Rights—can survive a national crisis and true state of emergency.
Teh Constitution was trashed before the ink was dry.
More worried about how fast fascism and martial law will spread in this country, as liberty is already dead.
Here are some other things that I hope comes out of this business that people need to realize:
1. The whole globalization and outsourcing thing has big downsides. Just as becoming overly dependent on Middle Eastern oil made us vulnerable in the 1970s, becoming overly dependent on China for our manufacturing makes us vulnerable today. That’s especially true for things like antibiotics. The Orange Man was right about that. And the problems are due to an act of nature: Imagine what China could do to us as a deliberate act against us.
2. Border controls are important. There was a reason Vito Corleone was quarantined on Ellis Island in 1900…and there’s a reason we need to screen people who come into our country for diseases, not to mention goods. And this is not racist or xenophobic…just a reality.
3. Our governments at all levels are too good at doing things they shouldn’t do, and not good enough at doing things they should. Public health is one of those things they should do. This from a libertarian.
4. The media is no longer coy about its attempts to manipulate the public to the point of outright lying.
So I’m not the only whom remembers from GodFather, Part II, about the boy Vito Corleone being quarantined at Ellis Island due to tuberculosis (which was then endemic in Sicily)!
Ol’ Doug MacArthur would roll in his grave at the notion that we trust the Chicoms for ANYTHING. He’d probably have said, “screw it, Mr. President, if THAT’s how it’s going to play out, I’m pulling those boys off the front lines and having them re-embark at Pusan!”
Again, somehow methinks there’s much more afoot than we’re being told, and it’s more than just a gaggle of corrupt Chicom apparatchiks to blame.
somehow methinks there’s much more afoot than we’re being told. I find it hard to believe anyone can believe anything they get off “TV”. No thinking fools who don’t even see the blade poised over their collective heads.
That’s the worst part 8! I wish somebody would just shoot me now, ’cause I’m so tired of this same scenario playing-out EVERY DAMN TIME, even with my own relatives!
Doesn’t matter if it’s the weather or the Corona virus…..thus saith the TV and guvmint…and so it shall be obeyed! “Quick, run out and buy food and terlit paper, ’cause the shelves are empty already!!!”
Uh…yeah…because the TV has worked everyone into a panic and told them to do that….THAT is why the shelves are empty!
The thing is, you try and reason with these people; you’ve been the voice of reason for the last 30 years, and every time, it turns out they end up playing the fool, and the TV and Facebook was just making them run around like chickens with their heads cut off…..but then the next time, it’s the very same thing again; they don’t possess the capacity to reflect on the past and say “Gee, I was manipulated x number of times in the past by the rantings of the tee-vee, maybe THIS time I’ll listen to reason”- But NOOOooooooooooo!!!!!!!
They instead urge YOU to believe the BS. Someone actually accused me of being “inhuman” because I didn’t get upset and worried by the latest TV babble they were relating to me….
Imagine when a “vaccine” comes out and I refuse it…….
I’m just so tired….. I’ve long given up trying to reason with people- all I want is for them to leave me alone! If I wanted to be swayed by the latest official drivel, I’d get a TV!
I don’t mind being accused of misanthropy. What’s there left to like about humans, anyway? Bueller? Bueller?
Yeah, really, Handler. My whole life has basically revolved around avoiding people! I wish them no harm; I’m a lover of justice and life….but people are just too fricked-up. They want control, or to be controlled; they want your affirmation and expect you to seek theirs…..
When I was in my teens and lived in NYC, I was a person of the night (also a person of inclement weather days)- seeking to avoid the thronging crowds of the daytime. Who wants to go to the park on a sunny day when there are a bunch of smelly fat-asses blocking the view and cackling like hens and or playing loud music?
Go further and further away and find quiet spots with no neioghbors…and 6 months later they’re building houses around ya!
Before I croak, I’m gonna know what it’s like to live out in the wilderness! I won’t mind it a bit if a squirrel or a coyote makes his home near me! Just not freakin’ people- they ruin everything!
A few years ago, this girl was coming on to me, and after ignoring her advances, she bluntly says “Don’t you like women?”- I said “I don’t like people!”.
I’ve never had good experiences with most people I’ve met. You become friends with them, and they stab you in the back. I guess that’s to be expected in a morally bankrupt society.
People have been totally brainwashed by leftism via mass media. My mother recently got into a heated argument at the beauty salon over the Weinstein case. My mother (rightfully) called his accusers sluts and whores, and they went ballistic like a pack of hyenas. These women of today don’t believe in due process. To them, it’s perfectly acceptable to destroy a man’s life over a mere accusation. Women are incapable of being unscrupulous, apparently.
Anyway, this is why I don’t bother with people.
You can’t say anything logical and true without being vilified. It’s a waste of energy. My mother simply gets a thrill out of watching people react to her un-PC commentary!
Hey Nunz,
“- I said “I don’t like people!”
This is for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgogCXoFiOc
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hi Ya Jeremy!
Well….I don’t know about that…… Maybe we could get them to write one titled something like “I Can Tolerate Them From Afar”!
Hey Nunz,
I actually like most people I meet, weird I know. I do think the song is funny though.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Jeremy, I tend to give all strangers the benefit of the doubt until and if they do something to disuade me from the idea that they are reasonable, considerate, well-meaning people.
Then they open their mouth…or do something (or fail to do something)…. 🙂
Morning, Nunz!
I think it was Sartre who said that “Hell is other people!” He had a point. The petty incivilities aggravate me almost as much as the full-blown control freaks. I usually spend most afternoons at a coffee shop, where I’ve become a regular. It’s a small place that serves – coffee – and small side dishes to go with. You carry your stuff to a table, sit down and drink/eat. There are two obvious plastic bins/trash cans for people to – deposit their trash and leave their plates and cups, etc. Yet people regularly just leave their mess on a table and walk away. There are no waiters in this place; just the girls who make the coffee, etc. One of them now has to go out and clear the mess/wipe off the table. Meanwhile, no one else can use the table. Unless they clean off the mess/wipe the table.
It makes me want to eat their livers with a nice chianti.
Exactly, Eric!
We get it full blown from both sides these days- the control freaks, and the boorish oafs who lack any civility. Add to that the fact that the majority are just programmed automatons incapable of basic thought…..and there is just nothing left.
Speaking of which- today’s gem (And it’s not even noon yet!): “See? This Corona virus stuff must be legit, because they’re even cancelling major league baseball!” [Kill me]
eric, Hell, even the idiots who eat food at Sam’s clean up their mess. I am beginning to get another view of Jeremy though……just for knowing about that song.
I took a survey earlier and the Corona virus was mentioned. Unfortunately they had no place I could say it was a good thing if only bureaucrats, politicians and other members of the Just Us Thieves were affected.
8, if I get infected, I’ll visit every pig precinct and sheriff’s office I can find, and walk around asking everyone in sight “CCCCcccccan you HHHhhhhhhhhelp me?” exprelling as much air into their faces as possible.
Nunz, be sure and carry plenty of ground pepper with you to keep your sinuses overflowing so you can sneeze and spit and cough as much as possible.
I can see you doing 90 mph and get stopped. Is there an emergency sir? Yes, I’m dying of corona virus and am trying to get home to die in my own bed. Have a good day sir and good luck….as he hauls ass back to his car.
That is a perfectly splendid idea that you have, Nunzio! 🙂
Hi Handler,
I get the sentiment; then I look in the mirror. I’m better than I used to be, at least! We’re all works in progress. I can abide almost anyone who tries to be thoughtful/considerate and who isn’t a deliberate Clover. Just as there is much beauty in the world and about life, there are good (if imperfect) people. I’m trying to be one myself!
I love the posters on this website, the guv is gonna have to slap a sanity tax on us all pretty soon.
Yeah, thank goodness for this site, Harry! At least we can see that there are still a few sparks of sanity in this world; a few people who are not brain-dead; who haven’t drunk the Kool-aid.
Back before the interwebs, before discovering the few rare pockets of real Libertarianism, I thought I was all alone in this world…… (I mean, I LIKE being alone…but it’s good to know that there are others who can see the same things you do!)
Morning, Nunz!
Knowing you’re not the only kook is comforting! Even if we find ourselves our minority of one, it doesn’t mean we’re wrong… but it’s nice to know we’re more than one. Also, this site and others like it have helped to make kooky ideas far more visible than they once were. I can remember the pre-Internet ’90s and back then, very few people had even heard of “Libertarians” and fewer knew what the word meant. You rarely, if ever heard Libertarian ideas being discussed – at all – on major news programs or in the general press. Today, you do.
Ideas are powerful. For ill – see the NSDAP, which began with a dozen guys in a beer hall – and for good.
Keep the faith.
PS: I sent you several texts; did you get? I gnoe you dislike texting and I know I ought to pick up the goddamn phone… but I feel under siege lately and mostly stay in the mummy bag when I’m done with work!
Hey Ya Eric!
Awww, no….didn’t see yer texts- I mean, I probably “got em”- but I wouldn’t know, ’cause I just automatically ignore/delete anything that the phone does when I do turn it on, other than making an actual call. Never got around to setting up the verce mail either……
I’ll start the phone up and take a look though….they may well be there.
I actually did text, ONCE- quite recently. I had to send my friend/client my address, so he could send me a check….yeah…the guy I’ve been dealing with for 15 years now!
So I “type”-out my long address….hit the wrong button…and it gets deleted! I type it again….just as I’m ready to send it, I drop the phone, and it flies apart and the battery comes out…. 🙁
I make a Herculean effort to resist smashing the damned thing…and type it out yet again….go to send it…and lose the signal.
But I figgered there must be a Valhalla in the phone where dead texts go…and I found it…and finally got it sent….and the whole ordeal only took about half an hour!
Next, I’ll try texting and driving! 🙂
“Collective” being the operative word. I’m left with the sinking feeling that all this could be some well-planned strategy to shredding the Constitution altogether and ushering in the NWO. And the great unwashed masses are doing almost all of the work!
Amen, Douglas! Even though the virus is likely organic, it likely is providing the needed opportunity for the overlords to do what you described- as can be seen by their silly responses to it thus far, and manipulation of statistics and data.
And of course, the average obedient American will never stop and think that the ones who of course end up proposing the “solution” to “keep them safe”, are the very same ones who sold them “A global economy” and who decided to fill their own country with a bunch of dirty decrepit third-worlders full of diseases that were long ago eradicated here; and who live in the squalid conditions here as they did where they came from…… (But blame it on us “Anti-vaxxers”!)
Nunz, WTF is the matter with you? You can’t speak truth to power. They’ll come get your ass.
Hi Nunz!
Among my worries – which don’t include dying from Corona – are that the bleating sheep will demand mandatory testing and mandatory vaccination. Channeling Seven of Nine:
I will not comply.
Ditto Eric! If I were living in NYC and riding the subway with the thronging masses, I might have a tad of concern about the actual virus…..
Not even too worried about my 95 year-old mother, as long as she can stay away from the hospi’l (Which she’s been doing a good job of), she never goes anywhere, so shouldn’t be an issue….unless they start even offering voluntary vaccinations- she’d no-doubt take one…and that’d be it.
No compliance here….but I have a feeling they’re gonna exaggerate this and milk it for everything it’s worth- everything from rationing, to martial law…who knows- but of course, what “they” do, will be the real problems we have to worry about.
I still need a reasonable answer to,
“If the vaccine works, why do you care if I take it or not?” Either it works for them and even sick, I am no threat, or it is useless and their is no point in me taking it anyway.
“because some people can’t take vaccines”, the standard reply, is not a reasonable answer. Herd immunity is no answer either as I am not a herd animal.
Vaccines definitely and provably have caused harm. Some have done good. I will chose to take it or not take it based on my assessment of risk.
Nobody has a right to force metal, chemicals and bio-agents into my body. And if they do try, no bitching when I decide to force steel into them, chemically propelled at a couple of thousand FPS, or just a dagger in the eyeball.
OOpps There, not their.
Well-said, Anon! That’s the question I always ask too!
Last year, and earlier this year, they had closed all of the schools here because so many sprogs were out with the common flu- that, despite the fact that there is almost 100% “compliance” rate with the mandatory vaccines…
Now, the latest disinformation being spread by the propaganda agents, is that we “anti-vaxxers” base our positions on an erroneous report from a few years ago… Hmmm…funny, I’d never heard of, much less read such a paper…and I was opposed to vaccines for decades before it came out…..
I remember the Swine Flu epidemic of the 70’s. Of the people who died from the Swine Flu…..all of them had been vaccinated. Not one unvaccinated person died. Hmmm…funny hoiw they never mention that anymore….. I was forced to take that vaccine (I was 14 at the time)…and even then, I just knew it was wrong. That was the last vaccine of any kind I’ve ever had or ever will have.
People credit vaccines for eradicating diseases like Polio… Uhh…no…it was sanitary and lifestyle changes that made it disappear- ’cause when they introduced the Vaccine in the Phillipines, which had had a lower rate of Polio than the US….suddenly, their number of Polio cases increased, to match the levels as the US (Not to mention the number of people who never got Polio, but who ended up being harmed as badly or worse from the vaccine)- And now that they are flooding the US and Europe with dirty third-world cretins, many of those diseases have returned…despite all of the vaccinations.
But “The TV, the government, and the doctors say…” so no one wants to see the plain facts before their eyes, or hear from people like us….’cause only the “authori-tehs” count- they always know what’s best…like a global economy, and gun-control to give us these wonderful crime-free cities…..
Ditto, Anon.
No vaccines for me. Especially in this context. It doesn’t take a seer to see that this could be the pretext/excuse for injecting millions of people with something that could cause them more harm than the virus allegedly inoculated against – nor does it take a paranoiac to worry about the possibility.
I think you and I are the generation that got the MMR as kids. Back in the late fifties and early sixties some of the vaccines had cancer causing material in them. Fortunately they were changed by late sixties-early seventies, so it seems we did not get these.
Considering the FDA, WHO, CDC, etc. all seem to be captured agents of the real rulers of our world, I don’t doubt they would add something that will pay dividends to them down the line. Healthy people are not profitable, they need sick to sell their snake oils to. And what government agent does not think of their job security? Again, they need crisis to justify their existence.
I’ve heard- and read, several old doctors (Years ago- old-school “real” doctors) say that they’ve never observed a case of cancer in an unvaccinated person.
I believe that all vaccines, at the least, highly increase one’s risk of cancer- and at worst, actually cause it.
Our bodies weren’t designed to have junk directly injected into our bloodstreams- and even the emulsion used as the conduit for the actual active ingredients is as harmful, or more harmful than it’s actual contents.
Amen, Anon –
I just hit the gym this morning and for a middle-aged Gen X’er with a gimpy left shoulder, I’m still pretty solid. Repped 225 six times; good form, nice and slow. Gotta keep up my strength in case the Soy Boys come for me!
I’m in the oil industry and worry about my job. But I am comforted by the fact that cheap energy benefits all and not just us greedy oil drillers and such. I want gas to stay below $1.50 because WE HAVE PLENTY OF IT. Russia should most certainly kick MBS in the balls because IT IS THEIR OIL and they have plenty of it too. Once again, Russia inadvertently proves competition drives down prices for consumers. Russia has also exposed the massive debt scam that fueled the shale boom. The rouble is gaining on the dollar too.
If oil goes cheap, why not BUY “theirs’ while it is, and keep OURS in the ground for when it gets high-priced and scarce again?
How would the oil companies make money doing that? Everything is about “the next quarter” for all the big corporations.
All reports are that the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is not testing for the new coronavirus COVID-19, and that reliable tests in any case do not exist in the US. This is an area bereft of rational explanation.
The US may have many thousands of coronavirus infections, but no one knows because the CDC are not testing for them.
The CDC produced a series of test kits that produced wildly random results, positive or negative, followed by instructions to discard the test kits as unreliable. (1) Several U.S. states said the new coronavirus test kits did not work, while others said they were totally unreliable. (2) New York City reported the government-issued tests are faulty and “cannot be relied upon to provide an accurate result”. Those faulty kits were also shipped all over the world, but to my knowledge the CDC have relayed that information to no one outside the US.
Further, American hospitals have been discharging infected patients on the basis of these faulty tests, the CDC explaining that there have been many situations where test results alternate between negative and positive on the same patients.
And once again, the privately owned vehicle and single family home will save us all.
(New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio) warnings included a suggestion to avoid dense crowds on buses, subways and trains, or take alternate travel if possible.
“If you take the subway and you are able to wait for a less packed train, please do. If you have the option of walking or biking, please do. Buses can be crowded too, but less than subways, so please use these if you can,” de Blasio said.
“Move to a train car that is not as dense. If you see a packed train car, let it go by. Wait for the next train. Same if you’re taking a bus,” Cuomo said.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nyc-issues-new-commuter-guidelines-to-combat-coronavirus-spread/2317584/
This is going to get interesting if there’s a major outbreak in a big city. Already many workers are being told to telecommute if possible. Once they figure out that they can still do their jobs away from the central gathering place they might figure out that they can telecommute from just about anywhere. My sister has been a telecommuter for years now, only going to the office for vacation relief and the occasional all hands meeting. Saves her a ton of wear and tear on vehicles, and she gets to enjoy her family an extra hour or so a day. I don’t telecommute, but I work at multiple locations all over the state, and it is pretty rare that I need to go to the big office in Denver anymore. My office is anywhere there’s a network connection and a chair. Just about anything can be delivered in secondary cities just like New Yorkers have had for decades, and drone delivery will make it even easier for small companies to deliver everywhere.
Workers of the world, disperse!
“If you take the subway and you are able to wait for a less packed train…” BWAHAHHAHHAA! All those folks in Sunnyside hearing this, are probably ready to punch DeBlovio in de mout. Less packed 7 Train? Right up there with unicorn farts and pixie dust DeBloviater! And WHY is the 7 so packed? Why, because of population density, government administration of all aspects of transport in NY, etc. etc. And they want this sort to rule over the rest of us? The WuFlu is peeling the mask off many bleeding ulcers of government waste and abuse.
Time to change the name of the #7 IRT from The Orient Express to The Corona Special (Appropriate on at least two levels, as it goes to Corona….and it’s terminus in Flushing [what an appropriate name for a place in NYC!- more appropriate would be “Flushed”] is more Chinese than China!)
Flushing:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hUdzo_Xs1kw/maxresdefault.jpg
Yeah, they ought to change the name of the terminus station to Little Wuhan Main Street! Ride the 7 and get a free dose of WuFlu!
And to think one-time Atlanta Braves relief pitcher John Rocker was all but driven out of baseball for making derogatory comments about the denizens of “New Yawk’s” no. 7 subway train!
When I go to NYC for the car or motorcycle show, I always take the 7 from PA to the Javits Center. That sucker is ALWAYS packed!
MM, the 7 was even always packed back in the early 80’s! People used to climb on between the cars. I didn’t do that, but I’d often ride between the cars, and there’d often be 3 or 4 other people out there- it was great in the summer- as half the time, the A/C wasn’t working. Today, the pricks’ll give ya a ticket just for walking from one car to another.
…and riding out in the vestibules of the old LIRR cars….and people SMOKING out there! Life was good….even in NY, once upon a time.
Poor old Citylab has been pushing for proletariat travel in all of its articles and now suddenly private vehicles are safer than corona virus. Wont fare well for the straw man image of ride sharing and the permanent vehicle lease Nissan and Audi are pushing.
bb, don’t worry. They’ll do a 180 ASAP. Corporatism has no constraints and have no real direction. You have CEO’s like Mary Barra who only know what their inferiors tell them.
Knowing the ding-dongs running most American corporations, they will, as the fictional mob boss from “The Last Action Hero”, try to do a “360”, as they’ve less upstairs than even some “spaghetti-slurping cretin”. We need Charles Dance, in his prime, or even as Tywin Lannister, to come kick some ass in many a corporate board room and/or Government conference room, if not Congress itself!
https://youtu.be/GyacyKOx390
If you can’t find a less packed train car, just board one anyway, and when you approach the next station, start coughing.
Another good thing about the “coronavirus” (who the hell came up with that name, anyway?) is that more and more idiots will panic and decide to play hooky…er, “self-quarantine” themselves; thus fewer idiots on the roads.
Eric, I really enjoy your driving “rants”, but please consider investing in a cheap dashmount for your video camera / cellphone, and also get an inexpensive Lav mic (clip-on mic). That way the image is stable and your voice is loud and clear (as it should be!). These two cheap upgrades would make your rant videos vastly more watchable and entertaining. Thanks!
Hi Mike,
I’m pretty sure Eric accepts donations/gifts.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Good point. I did just that, earmarked for a ‘sailfawn’ holder. Hope Eric takes my suggestion.
I bought a sailfawn holder and then misplaced it….still in the box…….somewhere. I think that bad boy was $4 or $5 on ebay. I have no idea how well it works since I was let go just as it arrived. It’s always nice to be “laid off” as they say. But I was a fool. I should have sued them when I nearly died from carbon monoxide poisoning. First day I drove the truck I got out and said “Damn, that thing’s leaking exhaust”. Boss said “Yeah, we’ll fix it when we get some time” just like any idiot would do. I should have simply driven it 200 miles home and parked it.
Hey Eric,
“That’s cheap – which is something no EV that’s available can come close to competing with, even if you don’t factor in the ludicrous cost of the EV itself”.
First, a caveat. The cost to operate an EV will certainly increase dramatically if the EV fanboys dream is realized (most cars in use are EV’s). In fact, it will increase dramatically even with a significant, but relatively small, increase in the percentage of EV’s on the road, say 10 – 30 percent. This obvious fact is never accounted for in lifetime carbon footprint or cost of operation analyses, which renders their boasts absurd. However, right now, not accounting for the absurdly high original purchase price of EV’s, it is cheaper to operate an EV than most ICE’s.
Even if the cost of gas drops to $1.75, running an EV is significantly cheaper than running the average IC car you describe. At $1.75 per gallon and 27 mpg, cost per mile is 6.5 cents. Average cost per Kwh across the country is about 13 cents; as best as I can tell, the average miles per Kwh of EV’s is about 3.6, with a range between 2.8 and 4.5. So, the average EV costs 3.6 cents per mile to operate compared to 6.5 cents per mile for the average ICE you describe. At $2.00 per gallon, it’s 7.4 cents vs. 3.6 cents. Also, at $2.00 per gallon, an ICE would have to average 55mpg to equal the cost per mile of the average EV. My recently acquired, and dirt cheap to buy, 2013 Volt averages 3.9 miles per Kwh, which works out to 2.9 cents per mile @ 11.4 cents per Kwh.
I hate the push to EV’s as much as you do. EV’s are not cheaper (if purchased new), nor are they a “solution” to the supposed “climate crisis”. In fact, if they become the dominant type of vehicle on the road, CO2 emissions will increase dramatically. So, why am I challenging you on this? It’s simple, assertions about the lower operating cost of an EV is part of the propaganda push for EV’s. It is true, but will not be true if EV’s gain significant “market” share. It’s a bait and switch scam. Pointing that out seems like a more effective strategy.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Battery EVs are cheaper to operate if we ignore the fact the are a tax dodge and we ignore the battery replacement over the long term. The long term can’t really be ignored because it is needed to make up for the purchase premium. The tax dodge can I suppose be included but that is only because control freaks want to move people in that direction. The tax dodge will not last forever. Calling a tax dodge lower operating costs to compare technologies isn’t exactly honest IMO. Taxes are cost to operate but they are an artificial one outside of the technology. Taxes are arbitrary and political in nature. The tax structure could just as easily go the other way.
Hi Brent,
Do you think I’m making the case that EV’s are actually cheaper to operate or sensible? If so, I must not have been clear.
Cheers,
Jeremy
EV’s may technically be cheaper to operate, but they are still more expensive overall, even with the tax breaks and whatnot. Considering that the cheapest fullsize EV is currently about $30,000, it would take several years, if not a decade or so to recoup the purchase price before you begin saving on fuel costs. The car would probably have been scrapped by then due to the EV’s disposable nature, mainly because of the battery eventually croaking.
Hi bg,
Do you think I’m making the case that EV’s are actually cheaper to operate or sensible? If so, I must not have been clear.
Cheers,
Jeremy
As long as you value your time at $0. And of course what price freedom?
Hi RK,
Ok, now three comments that have nothing to do with what I wrote. Eric made a specific claim, “That’s cheap – which is something no EV that’s available can come close to competing with, even if you don’t factor in the ludicrous cost of the EV itself”. I demonstrate that this claim is not correct. I don’t argue that EV’s are cheaper to operate in totality, that they make economic sense, are good for the environment, should be pushed, etc… In fact I repudiate all of that. The current lower operating cost of an EV is a CON, which I make clear by calling it a bait and switch scam. I suggest that pointing out to the EV fanboys that smugly blather on about their cost of operation are relying on a fantasy that will not continue is a better strategy than making a specific claim that is easy to refute.
Do you get it now?
Cheers,
Jeremy
Jeremy, the main attraction for EV’s in my view is the fact that not everyone can afford them and those that can are the addicted to a new car every couple years or less. Wow, did you see that good looking guy/gal in that Tesla?
Hi RK and Eight,
Well, in my case, my EV saves me time and certainly doesn’t cost me freedom. I traded in my wife’s really beat 2012 Pious, plus $950.00, for a pristine 2013 Volt. That’s pretty cheap, IMO. Let’s see, I have a wired carport and my daily driving needs never exceed 30 miles. I actually think it’s fun to drive, certainly more so than the Pious. Anyway, automatics don’t excite me at all, especially CVT’s. An electric “automatic” isn’t any more soulless to me than an ICE econobox with an automatic. I also own a 96 Geo Prizm shitbox with a 5sp, which is remarkably fun to drive and, of course, my 2002 Dakota with a 5sp.
Eric just wrote a good article about a non ludicrous EV. Well, I think my Volt is an even less ludicrous EV than the Citroen Ami. Interestingly, it cost about the same, $6950 for my used Volt less $6,000.00 for the tired Pious. It fully charges overnight with standard equipment. It has a reliable 35 – 40 mile range in EV mode, which is more than I need. It is not restricted to low speeds or non highway driving. And, best of all, it carries its own on board generator which completely eliminates the range and recharge issues that plague BEV’s.
For me, this PHEV is far more convenient to use than either of my ICE’s. The ideal environment for a sensible EV like this is suburban, not urban, America. The infrastructure to charge a low range (say 50 miles or less) PHEV already exists in the suburbs, it does not exist in the cities and creating it cannot be done easily or inexpensively. It does exist in a lot of rural America but, daily driving needs may exceed the limited range (not a problem with a PHEV).
That GovCo is pushing BEV’s is just more evidence that being “green” is not the point. If it were, and we concede that the “problem” is real (I don’t, as everyone here should know), then the sensible approach is to make low range PHEV’s, not BEV’s. BEV’s will require a complete overhaul of the the power system, both at the production end and the consumption end. A new, unnecessary and redundant nationwide network of charging stations will have to be built. Residential capacity will have to be increased. Vastly more natural resources will be used to make the stupidly large batteries. Ironically, EV manufacturers are pushing range, which is absurd. Current EV’s have more range than necessary for most daily driving needs and far too little range for distance driving, which will never be “fixed”.
A PHEV, on the other hand, doesn’t need anything. The support structure already exists. If more of them made it to the road, grid capacity could be expanded gradually. EV fanboys are in for a shock if their insane hopes for a pure EV future come to pass. First, cost to operate EV’s will skyrocket. Second, the PTB will suddenly “discover” that all that extra demand can’t be met without “harming” the environment. Hmmm, ya think calls for energy rationing will follow?
Cheers,
Jeremy
I’m proud you’re proud which is all that counts. Cars, in general, are no good for us and a great many others out here in dirt road land. I couldn’t believe the wife’s Cutlass SL went 285,000 miles running this killer road and her driving in the dark when all the critters were out early morning which she couldn’t avoid hitting some times.
It’s a real feat driving 60 miles starting at 4 or 5 am and avoiding all the hazards. I do my damndest to not hit an animal. One morning with ice on the road I was driving a rig with a belly dump when a doe came hauling ass trying to beat me. I slammed on the brakes(can’t help it, did it just this week for a coyote)and saw her try to stop by the lights on the trailer. She fell and slid and I cussed. Coming in right before dark, there was no sign of a deer. She’d slid all the way across before the trailer axles hit her. It made my day. In the last 6 years of oilfield driving, I have hit one coon when I topped a hill and was meeting a pickup with brights on. I’m proud of my record since other drivers seemed to always be hitting some animal. I have been lucky too.
Back to my original point though, this isn’t the country to drive ANY car unless you can get a Ranch Hand front end for it and I have seen some on minivans that people regularly drove in the dark and used for bidness.
I hope that Volt lasts you for many years. Probably you won’t spend $1400 for a set of tires like my pickup.
But even with available tax credits, which just serve to inflate the price and put money in the coffers of the manufacturer and dealer, not YOURS, the life-cycle cost of the EV is much HIGHER. If it weren’t, more businesses would buy them, wouldn’t they?
Hi Doug,
Where have I ever claimed that the lifetime cost, both economically and “environmentally”, of the EV is not higher?
Cheers,
Jeremy
Not to mention the cost of the extreme expansion of the power grid and power generation required, if a significant percentage of vehicles are electric.
Hi JWK,
Yes, a point I have explained in detail in a few previous posts. Additionally, the EV future that the fanboys hope for will significantly increase “dreaded” CO2 emissions. The whole thing is insane, economically and environmentally.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Meanwhile here in OR, my local electric company (a coop) says in their most recent monthly newsletter/magazine, that our Queen, er, I mean governor, has decided to blow up 4 of our hydro dams, so we’ll be having statewide/various blackouts as soon as next year. The reason? So the salmon can more easily swim past the dam (upstream of the dam)… but their ability to get past the dam is already at 96% due to huge and costly improvements they did years ago. But that’s not good enough for the SALMON QUEEN. So much for carbon reduction, the electric coop says it’ll ADD more carbon to the air because they’ll have to use gas/oil to generate electricity instead of the free/sustainable hydro dam. But SALMON QUEEN doesn’t care about carbon even though that’s her excuse for EVERYTHING ELSE like the extra “climate” taxes that will bankrupt the entire state. AAAUUUGGGHHHH! The writing is on the wall now, everyone will have to evacuate OR over the next few years because the Salmon Queen is going to shut off the power, and also tax every company into bankruptcy, nevermind take everyones’ guns away. But, it’s “for the children” and it’s “helping the poor” and “saving the planet”. It’s straight up war crimes against the people, yet noone is arresting these terrorists, all the cops just keep taking their paychecks, because afterall it’s “the law”… even though the ppl never got to vote on it and it’s legally required for that to happen… so it’s an illegal null & void law… but no matter, it’s “the law”. All heil the Salmon Queen, heil Hitlerette!
Hi Harry,
Yes. The mask is dropping. The critical question is – will enough people see it before it’s too late? The “environmental” movement – like the “worker” movement – has always been a front for the advancement of coercive collectivism, the erection of an authoritarian oligarchy. I do not bother with terms such as communist or fascist because it obscures the central, defining elements: coercion, collectivism, oligarchy.
Note that after the Soviet Union fell apart, Gorbachev founded the “Green Cross.”
Exactly. It’s all so nutty I would laugh if it weren’t true. Here in OR, they almost just passed a bunch of carbon tax laws, plus bonus extras like banning guns. I listen to some of our senators & reps on the Bill Meyer show and thankfully they walked out of this recent session so the laws couldn’t be passed… yet. One senator said that the “democrats” are even breaking policy/procedures about how to pass laws. Makes me wonder why noone calls for their arrest. At the very least indict them, there’s TONS of evidence of major crimes they’re all committing. Sheesh, I can’t believe they keep going on and on with no arrests. One other senator in the recent past was describing all the numerous aides the governor (and others) have… and they just added a whole bunch more ~last year, they voted to give themselves more aides… at a starting salaries of $150,000, yes that’s right, he said that’s their STARTING salaries. Wow. Talk about stealing from the taxpayers. Nevermind everything the gov does is fraud & wastage, every project is priced up 10X what it really costs so they can rip off the taxpayers. They’re like Boss Hogg but with 6 or 7 or 8 extra zeros on the end of every scam. And big surprise… our very governor goes to meetings in GERMANY to meet with Merckel and others…. HUH? Explain that one to me, our gov is not an international diplomat, so why are governors going to other countries for meetings? I’ll tell you why — because our gov’s work for global cabals that’s why, they don’t work for us people! They’re all just running the identical same Agenda 21 plan, they couldn’t care less about our states or people!
Hi Harry,
Yup – and Boss Hog wasn’t all bad. There was some humanity in him. But these creatures? Far worser than the fiction. And you’re right to be especially annoyed by your governor flying to Europe or anywhere else to meet foreign leaders.You’re also right that they do because they view themselves as part of an international elite and people like you and I as feudal serfs in the making.
Cold old fish heads for them all.
Eric, the bass-tards [Ya like that? Huh?huh? HUH??!?] don’t deserve fish heads! Give ’em fish anuses!
“Back in the ’90s – when gas cost more than it does now…”
I still have my 2000 Silverado, and I distinctly recall filling it with premium, no ethanol, for 99.9, back before the Warren Terra.
Yes, me too. I remember filling up with regular for $0.679 in South Carolina early in 1999, however, by the end of the year, gas was selling for $1.19. It briefly jumped up to $1.65 in the spring of 2000 before falling back. By 2001, it was back at $1.65. Most of this was due to supply disruptions caused by the reformulated gasoline requirements that were being phased in all over. It affected both RFG and non RFG prices .
Yeah, and during the latter part of 08 when Bush wasn’t going to be running for reelection and the Republicans knew whoever they ran was going to lose, I filled up my diesel at a special cash price of $5.26. We got gouged like hell till BO was elected and then it went down to only $4. It made everything more expensive.
People screamed for long enough, esp. the trucking industry and farmers till it went back to $3+ and then the economy really tanked in ’09 and big box stores shut their doors. You could pick up a building lease for a little bit of nothing. Meanwhile, tens of millions of people had their savings drained. Ain’t politics grand?
If it wasn’t for all the many taxes on gas, it would likely be under a dollar a gallon……….. You pay more taxes on that gallon of gas than the actual gallon of gas.
I’m not sure taxes are higher than the base price of fuel, but they do far exceed the profits realized by the oil companies. So the next time you see or hear someone complaining about the evil oil companies, perhaps you should point this out, as I do. It usually shuts down the complaint quite quickly, unless the complainer is a state religion communist.
How dare you apply math to the Religion Of Science! Don’t you understand that the Planet is about to go Boom! unless we give all out cash and freedoms to the Almighty Giverment?
Your arithmetic re $/mile, and some of your logic re the cost of driving an IC car, are awful here. Better check it.
Care to be specific? After all, you did the math right?
Hi Anon,
Yes, snark without any effort to back it up is annoying. I did do the math, see my previous post.
Cheers,
Jeremy