Much is in the balance today – election day – including the kinds of cars you’ll be able to buy (or not) in the years ahead.
It’s not on the ballot, per se, but the outcome of the vote will decide that by dint of deciding whether the federal government will enforce the almost-doubling of fuel economy mandatory minimums to nearly 50 MPG by 2025.
The Orange Man opposes this. The Hair Plugged Man endorses it. His predecessor attempted to impose it.
People not familiar with regulatory rigmarole – and what it takes to “comply” with it – may be under the impression that nothing but good could come from a mandate requiring that all cars average nearly 50 MPG. It’s right up there with money for nothing and your chicks for free.
And that’s just how it’s sold – or rather, how it is marketed by politicians such as the Hair Plugged Man, who specialize in the free lunch paid for by someone else.
To the average ear 50 MPG sounds great. If it takes a prod from the government to make the recalcitrant car industry build efficient cars, then so be it.
The cost of this is never explained to people – because then it would not sound so great. How much is a 50 MPG car worth if it costs 25 percent more to buy than a 35 MPG car? If it is twice as complex – and so twice as likely to break down or need an expensive repair at some point during its lifetime?
What if it costs you what you need in terms of capability? 
You can buy a car that averages 50 MPG right now – which ought to address the argument about the availability of such cars. They exist. People have the option to buy them, if they wish. The problem, apparently, is that everyone doesn’t wish to buy them – but this begs the question about what car buyers wish as opposed to the government telling them what they can have.
And that is what’s on the ballot today.
The Toyota Prius and Kia Niro are two cars that average 50 MPG. They are hybrid cars, with two drivetrains, one gas the other electric. This is why they each cost several thousand dollars more than otherwise similar cars that don’t average 50 MPG. You pay more for the car to pay less for gas.
Does this make sense?
The Prius stickers for $24,525 to start; the Kia Niro starts out at a nearly-the-same $24,590. Other than their hybrid drivetrains, these two cars are similar to non-hybrid small cars like the Mazda3 ($20,500 to start), Hyundai Elantra ($21,000) and so on. This gives us a pretty good idea of the cost to go from about 35 MPG to about 50 MPG.
Roughly, it’s the $3,500-$4,000 difference you pay to buy a hybrid vs. the cost of a similar car that isn’t.
It doesn’t make much sense – which is why many people choose the less “efficient” but much less expensive car.
The difference up-front could be made-up-for in savings at the pump if the cost of gas triples – via taxes, which is something else the Hair Plugged Man has indicated he’ll do. But it doesn’t change the fact that you’ll be paying thousands more for the car in order to spend less at the pump.
Where you’ll still be paying more, if the cost of gas triples.
The Orange Man is not likely to make you pay more at the pump – or for the car. He opposes the upticking of the federal MPG mandatory minimums to almost 50 MPG – and he rescinded the fines intended to “nudge” the car industry into compliance with them. But if the Orange Man is replaced by the Hair Plugged Man, expect those fines to be re-imposed and for there to be a shove toward a 50 MPG mandatory minimum.
Which you’ll be paying for.
The bill will come due in other ways, as well. It is not possible to build a truck powered by a gasoline engine that averages 50 MPG or anywhere near 50 MPG without either fundamentally transforming it into something that isn’t a truck anymore or simply building the truck and adding in the costs of noncompliance. These costs – a tripling of the fines for every MPG less than the mandatory minimums – will make a gas-engined truck cost so much that almost no one will be able to afford a truck.
This will be the “nudge” toward electric trucks.
They use no gas at all and so are fully in compliance with the federal fatwas. But their cost is twice or more that of the non-electric trucks they are intended to replace.
The non-rich can look forward to a very expensive drive come 2025 if the Orange Man loses today.
. . .
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A close friend of mine who does not agree with the masks either, presented a logical argument for why one still might wish to mask up at the polling place. Even if they let you in maskless, they will isolate your voting station and they will know *your* vote specifically. This in turn can lead them to process your vote differently than the rest…
Not that any of this is going to matter anymore, since Orange Man now appears to be waning and the outcome of the election is going to hinge on the handful of swing states remaining. I can hear the xerox machines working overtime in the election bureaus there. It certainly looks like we’re going to go to hell in a bucket, so we might as well enjoy the ride.
Hi Rich,
I’ve been looking at the vote stats and in several states such as AZ and MI, about 1.5 percent of the vote went to Jo Jorgensen. I suspect almost all of those votes would nominally have gone to the GOP. If Orange Man loses, then, it will be due to that reason. Those people didn’t want to vote for the lesser of two evils.
So they helped elect the much worse evil.
The Government is corrupt at all levels. From the FBI to the deep state administrators there numbers are legion. The feds go way beyond the enumerated responsibilities of the Constitution. It doesn’t look doesn’t look like restricting them will happen anytime soon. Even if we did the corrupt States would pick up the their slack. Tax tax tax tax and more tax. We have been punitively taxed to near oblivion. Taxes fees whatever they call them, I call it messing with the kid. We are ruled by the corrupt and incompetent. The average citizen may commit three felonies every day. Needless to say there are far to many laws and regulations. Voting for the lesser of two evils is all we can do. We do so without any illusion that we are acquiescing to their corruption and control. I used to care. But. Things have changed. Blank them and the horse they rode in on.
Too many typos. My apologies.
Eric:
“The Orange Man opposes this. The Hair Plugged Man endorses it. His predecessor attempted to impose it.”
Presidents do not have the legitimate authority to impose dictatorial mandates, unless it’s accepted that a dictator is elected every four years. The mandates may apply to federal employees, not to those paying the bills – We The Employers.
Tenth Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Have to wear a mask at the polling places, fear is going to keep me away. I guess I could challenge the brainwashed fools, sue if denied a vote, better things to do like live.
If you have to wear a mask, being told what to do, then it is not freedom.
You are submitting to their bullshit.
So why bother?
Went without mask, don’t ask don’t tell
Voting grants consent to be governed.
Voting for the lesser of 2 evils is still evil.
Democracy is two wolves & a sheep voting on dinner.
Gang rape is highly democratic.
I appreciate the content on this site & visit it multiple times per week. I have made financial contributions. I do find it confusing/surprising that Eric promotes voting. Though I can see some point in voting as an act of self defense.
Kind of like ‘choose the form of rape: anal or oral’
If someone is going to be raped, and is presented the choice of anal or oral, and they make a choice that they feel would be less worse, would you say choosing grants consent to be raped? Like voting grants consent to be governed?
Is the victim of a gang rape consenting by voting no?
If someone is in a situation against their will, I’m not convinced them choosing a lesser evil is evil of them.
Hi AK,
The concept of duress is the key to understanding the issue. We do not have free choice. We are in precisely the same condition as an innocent prisoner who has the opportunity to make his imprisonment somewhat more pleasant by choosing a nicer cell or by being friendly toward a guard who may give him more food. Is he acting immorally for choosing the “lesser of two evils”?
If we were free to choose note to vote – and our vote counted in the sense that it was respected and we were let alone (the voters’ votes affecting the people who voted only) then of course voting would be immoral.
I voted for the lesser of two evils in order to lessen the evil. That seems reasonable to me.
A cabal of rich elites 244 years ago came together to write a contract binding you at birth in servitude until you die. You were sentenced, guilty of being an American citizen. By voting you recognize their usurped authority to render such a judgement a dozen generations after the fact. To really twist the knife they have the audacity to tax you for your prison cell. Truly the slaves are dazzled.
They won’t ever get the message by participating in their rigged beauty pageant, run only to give the corrupt system the appearance of legitimacy. It’s the mask sickness kabuki writ large. Oh my, such grand illusion of choice. I’m truly thankful for the Crown’s jackboot on my neck for without it there might be real chaos!
I’ve been looking at old long forgotten late 70s early 80s land yachts and other pseudo performance machines…carbureted, emissions spewing, big ass chrome, four lugged American cruisers. No electronic histrionics, nannies, airbags, alarms, bluetooth and gps trackers. Cars the way they ought to be.
If I didn’t live in the rust belt, an old daily driver like that would be a choice. But they rot away too fast here.
Agreed. This is not the time to worry about finding a candidate who reads Ludwig Von Mises scripts.
And even if they did read it, the reality of politics makes it hard to even try to do anything outside the “norm”.
Which election will be the one we’re to finally stand on our principles and morals then? I’ve been waiting for 40 years of voting for it.
Related to the plan to tax and regulate private vehicle ownership out of existence, one thing that goes unnoticed is the growing trend of using vehicles in mass attacks. There have been many of these in Europe in the last 8-10 years, there was the Charlottesville Dodge Ram thing, and cars as weapons are heavily featured in recent protest videos. I don’t recall ever seeing this phenomenon a couple of decades back. Could it be that the powers that be are trying to paint the notion in people’s minds of vehicles as potential weapons?
Yes. Which is also why I hate when gun owners use cars to defend guns. “Guns are just tools, like cars. More people die in car crashes than from guns!”.
I always see it as this; there are a ton of cars we haven’t yet owned, and if Chyna Plugs and Kamletoe get in, you won’t get your chance.
Orange Man’s no saint, but who is? He’ll be unchained the next term and go on the OFFENSE against the deep state, really tear shit up. I feel he’ll really make up ground he lost and something in me feels like he’ll go after CAFE and other crap like that, though that’s just my gut
Vote R.E.D. Today!
Oh the NEXT term is when he’ll actually do stuff. That sounds very politician, always hold something in the bag for re-election. If he had this super power to stop or fix anything why did he hold the electorate hostage and what makes you think if things were actually what they seems the opposition won’t also double down to prevent it?
He won’t have to worry about re-election, and since there won’t be an election to worry about, Durham and the others can file their indictments and stuff.
He got a lot done during the 1st term, he’ll get a ton more done. Who did you vote for btw?
If Geriatric Joe & The Commie Kamel win: It’s back to the “Green” agenda to usher in the NWO/global government and destruction (especially economic) of the US.
If “Lock Her Up”/3D Chess Deal-Maker wins: The COVID psyop will continue, to usher in the NWO/global government and destruction (especially economic) of the US.
I can’t figure out which is the “lesser evil”, so I refrain from giving my consent…err…voting for any of the clowns to play Bozo for 4 years.
Hi Nunz,
I’m not understanding why you believe the WuFlu hysteria will continue if the Orange Man wins. If he wins, I think it will wane because he will not perpetuate it. He will not hector people to Diaper. He won’t pass a Federal Diaper Mandate. He has been ridiculing “the cases!” The fear cannot be sustained absent ongoing lockstep narrative screeching about Diapering and “the cases!”
People will begin to take off the Diapers, even as the local Karens go berserk. After a month or so, we could back to a semblance of normalcy.
But if that Hair Plugged creature wins, it will be All Sickness All The Time.
I pray the Orange Man is victorious.
Mornin’ Eric!
It may be a moot point now….but even if OM did win, the WuFlu nonsense would continue unabated, just like the surveillance-state, and militarization, and the protecting of criminals in the ruling class, etc. etc. because ANYONE who occupies that office is ultimately either one of “them”, or at the very least does their will.
It is naive to think that one man can stop the global agenda which has been being played-out for the last 100- much less that the man who sold us into the biggest debt ever concocted in the history of the WORLD….the guy who happily kept half of Obama’s functionaries gainfully employed in his admin…the guy who refuses to ‘lock her up’, and who can’t be bothered to find and prosecute those who finance and foment riots on a grand scale, etc…..is somehow suddenly going to buck the plans of his true masters (The guy who signed CARES; who is promising to ‘distribute a vaccine via the military’, whose admin bribes the states to conform to COVID ‘guidelines’…).
Such is just a false hope and wishful thinking. Not going to happen in a world where WE’RE the only unmasked ones at the supermarket in our towns, and where 330 million people are mesmerized by the Tee-Vee. Even if some sincere advocate of truth and freedom could somehow be appointed…he would be quickly overthrown by all of the people who love their chains and who demand more…and who would like to see us encased in cement for not wearing those chains.
tl;dr: It’s no different than voting in Soviet-era Russia. Thinking that a party-member is going to save us from the party…..
THAT’S why I like reading your posts, Nunzio! I hope we get to meet in person some day, so I can drink from the fount of your wisdom… 🙂
Awww, you’re giving me a swelled head, MM!
I’m just observing the obvious.
Hey, maybe we’ll meet one day at a Galt’s Gulch…you’d be an essential there!
‘… whether the federal government will enforce the almost-doubling of fuel economy mandatory minimums to nearly 50 MPG by 2025.’ — EP
‘Mandatory minimums’ has an ugly, War on Drugs ring to it. Setting aside the unpleasant terminology, control-freak socialist states never fail to create misery and shortages by hobbling their own producers.
In Venezuela, where the economy has shrunk by 65 percent (that’s SIXTY-FIVE, not a typo), literally every price of every item is set by the state, even as it prints its Bolivar paper currency so fast that those prices are rendered nonsensical, such as 6-cent per gallon gasoline.
Socialist hero Hugo Chávez once fatuously sipped a 10-cent cappuccino at a gov-run coffee shop in his Workers Paradise. That shop is long gone, as are any milk or coffee or cinnamon or sugar on the bare shelves of supermarkets. But recently something has changed:
“Caracas neighborhoods have a dozen new delivery services bringing to their doors everything from truffle-salmon poke bowls to electronic cigarettes and $50 gluten-free birthday cakes.
“The government no longer harasses the small private sector and has allowed dollarization to advance,” observed Omar Zambrano, an economist. “It creates a comfort bubble that reduces the political pressure of having to maintain an economy that can supply the minimum, especially with U.S. sanctions.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/venezuelans-starve-luxury-dollar-economy-120000393.html
The sudden flowering of commerce in an economic disaster zone, simply by the withdrawal of mandatory low prices on dollar-based transactions, is a metaphor for how the US auto industry would innovate and flourish if the malicious dead hand of the US fedgov were unclasped from its neck.
This poetic comment from Valentina Aponte may apply to a looted, Demonrat-wrecked United States one day — and already does in some trashed, lawless cities:
“So much is missing in Venezuela, even something as basic as books,” said Aponte.
“IN A PLACE WHERE THERE’S NOTHING, THERE’S ROOM TO DO PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING.”
Very interesting observations
Just because we are able to do something doesn’t mean we should.
Given that more of the tyranny we suffer comes from bureaucratic edict than from any LEGAL source, as in elected congress and elected executive, I’m not sure the election will change much regardless of who wins. There are far more “regulations” on the books than real laws, and they continue to multiply. Often at the whim of one single unelected bureaucrat. The EPA. NSTB, etc. have far more control over our destiny than Trump or Biden will have. Bureaucracy has evolved from an aspect of our government, to the primary form of our government, and it has no intentions of working in our favor. Their sole objectives are to increase their budgets, and insure their existence. Of course it can’t hurt to try electing a less tyrannical POTUS.