The headline being the amount Ford admits it has lost – so far this year – on the “sale” of electric vehicles. Such “sales” are going to bankrupt Ford if they don’t stop making them. But Ford says not to worry; “sales” will improve by 2026 – by which time Ford (and the rest who’ve’ “invested” in “electrification”) no doubt have been told by the Biden Thing people will be faced with the No Choice option:
Either buy an EV or don’t drive anything else. The latter to be forced out of the showrooms – this is already happening – or be priced out of the EV you’re not already driving, as by “fees” (government euphemism for hand-over-money to be allowed to do something you used to have a right to do for free) few can afford to pay. They will jack up license/registration costs for non EVs, apply additional costs – until it costs more to drive a car that isn’t electric than it does to buy one that is.
This of course begs the question about who’s going to pay for all this? The answer is – all of us.
People who currently do not have car payments – because they own whatever they’re driving – will get to make payments, in order to be allowed to continue driving.
People will spend time waiting to drive, for their EV to charge. As this column has noted previously, the “fastest” “fast” chargers take at least five times as long to partially charge an EV as it takes to fully fuel one that isn’t.
This assumes you’re first in line.
People will spend time at home – because it is not generally feasible to “fast” charge an EV there. It can be done, hypothetically, if the homeowner “invests” the $15,000-$30,000 in electrical panel upgrades to make it feasible. But that is not financially feasible for most homeowners. Instead, they’ll wait the 7-11 hours it takes to “Level II” charge their EV. For which they’ll pay a few hundred to a couple thousand bucks, to have an electrician install the necessary 240V hook-up in their garage.
This assumes they can afford a garage.
And we will all pay higher utility bills, due to the increased demand for power – which the powers-that-be are assuring will cost us all more by assuring there isn’t enough of it to meet the added demand they are imposing. It is likely that the average person’s monthly utility bill will double or triple by 2026 – the year Ford says it will stop losing money “selling” EVs.
There will be other forms of loss as well. Including of the jobs putting together cars – as opposed to battery powered devices. It takes less work – and so, fewer workers – to put together the latter, because these devices have fewer components. The chief ones being the battery and the motor, both of which are plug-in devices themselves. It takes more work to put together the parts that comprise an engine (as opposed to a motor) and there is no transmission (or drive axle) in a battery powered device, because the motors are typically mounted directly to the drive wheels.
Just drop the extruded plastic shell on the skate.
Ironically, this simpler layout has not offset the much higher cost of the batteries that power these devices, which is why you still pay about 30-50 percent more for a battery powered device than you’d otherwise pay for a similar car.
But it still costs the jobs of the workers who aren’t needed to put-together the battery powered device.
The United Auto Workers union has finally clued into this. But rather than oppose this forcing of battery powered devices on us, it demands what it styles a “just transition” to battery powered devices. By which is meant more of what has been used to force battery powered devices on us.
Subsidies – this time, for those who won’t be working to put together cars, having been rendered useless eaters by electric cars. It will be called some other, more palatable thing, of course. Just the same as the way people are “asked” to “have a “conversation” about “paying their fair share.”
UAW President Shawn Fain says – correctly – that the Biden Thing is “pouring billions into the electric vehicle transition, with no strings attached and no commitment to workers.”
Italics added.
What Fain is saying – without saying it in plain, honest English – is that the same government that is forcing people to buy battery powered devices must also force people to absorb the peripheral costs, including the rendering of tens of thousands of autoworkers into useless eaters. Many of the soon-to-be-the-latter would have had ten or even 20 years of productive employment ahead of them. They now have Wal-Mart ahead of them. “Learn to code,” say those whose jobs pushing people out of jobs are secure – being government jobs.
Well, Fain wants to make sure his autoworker membership continues to get paid – even for not working. On account of their having been forced out of work. One feels sympathy for these workers, as it’s not their fault they’re being transitioned into useless eaters.
But rather than go after those who are responsible for this evil transition, Fain wants to make those who had nothing to do with it – and many of whom very much oppose it – pay for it. By being obliged to pay more taxes to fund more “benefits” for the people no longer working, or working less. And for less. Workers at battery assembly plants earn about half as much as workers who put together cars.
Fain styles this a “rush to the bottom.” He’s right.
And it’s one we’ll all be paying for, one way or another.
. . .
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Eric, I wonder what it will take for companies like Ford to revert to building real cars and trucks again once the EV fantasy crashes and burns. Have they thought about that? What happens to all of the IC tooling and supply chains when they go all-electric? Surely they won’t leave it all in place, ready to go.
I am not the least bit surprised that Ford would make this move, even if it seemed suicidal. They work for the enemy. It is kind of ironic, really. They were one of the many companies that worked with and helped the Nazi’s in World War 2 (along with IBM and many others)
Eric do you have any thoughts on the viability of the Aptera solar car?
Good morning, RS!
Yes, generally – in re the Aptera. I haven’t yet had time to dig into the specifics of the thing but I am assuming it is very small, light and designed to be a short-hop/low-speed thing. This, based on what I am know of EV “technology,” would be the only way for solar power to be viable because it’s the only way to keep down the energy requirements (and battery/vehicle weight). The energy requirements of a typical EV such as Tesla could be met by (home) solar but you’d need a big/very expensive system to capture/convey sufficient energy to instill meaningful charge in anything less than a day or three.
I will dig deeper and report back!
How does the EV story play out? I have a good idea how this ends … a very expensive death for much of the EV world. The real question is will the marketplace choose EV’s outside of government subsidies? How much of the EV market is sustained by government freebies?
The rule of thumb governing technological change – the new tech must be 3x better for consumers to switch. Electric cars fail that test (as Eric has detailed ad nauseum) they lack the range, price point, charge time etc. In every way the EV costs more and is less convenient – and thus you should be skeptical they are going to win out in the real world.
But we don’t live in the real world and the politicians and those who control them are mad hatters. The Left wing lunatics – branded by the climate change lie – are on a moral crusade to save the planet – and could care less about the cost of EV’s or even if there is adequate electricity for them.
So these delusional environmental lunatics who actually think all the ice is melting, polar bears have gone extinct, who think carbon dioxide is a poison gas and 20% of the atmosphere will not spare any of your dimes to save the planet from the internal combustion engine. It is a religion to them.
Reality does not matter to them, only ideology. ZH reports today what Senator Ted Cruz said:
“Ted Cruz appeared to spook stocks early after warning on CNBC that “20-30 year old Marxists” are running the show behind the scenes at The White House, questioning Biden’s cognitive wellness and warning that the odds of an actual default are higher than the market believes, because the ‘behind the scenes’ staffers believe media will back them in blaming Republicans.”
The fate of EV’s may very well lie in this budget debt ceiling crisis, because if the fools in charge will for sure push this into a Mexican stand off, and they actually let the Treasury default, that could spell the end of the EV subsidy gravy train for the simple reason that if the debt default pushes interest rates higher then the US Gov will be facing an existential crisis and be forced to slash spending – and EV subsidies would be first to go, as well as flushing billions down the Ukraine shit hole (or Israel for that matter).
You ought to read what Wolf Richter wrote about Tesla’s profits – they never made a profit with cars, only with selling tax credits. Tesla was never a real company per say – it was some deep state project to farm subsidies and Elon was only the face man installed by the insider spooks running the show from behind the scenes – who were privy to the elite agenda and were cashing in on it.
And like I keep telling everyone, Musk fled to Twitter right when Tesla had to start slashing prices to sell their cars. Musk may be moving away from Tesla before the shit hits the fan. CEOs typically are way ahead of the investing curve – they know immediately when their product profit margin is being threatened and sell their stock – which is why many investors watch what they do. Musk sold much of his stock at the highs to buy Twitter.
The bottom line, the debt ceiling crisis could mark the end of the EV tulip mania – which by the way was funded by huge increases in asset prices. I’ve noticed in my neck of the woods that home owners who saw their home prices double and triple or more go run out and buy a shiny new EV or other car costing over 40 grand. And why not? My house just went up 300 grand.
Just remember, GovCo at all levels, Fed/State/Local, is the biggest customer for vehicles. It’s no problem for them to buy as many EVs as they need because it ain’t their money…it’s YOURS.
Do you really think they’ll be hesitant to buy two cop cars per shift to cover the limitations? All the infrastructure they’ll have to build to charge the garbage trucks? You pay for it prole.
Not much can be done when businesses are willing to commit business-cide in favor of social debauchery today called virtuousness and the whims of government mafia. Add the infighting of the ‘citizens’ trying to steal their share of what’s left from each other before it all crashes is downright hilarious. Reminds me of the movie “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” The Title even fits! (1963) Recommended.
Re: “It’ a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”:
Great movie, easily in my kids’ top-ten list!
Hilarious. I remember watching it at the drive-in from the back seat behind my parents when I was 5 years old.
It clearly shows, in spectacular Ultra Panavision 70mm cinematography, the stunning beauty of southern California and American automobiles in the early 1960s . . .
Wide-open highways populated with beautiful cars carrying well-dressed people . . .
It’s a glimpse of what a great country we had … before the Immigration Reform Act & LBJ’s Great Society programs … before the collapse of morals & abandonment of God in the late 1960s … before our money became completely fake in 1971 … etc.
I’d be perfectly happy to see Ford go down for not respecting its customers and giving them what they want. They seems to have some pretty decent products right now (Mustang, Maverick, Bronco and Bronco Sport), but it choses to focus its energies EV and the “Very Gay Raptor”:
https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/feu/en/news/2022/06/21/ford_s-very-gay-raptor-set-to-redefine-tough-at-goodwood.html
It’s brand suicide. Ford needs to enjoy the same popularity as Bud Light.
I read recently that Ford is building, or planning to build, one model of Lincoln in China, “for export to the US.” Take that for what you will, but it takes no genius to realize there are one hell of a lot more Chinese than there are Americans, and the Chinese will be living much closer to the Chinese Lincoln factory. Now apply the Ford Principle of paying employees well enough that they can afford to buy the products they make, and you’re in (Chinese) business.
“In German, or English, I know how to count down, und I’m learning Chinese, says Wernher von Braun.”
-Tom Lehrer
Betting it all on EV’s may prove to be the biggest disaster, as the government is technically bankrupt and has been borrowing untold trillions with great abandon.
You all know that it may not continue forever, as the credit rating of Uncle Sam is slipping. Slowly at first then all at once CDS insurance on bonds spike and then you are bankrupt … just like Lehman Brothers. The rating agencies, didn’t downgrade the bonds until just before it went out of business.
Biden is a wrecking ball toying with disaster, as he refuses to budge an inch – and thus the “full faith and credit” of US Treasuries are being put at risk.
Why that matters for EVs is simple, if you are losing your credibility then the car manufacturers will panic and cut and run from your hair brained future globalist planning schemes. They are trying to force EVs on us – it is not the market – but a program based on the hugest of lies – climate change. Yeah, we are going into a mini-ice age not warming dumbasses!
I say the market – especially autos – is way bigger than big gov. Listen to me now, or listen to me later, this EV thing is going to end badly. Eric is really on to this upcoming EV disaster. What is funny, there may be Ford Engineers reading these comments, I wonder what they think.
Hi Jack,
From today’s news:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/ford-sees-growth-gas-powered-vehicles-amid-ev-shift
How will auto manufacturers save themselves? By separating EV and ICE departments into two separate organizations. Very much like GE did with financing, healthcare, and their aeronautics. Keep the profitable and sell the loser. Anyone remember AT&T and Lucent? AT&T and DirecTV? AT&T and Time Warner?
In early 2022, Ford created Ford Blue and Ford Model E. One is very profitable. The other is a dumpster fire. Separate the revenue, separate the liability, separate the profits and losses. When the losses become too much sell it off in pieces or declare bankruptcy. The profitable business will continue on. Ford can then shrug their shoulders and declare to the climate crusaders “we tried, we really tried, but it didn’t work out.”
Save face and the pocketbook.
>The profitable business will continue on.
And the profitable IC business will be free to develop other NEAT (No Emissions At Tailpipe) vehicles, to keep da gummint off their backs.
One possibility will be H2 IC (*NOT* fuel cell) engines, already under development by a consortium of four Japanese manufacturers for motorcycle engines and by Cummins for large trucks and other industrial engines, such as construction machinery. Since the only “emission” produced by burning hydrogen is water vapor, it will not be possible to outlaw such IC engines by screeching about “carbon footprints.”
I doubt even the U.S. government would attempt to outlaw water. And if they do, there is always wine *(or moonshine).
Old Stewball was a racehorse,
And I wish he were mine.
He never drank water,
He always drank wine*.
————————-
*which, for those who believe, can actually be made from water alone.
Prost. 🙂
One issue – It takes an insane amount of energy to create Hydrogen that will be “burned” by an IC engine. It’s even more stupid than EVs.
Yes, but if it just so happens to also work ok if you put gas in it…just by swapping out a few parts…
The issue is compliance, not “intelligence.”
No Emissions At Tailpipe is compliance.
Who cares where the “magic fuel” comes from, or what is required to produce it? That is someone else’s problem, right?
It may end with states asserting their own authority as the bankrupt Federal gov’t loses it’s credibility – already states are saying no to federal gun laws, and they could say screw federal standards on emissions – and some entrepeneur could import $4,000 dollar electric cars from China.
Truckers in Idaho are running down to California to get bargains on over the road semis – that have been outlawed.
There is a huge potential for importing all kinds of vehicles produced all over the world, like ultra cheap econo cars from India Tata Motors.
>Truckers in Idaho are running down to California to get bargains on over the road semis – that have been outlawed.
Yeah, Jack,
And there is a *huge* likelihood, IMO, of the trans-Pacific shipping industry deciding that the Port of Houston is a far superior choice than the Port of Long Beach, going forward, due to the chicken shit “watermelon” policies here in the Peoples Republic (snicker).
Many issues.
Storage: Hydrogen is such a small atom it leaks from pretty much everything.
Dangerous: It’s inherently dangerous, needing serious compression to be portable/mobile, and inherently explosive.
Transportability/lack thereof: Portable containers like your traditional gas can are a non-starter- they will need to be much heavier, have more tech in them, and be vastly more expensive.
Inefficiency: As Swamprat notes, it takes a hell of a lot of energy to create a transportation usable form of H2- that old EROEI issue again.
Energy density (possibly?): I haven’t done the math, but i doubt that hydrogen (even highly compressed) will have anywhere near the energy density of diesel/gasoline.
The ONLY currently viable option to combusting natural fuels is nuclear, and if there actually were a shortage problem you could use the insane energy density of nuclear to synthesize natural fuels economically despite the inefficiency involved.
How this ends is anybodies guess, but what I think we can see how it ends by just looking at how it’s ending in Ukraine – where the Biden-Zelensky axis of evil refuses to negotiate a ceasefire.
Mother Russia is pounding the shit out of Ukraine and pedopuppet Biden and gay demon Ziolensky refuse to budge from their position. This is exactly like the budget war, Biden absolutely refuses to cut one penny from the many trillion dollar budget – and McCarthy (who is like Lavrov in this analogy) can not get the warmongers to the negotiating table.
Thus the behavior of these loons in Ukraine is iindicative of these loons with the debt ceiling – they refuse to even give in a little and thus Ukraine is an unmigitative disaster as will be the credit rating of the USA.
Biden is like some senile old left wing idealouge – believes himself to be superior and morally right. But what he is – and damn fool and destroyer. Thus, how can this end in anything but a raging dumpster fire?
Watch for this move next:
NC Governor Cooper declares “state of emergency” to stop a Republican school choice bill that will be passed despite Cooper’s objections via a supermajority vote to override his veto.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/north-carolina-gov-roy-cooper-declares-state-emergency-school-choice-bill
These guys are addicted to emergency powers. I swear Brandon will go there on the debt ceiling. This may all be on purpose.
I think Biden works for the crown – Biden is a Rothschild deep plant – and is carrying out the crown agenda – which is why he is pushing EV’s as the crown is the source of global warming climate change insanity.
Someone way above senile old Biden is certainly pushing his agenda through him. And they may want to take down the USA a notch with a Treasury default. So that means Biden will not negotiate and allow the nation to go into default – because he is being ordered to do it.
There is an old Chinese proverb about it being profitable to sit on the mountaintop and “Let the Tigers fight”. The American system is ridiculously easy to hack- elections with more than a few hundred voters are inherently dishonest/untrustworthy, and the biggest thing is to control both (all) choices being voted on. Likewise They have baited Russia into an act of national/existential self defense in the Ukraine mess. They are winning and will win, but the cost is debilitating.
So-corrupted US at every level, kept distracted with intolerable affronts, and squandering all moral and fiscal credibility, will soon be shoved unceremoniously off the world stage as a major or even significant player. And a Russian federation pushed into otherwise undesirable alliances with Chinese, and forced into less efficient economic arrangements- a vast lightly populated treasure trove of natural resources. And a Chinese polity quietly, and intelligently working for their own interests behind the scenes of everything.
Do we all get the picture yet? And why a uncontrolled, national patriot DJ Trump was such a threat to the big scheme?
Hey Yukon Jack, et al,
The whole situation in Ukraine amounts to a repeat of Afghanistan…..the neocons are willing for every Ukranian to die if it weakens Russia….the problem for Zelensky is he is the next Manual Noriega, Saddam Hussein et al….more and more he has that deer in the headlight look, foreseeing his demise. Anyway, your description of Biden is probably accurate, though he has been an evil for his entire career……strange times…
Good point … yes Biden was evil all along, and installed by election theft many times. He was the useless VP under Obama – then they put him in to carry out their agenda. The only real question is who is running the show.
Hi Giuseppe,
Zelensky deserves what I hope he gets. That being what Mussolini and Ceascescue got. He has personally caused – and been the tool of – immense suffering and mass death, all of it needless. None of what is going on in Ukraine would have happened had he dismissed the idea of Ukraine joining NATO and treated ethnic Russians in Ukraine as citizens, like other Ukrainians. Instead, he pushed Putin into acting because for Russia, it is an existential threat for Ukraine to become a NATO state and the abuse of ethnic Russians only added fuel to this fire.
It’s all extremely sad – and appalling.
Unless you happen to be a part of the US Military Industrial Complex, which is making much moola on the debacle. At our monetary expense, and bringing death to Ukrainians. Death after all is the MIC’s bread and butter.
Indeed, John –
And now the Zelenskyites have, apparently, attacked targets within Russia. Expect Putin to respond. How do these maniacs expect this to end? Or is it that’s how they want this to end?
I hope that the people of Ukraine end this – by ending Zelensky – the sooner, the better.
Hi Eric,
Has anybody here ever read White Pill by Michael Malice….it’s a really interesting book by a native Ukrainian who is quite articulate (he was brought here by his parents as a toddler). When you mention Ceaușescu his description of what the Romanian tyrant and his wife did is thorough. The book is excruciatingly painful to read up until the last twenty or so pages as it describes in graphic detail events under the USSR and its satellite states. We westerners do not have the conceptual capability to comprehend how evil those tyrants were. The White Pill refers to how it ended….almost overnight. Highly recommended. Now we have something like that evil loose in the West…..interesting times. Oh yeah, Zelensky does deserve that same treatment and he will probably get it, but the hands moving the levers of power may not suffer at all…
In the C-Suite, audentes fortuna iuvat (fortune favors the bold).
What’s the downside to betting a 100 year old company on the longest of longshots? If you succeed you’ll be remembered like Steve Jobs, with glowing biographies and mentions in textbooks. Back in 1984 he butted heads with Sculley largely because he wanted to scrap the Apple ][ 8 bit line and focus entirely on Macintosh. When he came back to Apple in 1997, first thing he did was eliminate all but 4 products and settle the patent lawsuits with Microsoft. Big, bold bets that were the right thing to do, but weren’t at all a sure thing at the time. Difference being, Jobs understood intellectual property depreciates faster than a summer blockbuster movie, especially when the new stuff is exponentially better, not worse.
Anyone thinking there’d be a shareholder revolt better guess again. If the big institutional shareholders make a big move they’d just be shooting themselves in the foot. There’s no one who could buy that much stock and everyone else should be trying to unwind their position too. But that doesn’t matter, because they’re all in on the con too.
And of coure, if the bet doesn’t pay out, you’ll get bailed out by Uncle. Because automobile manufacturers are govenment’s golden children. No economy is complete without an automotive sector. So no matter how bad the output, someone will be buying, incentivising, and ultimately bailing out the automotive sector.
This is the unfortunate truth: “And of course, if the bet doesn’t pay out, you’ll get bailed out by Uncle. Because automobile manufacturers are government’s golden children.” A free market would not allow this shit.
A free market would also demand useful upgrades and updates. Eric has pointed out how the production life cycle for new cars has been stretched out, with even cosmetic changes happening at a glacial pace. The Charger/300 comes to mine. Some would say if it ain’t broke, but remember the heyday of Detroit steel was the 1950s, when the new model year was anticipated, because you knew there’d something interesting to see.
Compare then to now, when it is hard to tell the difference between manufacturers, and the overall health of the industry.
The problem with government support of the auto industry vs. an actual free market is that you end up with something like a Lada or a Trabant.
Hi Giuseppe!
Gramsci advocated a “long march through the institution” – including corporations – and here we are at last. What the Left once called The Man is now their man – or some other “gender” (the fungible word for what was once just sex, as in male or female).
Interest on the federal debt is going vertical, and in the near future the federal government may be forced into massive spending cuts to stay solvent. EV giveaways would be first to be chopped as they are completely unnecessary and only serve the uber rich with tax breaks.
EV subsidies made Elon MuskRAT the richest man in the world.
The Deagle report predicts this – the GDP of the USA in 2025 is predicted to be 85.4% less:
https://nobulart.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Deagel-2025-Forecast-by-Country.pdf
You all do know that currently Biden is funding all of Ukraine pensions and risking default on Social Security next month.
YOU ALL DO KNOW THAT. RIGHT?
LIKE WHY IN THE F.U.C.K ARE WE FUNDING UKRAINE RETIREMENT PENSIONS?
LISTEN TO ME NOW OR LISTEN TO ME LATER, JOE BIDEN MUST BE IMMEDIATELY REMOVED FROM OFFICE BECAUSE HE IS BANKRUPTING OUR NATION.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A091RC1Q027SBEA
Soon the interest will blow right through 1 trillion – and with a default, it will start heading toward 2 trillion like a bat out of hell.
‘UAW President Shawn Fain says – correctly – that the Biden Thing is “pouring billions into the electric vehicle transition, with no strings attached and no commitment to workers.” — eric
Fain understands that “Biden” is an old-school machine politician. So the UAW is refraining from endorsing “Biden’s” 2024 presidential bid until they get their fair share of honest graft.
The UAW managed to unionize one battery plant in Warren, Ohio last December. But most Battery Baloney plants are joint ventures with Korean partners who do not voluntarily invite unions in. At least the UAW got lip service from “Biden” during his visit to South Korea:
“Every joint venture that manufactures electric vehicle batteries would be made stronger by collective bargaining relationships with American unions,” Biden said. — Reuters
Yes, and “Joe” believes in motherhood, too! But the UAW misses the big picture: the gov-subsidized Battery Baloney bubble is building too much capacity. Unionized or not, those jobs aren’t secure because the ultimate market for EeeVees is smaller than for gasoline vehicles.
America’s centrally-planned, Soviet-style auto industry is headed for a smash-up. EeeVees are the new Zils and Ladas, whether the proletariat can afford them or not. The UAW will be part of the collateral damage.
Come on, people, better climb on board
Come on, baby, now we’re goin’ home
Ship of fools
Ship of fools
— The Doors, Ship of Fools
I’ll believe “Joe Biden’s” “heart” (what heart?) is in it when he puts his own well being where his lying politico mouf’ is.
Specifically,
1. Converts his classic Corvette Sting Ray to battery power,
2. Issues a Royal Decree/Papal Bull/Fatwa/Führerbefehl which proclaims that all Presidential limousines must run henceforth on electric power alone, and suspends all Presidential travel (that is, His Holiness’ own) until the existing “Beasts” can be converted to, and baptized in, the One True Faith, the Church of the Holy Electron.
>EeeVees are the new Zils and Ladas
and the proletariat shall drive Trabants, no? NO?
Welcome to The Revolution, comrades, where all-electric main battle tanks (“Hunter” Mk I) will be used to put down any “insurrections.” Good luck, peasants…
‘and the proletariat shall drive Trabants, no? — Adi Heidler
And she’ll have fun fun fun
‘Til her daddy takes the Trabi away
— Beach Boys, Fun, Fun, Fun
>Trabi
“Ugly little bitch, but she’ll get you there.”
-Joe Don Baker (from Golden Eye)
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is singing Tom Petty today:
Well, I won’t back down
No, I won’t back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won’t back down
No, I’ll stand my ground
Won’t be turned around
And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won’t back down
Well I know what’s right
I got just one budget fight
In a world with Biden keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground
And I won’t back down
The goody goodies are the death of virtue
A No Choice option doesn’t exist. There’s always a choice. In this case, for most, it’s going to be drive or don’t drive. The latter of course being exactly what the Psychopaths In Charge want, but I’m sure it’s not what Ford wants. They’re just either too stupid or too mentally ill to see the the train that’s about to run over them. A whole lot of car makers are going to die on those tracks. For the sin of kneeling to the state. The car market declines by 75% or more, and Ford thinks that’s a good business model? That somehow, in the face of that decline, by 2026 they are suddenly going to be profitable? Sort of like the whole “climate change” hysteria. Based on unicorn farts and fairy pixie dust. Which aren’t exactly sound investments.
Another choice is to…leave. More and more I am believing my only chance at some sort of financial retirement is to move south. Paraguay, Uruguay, a few other decent places beckon. Cheaper living, better people. No winter. Start a beach head for my family, friends. Yep, where thats free spanish course?
Government is a disease, and all eventually become terminal. Perhaps better to stay where the one in power is already dying? Nothing but friction and gravity prevent your proposed destination from becoming as bad or worse than where you are. May take longer, may not, but all things end.
The FRNs will lead to its death. You’d need a dump truck to tote enough United States of Zimbabwe paper currency to buy a loaf of bread.
Try the Duolingo app. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.
Someone I know made the rounds of the big European bank branches in Colonia, Uruguay, just an hour by ferry from Buenos Aires.
In every one, the smile of the manager turned to a frown when the blue US passport came out. ‘Sorry, we can’t open accounts for US citizens.’
That’s due to Barky O’Bummer’s FATCA law of 2010, which demands that foreign banks report US citizens’ accounts to the IRS. Instead, foreign banks just shun Americans … including in Uruguay, a banking haven for Argentines and Brazilians.
Uncle Sam, in other words, shit the welcome carpet for Americans moving abroad. Nice guy, huh?
Hi Jim,
Obama is (rightly) credited for “fundamentally changing” this country. But it was the Chimp (that beady-eyed, inbred sociopath) who enabled him to do so – and that bastard rarely gets the credit he deserves. The entire Bush family is a cancer on America.
One of the big justifcations for the PATRIOT act was that it wasn’t possible for the CIA to alert the FBI and vice versa. Even though Condoleezza Rice stated under oath to the 9/11 commission that the daily defense briefing, which is handed out to cabinet level people every morning, clearly stated Bin Laden was going to attack. So first thing that comes to mind is that the cabinet doesn’t talk to each other, and the President doesn’t talk to his cabinet. That right there pretty much sums it up. No one is in charge, and cannot be bothered to do their jobs. Every one of them should have been fired on the spot.
I voted for The Chimp back in 2001. I thought he sounded like a sensible person who would keep us out of foreign wars and had sensible domestic policies. Only later did I find out that 1) he invaded Iraq on false claims of weapons of mass destruction therefore we (USA) needed to bomb and destroy a country that did not attack us. 2) He claimed that there was a home ownership gap and we as a country needed to do something about this. This eventually led to the housing crash of 2008. 3) He claimed that we needed to do something about the educational gap hence the stupid policy of “No Child left Behind”.
Yes, Bush The Younger (Chimp) was one stupid asshole. Either that or he was paid off.
I voted for Ron Paul in 2004 as a write in candidate. An then came Obummer in 2008. We are truely going downhill.
I don’t get how foreign entities can be subject to American laws, anymore than I could be subject to, say, an Argentine law. Beyond time for them to give Uncle the finger and tell him to butt out; they should have done that from the beginning and we wouldn’t have the mess we’re in today.
Hi Mike,
The key question – how much money has been exchanged? The USSA is famous for buying friendships. Does the loss of American funds on foreign soil compare to the loss of funds from the American taxpayer? When Uncle Sam’s signature dries up the rules and regulations of American treaties will be disregarded.
‘I don’t get how foreign entities can be subject to American laws.’ — Mike in Boston
Under FATCA, noncompliant foreign banks can lose their accounts at US money center banks which conduct transactions in US dollars on behalf of foreign banks.
That is, the US can unilaterally banish a foreign bank from transacting in dollars, still 60% of global reserves.
>foreign banks just shun Americans
Another reason to heed Doug Casey’s advice RE: a second (non-USA) passport.
Ford at one time had a 100 dollar stock price. In 2008, Ford was selling at a bargain basement rate of 5 measly dollars per share.
Ford needs to wake up to the realities and stop drinking dot gov kool-aid.
Job One: Tell Joe Biden to take a hike and keep on hiking right straight to hell.
Ford will be glad to make a wise decision, they’re the stakeholder, not the gov. What has been done in the past has always worked, just keep on keeping on.
“If you wanna make a living, you gotta put on a good show.” – Johnny Lee, Cherokee Fiddle
F is held by major institional investors, mutual funds and the company itself. That stock is so locked up it won’t budge unless the whole market slumps, but those institutions won’t sell, and why should they? And who are they going to sell to? If anything, Farley will just start a buyback initiative and the price will be back in no time.
RK,
“Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” comes to mind.
I’m sure Fain and the majority of the UAW leadership, along with a good chunk of the UAW workers themselves, supported a Biden presidency. Sure many were on board with the artificial EV push as well. Oh well. Hard to care. I’m sure I’ll end up paying for their stupidity/evil anyway, one way or another. That’s how it always is.
So much of life comes down to this: Everything was fine until some busybody got his panties in a wad a f***ed things up.
I’m not sure how Ford expects to “Get money back” from sales of EVs unless the Biden Thing promised them BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to make EVs like they sent to Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeev and also want to do with the pharmaceutical industry to make brand new mRNA COVID “vaccines”. Not only that, but only wealthy elitist snobs can even afford an electric vehicle, and there are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay fewer of THEM than there are of US. And with these snobs specifically demanding to be driven around in gas vehicles instead of EVs at their meeting in Davos a few months ago, they’ll likely keep THEIR gas vehicles but DEMAND that everyone else drive an EV.
Hi John,
The US Inflation Reduction Act aka The Green New Deal is handing money out for any individual/corporation that is willing to play along for “a greener tomorrow”. It is free money. What is Ford losing? Nothing. Give it a whirl. If it is profitable…great, Ford shareholders are happy. If it is a loser…oh, well, it came from the American taxpayers wallet, not the company operating account.