Donald Trump’s promise to make American Great Again could easily be delivered on by making cars – and trucks – affordable again. The word “easily” is italicized because it could be just that. Because affordable cars – and trucks – are already being made.
It is merely a matter of allowing them to be sold.
Here, that is. 
For instance, the 2024 Toyota HiLux Champ. It is a basic – a stripped down – version of the Tacoma pickup Toyota is allowed to sell here that stickers for $31,500 to start. The HiLux Champ stickers for about $13k to start. But Toyota is not allowed to sell it here.
There are several reasons why the HiLux only costs about a third as much as a Tacoma, including that it does not come standard with a turbocharged four cylinder engine augmented by a hybrid tandem drivetrain – or an automatic transmission. It comes standard with a manual transmission. And it’s available with a diesel engine. Neither of which are available in the 2024 Tacoma Americans are allowed to buy.
But there is only one reason why the Champ is not legal to sell here:
It is not compliant.
This does not mean it is not safe. Nor that it pollutes.
The distinction is very important. It is key to making America great again. Because America cannot be great again until this business of framing “non-compliant” as something bad and thus in need of not being allowed is utterly discredited. Of a piece with discrediting that recent business of not allowing “asymptomatic spreaders” into stores without a “mask” over their faces. 
This “compliant” equals “safe” – and “clean” – is the bait-and-switch the regulatory apparat has used for decades to make life more expensive for Americans and thus America less and less great. Before all of this regulating – and the need for all this complying – trucks cost less than most cars and most Americans could afford to buy full-size cars with V8 engines.
This was not as long ago as the ’70s, incidentally.
It was a recently as about 13 years ago.
Back in 2011, an American could still buy a full-sized, rear-wheel-drive sedan with a V8 engine – the Ford Crown Victoria – for about $30,000. Today, something that fits that description stickers for about $100,000 – and $30,000 will buy you a much smaller, mid-sized car with a four cylinder engine augmented by a hybrid-electric tandem drivetrain.
The only reason for this transition is the need to comply with the latest regulations emanating from the regulatory apparat. These have nothing to do with “safety,” by the way – and this is easy to prove.
A Mercedes S-Class sedan that was made the same year that the last Ford Crown Victoria was made would, if it were made today, not be compliant with the latest “safety” regulations.
Not because it isn’t safe to drive – or to be within in the event of a crash. It would in fact be among the very safest places to be within, in the event of a crash – because a 2011 Mercedes S-Class is built like a tank.
A 2011 model would also be equipped with air bags for everyone.
It also came standard with a V8. The 2024 version comes standard with a six. 
But the ’11 S550 would not be . . . compliant – per 2024 model year standards. And all that means is it does not exactly conform to every penny-ante regulation imposed on vehicles since 2011. It does not mean a 2011 Mercedes S-Class is an accident waiting to happen. It certainly does not mean a 2011 S-Class is less able to withstand impact forces in a crash than a compliant 2024 model year Honda Civic.
But that is precisely what the regulatory apparat wants you to believe. More finely, the apparatchiks want you to believe they are keeping you safe (and keeping pollution at bay) because that is how they justify the never-ending, always-increasing compliance regime.
And their jobs.
They cannot admit the job is done – as regards vehicle exhaust emissions, which ceased being a legitimate problem more than 30 years ago – and they cannot ever allow the public to understand the distinction between compliant and “safe,” because that is the tool of mental manipulation they have to have in order to get people to accept why they are not allowed to have the opportunity to buy a $13,000 brand-new truck like the 2024 Toyota Hilux Champ.
It is not a “safe” truck.
It “emits” too much “pollution.”
If you believe this, you may have also believed the drugs the government came just shy of forcing everyone to take were “safe” – and “effective.”
Hopefully, you no longer believe it.
Driving a new HiLux Champ – assuming you were allowed – would be no more dangerous than driving a 2011 model year Mercedes S-Class in that neither vehicle has a design defect that causes them to them handle erratically or unpredictably or some other such thing that could result in loss of control and an accident. The brakes work. The wheels are not prone to randomly coming off. They are simply – wait for it – not “compliant.” 
Well, so was I – during the “pandemic.”
It’s all bullshit. Say it as Arnold used to, before he became a sad old woman (or revealed that he was always one).
There is no legitimate reason for barring affordable vehicles like the HiLux from entering the U.S.market. There is only . . . bullshit. Federal regulatory bullshit, for its own sake. For the sake of the make-work of the federal bureaucracy. And once he is formally the president, Trump could end it.
It would be literally as easy as signing an executive order.
He wants to make America great again? A great start – come January – would be to make new vehicles affordable again.
. . .
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Eric, I have a really good question. Why are motorcycles so damn expensive new and used? Absolutely makes no sense to me.
way fewer parts than a car
way easier to assemble compared to a car
tires are cheaper
gas tank is cheaper
seat is cheaper
carb is cheaper
transmission is cheaper
suspension is cheaper
engine (one cylinder vs. 4-8), simple 4 stroke engine like a lawnmower vs a car engine (huge difference in complexity)
no air bags or other safety equipment
no glass or doors or roll up windows
no foam molding, carpeting, insulation, and way less paint, no foam dash with covering, no heater ducts, no AC and all the hoses and radiators
(amazon sells a complete set of colored aftermarket body panels for my XR for $120)
speedometer vs. complex car instrument cluster
no radio, no heater core, no radiator hoses, no fans, no interior controls and cables
no hood or trunk or related mechanisms
smaller bearings, only two wheel bearings vs four
no steering wheel or rack and pinion or hydraulic lines
no body panels, roof, big conformal headlights or taillights, etc
the clutch and brake levers and cables way simpler than a car, and much shorter length
way less weight and volume shipping product to market
My motorcycle has many of the same parts as a bicycle. The parts are just a little bigger than a bicycle, and they all do the same thing. A motorbike is still a bike. Bikes are very simple mechanical devices – a used 20 year old bicycle can be had for nothing, yet 20 year motorcycles go for mucho shekels.
most 20-30 year old autos (over 200k miles) are down to a very low resale value and are basically worth nothing except for scrap, yet older motorbikes sell used more than they sold new MSRP
Motorcycle market is smaller yet motorcycle production is also smaller yet abundant for demand, just look at how many motorbikes are for sale right now, hundreds of thousands.
motorhunt dot com lists
5,920 Motorcycles for sale in Oregon
6,760 Motorcycles for sale in Virginia
17,527 Motorcycles for sale in Texas
Motorcycles account for only 3% of all registered vehicles in the United States, how many motorcycles are sold per day? not many
every motorcycle dealer showroom is packed to the gills with inventory. If I check Amazon for a Chinese made 250 knockoff prices are way lower, 3x lower:
X-PRO Hawk 250 Dirt Bike Motorcycle Enduro Bike, water resistant (Black)
$1,679.00
Can you imagine if Amazon sold street legal cars direct from China?
Hi Jack,
There are still many new street bikes available for around $10k. Here are some: https://www.cycleworld.com/kawasaki/z900-se-abs/
It’s easy to find a used street bike – great condition, low miles – for around $5k or so.
Any ice car is better then this….
Battery Fires on the Rise: Why EV Owners Are Speaking Out! Electric Vehicles & Fires Cases
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8fnd56p3gs
@ Eric Peters
Thank you for an excellent article. At bottom, the problem is that our government isn’t supposed to dictate to us what is “safe,” it is supposed to secure our liberties for us to use as we see fit. The cult of safety is taken off since the 1970s, partly because of the erroneous belief that complete safety is possible on our roadways, and also because the rise of the NHSTA and EPA make it easier for the largest auto manufacturers to exclude competition from the area.
GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, et al. – being huge multinational companies – can afford to hire the armies of lawyers, engineers and regulatory specialists necessitated by the EPA, NHSTA, etc. – but the small start-ups cannot … they have to fold their tents, and close down shop.
The globalist movement and its goals also figure into the equation. Many of its exponents don’t want Americans to be own a car at all, especially one which they can drive and operate independently. It suits their ends that cars and trucks are spiraling ever-higher in price and that fewer and fewer ordinary people can afford them. Let them eat cake, or in this case take the bus or the train, I guess.
Modern cars and trucks are now so complex that they are no longer mechanical devices, per se, but computers with wheels. As far as a pickup costing $70,000 new – I wouldn’t want one even if I was a billionaire. That’s just too damned much money to pay for a light truck.
Eric, a couple of other factors need addressing, vis a vis the cost of driving. First, the stranglehold that lawyers and insurers have on the auto business and how it is done, and also how they impact the cost/mile of operation. And second, the fear of lawsuits against car companies a la “Unsafe at Any Speed” and Ralph Nader.
Last but not least: When electric cars are cost-competitive, work well and are attractive to consumers, they will be purchased – and not before. The whole boondoggle should serve as a warning of the unforeseen costs of social engineering on the part of the plutocrats. Until that time, don’t mess with our cars! We like internal combustion engines and want to keep them!
Thanks for the kind words, Georgia – and amen regarding what you’ve written. Glad you found us – and ae here with us!
485 mph at 39,925 feet wins the race. Flight data is right there on the screen as you fly by the seat of your pants on a wing and prayer.
1500 miles in 5.5 hours beats ox cart out there.
Ducks, geese, pheasant, cranes, herons, pelicans all fly for free.
I don’t have wings, it costs some money then.
Freedom of flight, like religion or something.
Ukrainians have been trained to fly F-16’s, you know, hey.
Way cool.
“It would be literally as easy as signing an executive order”
Re: Federal Executive Orders
Presidential, federal, executive orders apply only to federal
entities, i.e., federal employees, federal land, and the military.
An example of a valid executive order is the setting
of federal holidays, which are not mandatory in the
states. Other executive orders are the same – not
valid in the states, or to their residents.
‘make cars – and trucks – affordable again.’ — eric
Or else THIS happens:
‘Bloomberg Intelligence’s Joel Levington published a new report Monday, citing new data from CarEdge that showed a staggering 39% of vehicles financed since 2022 carry negative equity, including 46% of EVs.’
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/nearly-40-cars-financed-2022-are-underwater
Sorted by manufacturer, Tesla is the worst of the lot, with the median Tesla borrower having about $1,500 of negative equity.
For brain-dead auto makers, winter is coming.
It’s the end of the world as we know it — and I feel fine. 🙂
Not to worry. With Washington allowing Ukes to lob US made missiles at Russian cities,,, the market for cheap trucks will…. “evaporate”.
It may explain how Deagle predicted the US to lose half or more of its population by the end of 25.
Deagle said it was because of American economic refugees fleeing because of Ponzi schemes, but that could be created by nuclear war
Slave herd reduction…
The slave owners hate the white slaves so will replace them…..The masters have made the white slaves a target of racism….that is the purpose of their narrative 24/7 on their big media….training the other slaves to hate white slaves….dividing the slaves so they don’t revolt….the other slaves took the bait….they are racists….
The replacement slaves are being imported…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vesv94h_5Ps
The slave owner’s trolls will say….. the white slaves are racist for not enjoying being a target of racism and being culled…(helot)…..
I completely agree that Toyota should be able to sell the Hilux Champ in the U.S. I’m not unique in having wanted a 70 series Land Cruiser forever, too. Or even being able to buy the regular Hilux instead of the Tacoma. I just want a basic no-frills Toyota truck. Just a newer, less rusty, maybe a bit more power version of my 1985.
But even in a perfect world where there was no pointless regulation Toyota would not sell it here.
They have long memory and they haven’t forgotten the market resistance they faced with the original pickups they sold here. You may not remember this but in the 70s and 80s Toyota was not the truck juggernaut it is today here.
The trucks were small and lacked power. While some of us recognized and loved them for reliability and the punishment they’d take. But the market really didn’t embrace them until the mid 1990s when they put a decent sized V6 in the truck and the sales jump from around 1992 up to the 1st gen Tacoma (1995) is obvious. Even back in the 90s they were trucks for work or young climbers like me. Once you got a family there was no way the truck was going to work, just too small.
The 4Runner kind of filled the hole but even though they brought the XtraCab in 1984 it wasn’t until 1989 that it grew enough to have jump seats in back. That magic moment was a cab big enough for someone more than 6 feet tall and power to hold 65 MPH on the Interstate. There’s not some grand conspiracy, Toyota was smart to design the Tacoma, more targeted for the U.S. with the long distance road trips and Interstates.
The Champ is going way backwards in Toyota’s plan in North America. Even me, a dedicated Toyota truck driver, probably couldn’t make the case for buying one.
Back when I got my 1985 only slightly used the lack of power was only a mild inconvenience.
Now with everything else getting bigger and more powerful I feel it’s become borderline dangerous to try driving it on the freeways. It’s not really useful to try figuring out whether it’s regulation or market forces for that but even entry level cars dwarf it in size and you’re at constant risk ending up as a hood ornament merging. I’ve been looking more and more at brochures for a new Tacoma, although the honest truth is I’m in the market for a reasonably used one. Even the base model SR is head-and-shoulders more appropriate in the real world for this aging old timer…
Hi Anon –
I dunno, amigo. I am the current owner of an ’02 Nissan Frontier and previously owned a ’98. These small trucks were – and remain – extremely popular because they are small and simple and easy and cheap to keep. But the profit margin them on them is low – and that’s one reason they had to go.
Have a 92’ Mazda B2600. No power anything. No A/C.
No problems at all with being able to achieve and maintain freeway speed.
Ditto that, Burn it down!
I used my little ’02 Frontier to haul prolly six loads of crusher run from the quarry to my work site over the past several weeks. She bore it without complaint.
You guys live at lower elevations. My poor little 22R (carb baby!) lives at 7500′ and has to pull over 10,000′ when I have to drive over to Denver. Poor thing is wound to 4K at 30MPH with the four ways flashing with the big rigs.
Doesn’t bother me, been doing this for 30 years. It’s gone through a couple of headgaskets over the years, which isn’t exactly uncommon for the R series engines, but I’m sure all those 30 minute pulls over passes takes a toll.
Back in the day when everyone had 100 HP it wasn’t so obvious since there’d be Civics and VW buses and other vehicles with me. Now even the big rigs have started being able to pass me once in a while. Engine technology has evolved quite a bit, the benefits of cam timing, sophisticated fuel injection and turbos especially are compounded with elevation.
“You guys live at lower elevations. My poor little 22R (carb baby!) lives at 7500′ and has to pull over 10,000′ when I have to drive over to Denver. Poor thing is wound to 4K at 30MPH with the four ways flashing with the big rigs.”
Those elevations are a pretty unique use case.
I drive the Mazda through Lookout pass 4700’ without problem but it is fuel injected so there is that.
And with respect to the VW – there is a big difference between a late 60s 36 HP and a Super Beetle at 60 HP. V-dubs now easy to retrofit with fuel injection for better drivability at altitude. Still won’t be great at 10,000 feet though.
Ok – you get a pass on the underpowered comment I made – lol!
“Back in the day when everyone had 100 HP it wasn’t so obvious since there’d be Civics and VW buses and other vehicles with me. Now even the big rigs have started being able to pass me once in a while.”
Imagine that! A world where virtually EVERY non-performance vehicle topped out at ~100HP, and yet somehow, we managed. Granted, vehicles back in the day were also substantially lighter, but hey, even my 4,000+ lb, 160HP Tacoma has no problem getting on the highway. Now, everyone acts like they need a drag racer to haul groceries!
“Now with everything else getting bigger and more powerful I feel it’s become borderline dangerous to try driving it on the freeways.”
This is silly talk.
A 73’ VW beetle (60 HP) is easily capable of freeway speed. Freeways are the safest roads to travel due to same direction traffic and lack of cross traffic.
This Merican’ idea that vehicles are underpowered is part of what has been driving costs up for decades.
Ditto, again –
I drove a ’74 Beetle in DC traffic – in the ’90s – and never had a problem.
I mentioned elsewhere maybe, but it’s a relative thing. All traffic speeds have increased. Eric, you mention it often in reviews. Notice how even the lowest spec Corolla can now do zero to 60 times that used to be considered pretty good and the average sedan or SUV is as fast as all but the top spec F bodies or Mustangs back in the 90s. I don’t agree with it but the fact is most cars now are pretty high performance so keeping these old clunkers as daily drivers is getting tougher. Do you drive that Beetle everyday? I’m almost always “That Guy” causing a slow down even thought I very much practice good right lane protocol. And we have a lot of two-lane mountain roads (and mountains here coming with high elevation). People are getting pretty aggressive and I’m finding a lot more of them doing dangerous passes around me. It doesn’t matter but where I used to be just slightly on the slow side of normal I’m now really far on the left tail of the curve in relative slowness.
Hi Anon,
The performance capabilities of new vehicles is mostly hypothetical in that it’s not much used. I regularly out-pace new/late-model “luxury sport sedans” and so on when driving my under-powered and most definitely not-quick ’02 Nissan Frontier. Especially on curvy roads. The typical Clover in his 300 horsepower late model whatever-it-is drives as if he were driving an ’84 Aries K with one dead cylinder, a separated tie rod end and four bald tires.
A driver who knows how to roll with the ebb and flow – who knows how to anticipate the need to accelerate – and so on – will not have any difficulties.
My point being I do feel some responsibility to not be a traffic nuisance. I also am willing to conceded that it’s somewhat contextual. Colorado only has one limited access 4-lane option cross state and two 2-lane Federal highways that I usually take instead. Being an -under- speed cork in the Interstate flow can get you noticed by John Law, too. Although the number of people who have moved up to my next of the woods the past 20 years has made I-70 basically like any other commuter route so needing to keep up with 75 MPH limits at elevation and with head winds is getting more rare anyway.
My 1970 VDUB gets mad at me if she goes over 65 mph on hot days, starts running mighty hot. The backroads aint so bad.
@anonymous
Well, Toyota makes – or made, anyway – a great truck. I am a former owner of a 2001 Tundra, and I wish I could buy another one. It was just right in terms of size, performance, cost, cost to drive… it was durable, ran like a top, and the only downfall was that the frame on it was one of the ones that didn’t get rust-proofed back in the day (I wasn’t the original owner). The new Tundras are supposed to be good, but I dislike how large they are – some garages won’t even fit them!
They last forever, too, if you take care of them….
Why not take a little time to learn the CAUSE of all this government lying and increasingly tightening the screws of the police state?
As Henry Ford and other great intelligent people said a HUNDRED years ago, the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” exactly fit what is going on. “Zion” = jewry. The linked book, free as a pdf file, includes the origins of the “Protocols” and an English translation of them.
https://odysee.com/@louismarschalko:2/WatersFlowingEastward:c
Read and learn. You will KNOW, not believe, not imagine, but KNOW why the medical profession poisons us, why government constantly lies and constricts our rights, why the big media all lie together about history, CO2, so-called vaccines, etc.
And when enough of us KNOW, then we can fix it.
[As Henry Ford and other great intelligent people said a HUNDRED years ago, the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” exactly fit what is going on. “Zion” = jewry.] – Jim ((my caps))
With the advent of fluoridated water,,, 72 vaccines,,, government indoctrination centers,,, and wokeness,,, the world, this nation, is post intelligent.
I’m hoping trump will “cut the balls off” the EPA as well as cutting the DOT. But we shall see. I also would love to see the DC Metro area have a severe recession like the rest of us had to endure. We will know how successful Trump is by how much the media howls and screams soon.
The EPA is an executive agency started by Nixon, of all people. Therefore it can be ended by the executive – Trump. Let’s see if he actually does.
Compared to most other forms of transportation, we’re told the safety record of cars is not all that good. Probably better on a per-mile basis than walking or horseback, but no where near the safety leaders: Elevators and commercial airplanes. I asked ChatGPT to supply a chart comparing walking, horseback riding, automobiles (1.11 deaths/100 million miles traveled), elevators, and commercial aircraft (0.0 deaths/100 million miles). It turns out that of that list, the DOT only tracks cars and airplanes. How convenient.
So is driving safer than cross country skiing? Before it was a way for bearded liberals to feel superior to everyone else, nordic skiing was a common way to travel in winter. How about riding a bus or subway? Here there is some data:
Automobiles Approximately 1.11
City Buses Approximately 0.04
Light Rail Approximately 0.24
Subways Approximately 0.24
So if safety is your prime concern, take the bus to the airport. If you actually want to get where you are going (on your schedule) though, you probably should become a better driver. If people actually learned how to drive (or were more willing to admit they’re lousy drivers and take alternative transportation) that number would come down drastically.
But there’s also the matter of the roads themselves. Most roads were built out from the 1920s to the 1970s. The population of the country was increasing drastically, as were the number of cars on the road. Highway architects were guesstimating the traffic patterns of the future. Much of the time they guess wrong. But by the time the pattern was established it was too late to do anything about it. Land became impossible to acquire, and the minority voice became dominant if only because they were the only ones complaining about the situation. So now we’re stuck with roads that were never designed for the amount of traffic and no possible way to improve them. However you can always make them worse by adding bike lanes, center islands and other “calming” solutions.
So the only thing that seems to be fungible is the car itself. Disposable by design, every few years you need a new one. The path of lease resistance. Plenty of opportunity to try new ideas. When they don’t work, ratchet up the regulation some more until it does. And it helps grow the economy too! If the price of cars goes down, then so does GDP. And economists all know that people will stick with what they have, knowing the price will be cheaper tomorrow, so it will become a Keynesian death spiral for the nation! The regulator has to step in to prop up prices!
“If the price of cars goes down, then so does GDP. And economists all know that people will stick with what they have, knowing the price will be cheaper tomorrow, so it will become a Keynesian death spiral for the nation! The regulator has to step in to prop up prices!”
Forgot the #sarcasm tag ?
Right. The reason why economics is “the dismal science” mostly has to do with working with a bunch of economists. Imagine being the sort of person who lives on day old bread and rotting fruit because they’re cheaper than fresh.
On the good side, money saved on cars can be spent on other things, or better yet, saved and invested.
Sleep easy Keynesians.
Executive orders are tyranny by another name.
If one tyrant can issue an Executive Order to allow the purchase of a vehicle, the next tyrant can issue an Executive Order to take away that vehicle . . . Or that puts us in camps for wrong think or owning that vehicle.
Executive orders are unconstitutional. Not that it really matters to anyone in the country since no one really abides by the constitution.
America is now a lawless empire that well along the path toward its demise.
Prepare and act according.
Even IF the Orange Man “PERMITS” you to buy a “non-safety-compliant” vehicle, his proposed tariff nonsense appears primed to offset the affordability.
https://www.autoweek.com/news/a62920233/20-percent-tariff-on-cheap-cars/
A significant reason Toyota sells the Tacoma is tariffs.
The original trucks were made in Japan and came in mostly as a cab-and-chassis, no box on the back. So it wasn’t a “pickup” technically to customs. They made pickup boxes domestically and fitted them in the port. This was a work around the chicken tax, which was a 25% tariff on import pickups to protect the Big 3 market.
Through the late 80s, early 90s Toyota partnered with GM at a plant called NUMMI in Fremont, California. They started just making pickup boxes then as they dialed in process were building complete trucks in parallel with Japan up until 1992 when NUMMI was ready to make the majority of U.S. sold trucks. So by 1995 Toyota was positioned to make a U.S. specific truck, designed (mostly) here, built totally here, to completely avoid the chicken tax.
They eventually moved manufacturing to Mexico thanks to NAFTA making that effectively a domestic factory not subject to import tariffs.
Hi Anon,
Yup. Another big reason is that the Champ is diesel-powered. Can’t have that here. Because “emissions.” Never mind that there aren’t any to speak of.
I have absolutely zero problem with tariffs as they are simply a way to nudge manufacturing stateside. The real issue is regulations. Regulations make life harder, stifle innovation and drive up costs as well as encourage malinvestment of intellectual and physical resources.
Trump could put a 2k tariff on this truck and it would still be way more affordable than 10 year old used Tacomas.
Executive orders are not necessarily unconstitutional. To be constitutional they must fall within the purview, and not exceed the privileges expressly granted to the executive branch. Since almost all feral government agencies are under the management of the executive branch, executive orders to effect that are constitutional. But the executive cannot make laws, nor can they expand them by such fiat. The can, however contract them by such an act, especially pending a legislative or judicial act to clarify a legitimate law.
But in the desperate straits we find ourselves I still hope Trump goes Pinochet and actually solves some problems. Not that he will.
Big Gubmint fools can’t see the forest or the trees. Probably because they tore the forest down to build a solar farm like they did in the little town north of me.
If the Hilux Champ was able to imported sans chicken tax and regulatory BS, there would be an unprecedented boom in small businesses. People would be able to start hustles and businesses out of a cheap, highly configurable work truck. The cream would rise to the top, as nature commands and we would, as a society, reap the benefits.
But instead they want us working for the corporations that will fire us the minute we don’t take their big pharma approved shot in the arm.
Deep State: “It’s not complainant.”
Us: “Why?”
Deep State: “Because I said so”.
Physical Controls Are Back Because Drivers Are Sick Of Endless Touchscreen Menus
https://www.carscoops.com/2024/11/button-expert-explains-why-touchscreens-didnt-actually-kill-physical-controls/
Thanks, Mike.
While I doubt that this subject deserves a 420-page book [Rachel Plotnick, Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing], it certainly is time for an anti-screen counterrevolution.
In this excerpt from Plotnick’s book, her analysis is mostly cultural and historical, rather than technical:
https://medium.com/@mitpress/pleasure-panic-and-the-politics-of-pushing-123b534eaee7
The ergonomic benefit of direct controls (vs screen menus) is supported by plenty of research. Here’s a dirty little secret: auto makers were so envious of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, that they thought copying iPhone interfaces and electric motor drives would make them into billionaires too.
It’s really that simple, and that stupid. We’re the victims of their mindless, copycat conformism. And now their companies must die.
New leftist agitprop from the EPA, dutifully parroted by the mockingbird Lügenpresse: your water pipes are too big. Yes, seriously:
‘Many high-performing, water-saving fixtures and appliances are designed like straws, supplying only enough water to satisfy one’s thirst. But the pipes that bring that water into Americans’ homes are sized more like fire hoses.
‘Oversize plumbing pipes move water inefficiently, wasting money and increasing the risk of waterborne diseases.
‘Through the end of 2023, WaterSense [rated plumbing products] helped Americans save a cumulative 8.7 trillion gallons of water and $207 billion in water and energy bills, according to an EPA annual report.
‘While most plumbers acknowledge they’re installing oversize pipes right now, they’re not inclined to make changes, especially when what they’re doing has been working.’
https://archive.ph/ivIo3#selection-947.0-947.167
My experience has been quite the opposite: 1/2-inch supply pipes are barely adequate for kitchen and bathroom fixtures, and external faucets.
Probably leftist cadres are envious of the gigantic, multiple rainflow shower heads favored by plutocrats in their palatial bathrooms.
As always, ink-stained stenographers can’t conceal their real-world ignorance: the lede photo shows PVC drain pipe, irrelevant to their claim that supply pipes are too large.
WTF does pipe size have to do with how much water you actually USE!? You can get more water faster but so what, I’m not going to suddenly max out my water usage just because I can. Besides that the water/sewer charges up here will bankrupt you. These effing nanny freaks just can’t find enough things annoy you with. Death to busybodies!
The world is awash in propaganda disguised as information.
The articles premise that we are in a time of increasing drought is false and just climate change nonsense propaganda in disguise
And there is this whopper: “Over the years, more homeowners have chosen water-saving devices, including those bearing the Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense label, which debuted in 2006. ”
So now using government regulation to force low volume water fixtures (faucets, toilets, washing machines, etc.) that don’t work is actually a customer “choice”
And of course, the photo of the PVC drain lines stands mocks in mockery to the articles premise about supply line sizing as was pointed out above by Jim.
Ugh! The fact that these articles are written by people that don’t know a supply line from a drain line is insufferable. And yet they have the gall to preach about what we “need”.
Is it too early to hit the bottle?
It’s high time to hit them with the bottle. Perhaps both hitting the bottle and then hitting them with the empty is appropriate?
This nothing but pure ignorance. I note that the source is the Jew York Slimes.
Basic hydraulics tells us that the pressure drop is *inversely* proportional to the hydraulic diameter, according the the Darcy-Weisbach equation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darcy–Weisbach_equation
This is what is known as “science,” a concept probably unintelligible to the scribblers at the Slimes. Maybe next year they will get a larger and more “diverse” set of crayons for Hanukkah.
The original water piping for the house where I live was galvanized iron (G.I.), which rusts from the inside out, a well known phenomenon which I call “pipelosclerosis,” by analogy with arteriosclerosis.
Eventually, the pipes need to be replaced, which I have done on my own home years ago, out of necessity. By actual observation, I can tell you that a brand new 1.5″ PVC water supply line flows much better than an internally rusted 3/4″ G.I. line., which will have a lower diameter plus increased pipe friction due to the internal rust.
The people making the claim that smaller pipes are more efficient are just stupid.
Good lord! Are your supply lines actually that big(1.5”?). My curb supply is 3/4 and I found that 3/4 was a good compromise to get good flow at the shower head. Nothing else really needed bigger than 1/2, as restrictions in faucets made that irrelevant.
All the internal piping is 1/2″ copper, but the main supply from the city meter to the house is 1.5″ PVC.
PVC is cheap. Copper is expensive.
Demand includes exterior irrigation front and rear yards, as well as domestic hot & cold, so I have more than adequate supply for any possible future use. Incremental cost to put larger size PVC in the trench I dug (by hand) was insignificant.
Relative pressure drop:
1/1.5 = 0.67
1/1 = 1.0
1/0.75 = 1.33
Upsizing the supply line from 0.75 to 1.5 cuts the pressure drop in half.
‘Basic hydraulics tells us that the pressure drop is *inversely* proportional to the hydraulic diameter, according the the Darcy-Weisbach equation’ — Adi Heidler
I was aware of the inverse proportionality, but not of the historical origins of the Darcy-Weisbach equation.
Thanks for completing my engineering education.
Now the frickin’ environazis want our houses piped with tiny capillaries, so we can’t ‘waste’ water no matter how hard we try.
This is the re-education program I have in mind — drop by agonizing drop — after I incarcerate them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgLyBgXI8qw
Pop. Six. Squish. Cicero. Lipschitz. They had it coming.
‘There is only … bullshit. Federal regulatory bullshit,’ — eric
Eric has stumbled upon an eternal truth: fedgov regulatory bullshit as the third certainty in life, along with death and taxes. Move over, Ben Franklin.
Meanwhile, this chart shows that in 2023, passenger cars were the No. 1 import into the US, while the related category of auto parts was No. 4. Together they totaled $345 billion in value.
https://ibb.co/Bn6SQQ5
Thus, any serious hike in general tariffs by the Tariff King — say 25% — is going to drastically hike imported vehicle prices. This is turn gives protected US manufacturers room to boost their own prices more aggressively.
Result: any regulatory relief on greenhouse gas regulations will be offset by tariff-driven general price hikes. Prices will only … GO UP.
Which circles us back to Eric’s eternal maxim. The only certainties in life are death, taxes and federal regulatory bullshit.
Tariffs are a good way to fund what little government is legitimate. But only after eliminating or at least gutting the despicable income tax.