A Step in the Right Direction

By
eric
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Libertarians – those dangerous people who think everyone has a natural (God given) right to go about their business in peace so long as their business is peaceful – won a small but important victory the other day in Texas that threatens to spread to other states.

Hopefully, at any rate.

What happened was the Texas DMV said people who buy one of those little “Kei” pick-up trucks you may have seen can now legally drive them on Texas roads.

Kei is short for Keitora – and refers to a type of very small truck sold in Japan and other countries where it is still legal to sell vehicles that are not legal to sell here (new) because they do not comply with the latest Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. And while you can buy one used from a specialty importer (here’s one in my area) many states will not issue registration/tags for these little trucks, which makes them illegal to use on public (that is to say, the government’s) roads.

Anyone who dares to drive them on the government’s roads is subject to a Hut! Hut! Hutting! if an armed government worker catches them doing it. Never mind that they’re not harming anyone else – or even themselves – by doing it.

It is worth pointing out that a Mercedes S-Class sedan made circa 2000 is also not compliant with the latest Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The take-home point being FMVSS regulations are more about compliance than safety – unless you think a circa 2000 S-Class full-size Mercedes sedan is an “unsafe” car.

Well, neither is a Kei truck. It’s just small, light, simple and useful. Some have bed walls you can fold to the sides to increase the bed’s capacity. Some are dump trucks, perfect for hauling gravel or mulch from the garden store back home.

They are also affordable.

Like the compact-sized trucks formerly sold by Chevy, Mazda, Ford and Nissan that you can’t buy new anymore – in part because of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

The least you can get now – that’s new – is a 4,000-plus-pound mid-sized truck that’s almost as big, just as heavy and more expensive than the full-sized truck of the ’90s. Models such as the ’24 Toyota Tacoma ($31,500 to start and 4,265 lbs.) and the Ford Ranger ($32,565 to start and 4,203 lbs.) and the Chevy Colorado ($29,500 to start and 4,280 lbs.) and the Nissan Frontier ($30,030 to start and an astounding 4,495 lbs.).

All of these used to be inexpensive compact-sized pick-ups.

They’re not anymore. And there’s no new alternative to them.

But you can legally buy a used Kei truck – as well as a number of other Japan Domestic Market (JDM) vehicles originally sold in Japan that have been imported here by dealers that specialize in this trade. Some of these JDM models – like the Toyota Hi-Lux/Surf, which is basically a Toyota 4Runner/Tacoma – were available with a diesel engine that was never offered here. These models are much more fuel efficient than the gas-engine-only versions we’re allowed to buy as well as more durable.

They are thus very desirable.

The difference is the Kei trucks are newer. Or – rather – they are not old enough to be classified as exempt from all the regulatory folderol, which is how it’s possible to register and plate a ’90s-era diesel-powered Hi-Lux. If it’s 25 years old or older, it is grandfathered, at least as far as the feds are concerned. 

But the newer Kei trucks are essentially in the same position as the ATVs and side-by-sides sole by Polaris and Kawasaki and others that are classified as not legal for street use, even though they are no less “safe” than something like a Meyers Manx dune buggy from the ’70s – which could be (and still can be) registered and tagged and legally driven on government roads.

Most states say you can’t drive a Polaris or similar ATV on government roads, because they’re not compliant with the latest Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

Which is strange because many of these ATVs and side-by-sides have full roll cages and some even have ABS – “safety” features no Meyers Manx dune buggy ever had. That no VW Beetle (the car used to make the Meyers Manx) ever had, either. And it’s perfectly legal to drive an old Beetle or Manx on government roads because you can get it registered and tagged just like any other vehicle.

Well, now you can legally drive a Kei truck on the government’s roads in Texas.

“Counties should begin accepting and processing title and registration applications for mini vehicles and ensure the applicant or dealer provides all required title and registration documents, including import documents when applicable,” reads the letter issued by the Texas DMV.

This is pushback against the apparat, which does not want Americans to be able to drive inexpensive, simple vehicles – which have been taken off the roads by removing them from the showrooms, via the latest Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

Something called the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators – which is as “American” as Chevrolet is Russian – issued a “recommendation” that states ban all “non-FMVSS compliant” vehicles. This could – it is ultimately intended to include – vehicles that were legal for sale in this country when they were made but which do not comply with the latest Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Potentially, cars made before air bags were effectively required would be forced off the government’s roads this way. The administrators – such a benign sounding term – itch to do this. (If you haven’t already, you might read Philip Dru: Administrator. It is about Woodrow Wilson’s Rasputin, a guy named Edward Mandell House.)

So, this is an important tactical victory. Very much of a piece with the one that was won when Florida ditched “mask” mandates. This led to “mask” mandates being ditched in other states.

It is very important that things like this spread.

The more states that become freer, the harder it is for other states to be less free. This was precisely the purpose of the divided sovereignty built into the original American system, which was not intended to be a consolidated, centralized, one-size-fits-all regime. America was supposed to be a place in which people were free to go about their business, so long as their business was peaceful. There is nothing harmful in driving a Kei truck. If you don’t want to drive one, then don’t. But if your neighbor does, he has every right to.

And neither you nor any “administrator” has any business telling him he can’t.

. . .

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Related posts:
  1. A Step in the Right Direction
  2. Congress to Issue Automated Car Fatwa Tomorrow
  3. The Trumpian Two Step
  4. How the Left Advances . . . One Step at a Time
  5. What That IIHS Report Really Meant….

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

67 COMMENTS

  3. My every day ride is a 1985 Dodge D 50, also known as a Mitsubishi Mighty Max. Friends of mine had bought it a year and a half old, for I don’t knw what. They used it on their raspberry farm for some thirty years, put it into commute service, but had some issues with the fuel ssytem. It DOES have the turbodiesel engine in it, and a five speed gearbox. They fussed and fought with it ff and on for a year, and never could get it reliable. They asked me if I wanted it.. yeah, but I don’t have any money I can spend right now. No, o, we’re di=one tossed in the towell. Its in our driveway, go gat it and its yours. We hve the title and keys for you. DEAL!!! I KNEW what the problem was.. diesels can NOT tolerate ANY air in the fuel system. tyey simoly do not run. So I replaced all the lines, and the silly litle push pump prime bulb. Replaced the lower ball joints and steering drop arm, alternator belt, and later fitted a HUGE Racor big truck filter system.
    Thing runs lilke a Swiss watch (I know,because I also have one of those….) returns 37 miles to the gallon, is sweet and easy to drive, very comfortable, handles well, and is real workhorse. I’ve hauled 1200 pohds of logs in it, didn’t even slow down for he hills.

    I’m pretty certain that sooner or later our tyrannical wanna be owners will mandate I stop driving this thing on the roads I pay for. Might have to find a different state upon whose roads I will pay for it will be deigned legal for me to drive.

    I’ll lay high stakes at VERY long odds none of the newer model SUV’s they use for the dirty coppers are built to TODAY”S standards for “pollution” OR safey features (that I don’t want anyway. lap / shoulder belts and such things. are all I want anyway. Everything else is a costly nuisance.

  6. Hi Eric ,
    While it is a good step I dont see further momentum from this. The elites and the government want to keep their debt based economy growing and simple easy to purchase /assemble/make machines are going against it. The aim is to create artificial scarcity . Make free things cost money and make cheap things expensive force permits for something that didn’t require them in the past is the way of their future.
    expansion of Government bureaucracy is necessary for that. Without it imagine cheap hoses cheap easy to fix cars, cheap food etc. All this collapses the GDP

  7. If it is practical, you can bet government will be there to wreck it. Neat little trucks much more practical than any EV will ever be.

  11. I drive one of these little trucks around at my workplace. It’s a 4 wheel drive Suzuki model .
    I’m 6″2 and have to shape shift to get into the driver seat . Customer’s are always asking where to buy one then I give them the bad news that it’s not street legal in our state.
    Next door in Connecticut you can register them. I see quite a few buzzing around on there roads.

    • Holy Shit..
      You can actually register a “hijet “ in CT????
      That’s my Neanderthal homeland with no Intelligent life forms within 200 miles!
      Everyone up there is glued to Raging Madklown and CNN….
      Come Clean.. Are you licking Fentanyl patches???

      • Okay I got it!👍
        It’s like Aspen CO …
        The servants need to make sure the canopies are delivered fresh 🤔 thus proletariat transport must be tolerated 🤮🎯👍
        Makes sense to me..

  12. Trouble in PHEV land, comrades:

    ‘The European Environment Agency (EEA) … used data from monitoring equipment installed in 600,000 vehicles, including gasoline, diesel and plug-in hybrid models across Europe.

    ‘For plug-in hybrid vehicles, real-world emissions were found to be 3.5 times higher than the figures claimed by manufacturers. On average, these vehicles were reported to emit 40 grams of CO2 per kilometer, but the actual emissions measured were 139 grams per kilometer, which is comparable to traditional, non-electric-assisted models.’

    https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/rym1bp9gr

    EPA red guard Michael Regan is well aware of this ‘problem.’ His 1,100 pages of GHG regs include a screed accusing PHEV drivers of not charging and not brushing their teeth daily. (Okay, I made up the toothbrushing bit.)

    So in coming years, PHEVs will be punished by assuming less all-electric mode usage than before … and thus, more grams per mile of deadly CO₂ ’emissions’ [sic]. Meanwhile, EeeVees are likewise to be scourged, by phasing out the notorious fuel equivalency factor which currently credits EeeVees at 6.67 times their true weight in fleet CAFE calculations.

    Comply! orders the imperious fedgov bureaucracy. But how?? Producing one hundred percent EeeVees will be the only way, as matters now stand.

      • Pedals falling off on cybertuck.
        10% of employees getting canned.
        Sales crapping the bed.
        Garbage yolk steering.
        Stock down…down…down.

        Musk never made a car before…it shows….

        inflicted millions of lithium fire bomb battery abortions onto the planet….

        Without lies ten feet deep and billions of $$$ in subsidies….zero sales….biggest con in history….EV buyers….the stupidest slaves…lol

    • “‘For plug-in hybrid vehicles, real-world emissions were found to be 3.5 times higher than the figures claimed by manufacturers.”….

      ….and they didn’t even include the emissions from the fuel burnt at the power plant to produce the electricity…and all the losses in transmission lines, distribution lines, the charger, etc…..

      they always start their calculations with the energy already in the battery….magic tooth fairies put the electricity in there…lol….not back at the power plant….

      zero emission at the car….power plants don’t exist…it is a conspiracy theory…..

      zero emission…it is all based on a huge lie….call them all out….

  13. Hell, people around here drive those SxS things all over the damn place around here. Granted, I live in a largely rural area, but there they are. Some are quite powerful too. They all have one of those slow moving vehicle triangle thingys on them while blowing down the road at 80+MPH. No one seems to care.

    • When I was 28 at the turn of the millennium, the best I could manage was a used Toyota Corolla, despite earning a good income for a young person. She bought an $84,000 SUV the size of a house without the income to justify it.

    • I had a friend who would buy $400 cars from the towing companies….if something major went wrong….scrap it and buy another…..his cost of driving was very low……

      Now stupid slaves have $1000/month car payments….

  16. Kei truck…about 1500 lb curb weight…770 lb load capacity….6 foot bed….top speed around 65 mph…some up to 80 mph….

  17. So will police in other states hassle (ticket or impound) you if you get a Texas plate on one of these and drive it out of Texas? Or are you basically stuck in Texas?

    Up until recently, states have allowed vehicles registered and plated in any state access to the roads with out problems or restrictions. California of course, is the one ruining that. It has banned pre 2010 diesel trucks, even ones registered in other states. I have heard they have subjected out of state cars to random air pollution tests, and if it fails, you have three days to get it out of the state or they steal it from you!!! Nice way to treat tourists right?

    • They seem to have forgotten the “Full faith and credit clause”. Because of course that makes impossible many of the things that the state and local tyrannies want to do to us.

    • I’ve seen these on the streets here in Oklahoma. Funny looking little things. Not for me, but I like the concept.

  18. Re:…..”Meyers Manx dune buggy from the ’70s”

    There was a discussion about the ultimate cockroach car….the last running vehicle on the planet…in the end times….mad max……

    One suggestion was a Meyers Manx dune buggy….fiberglass body, so no rust…air cooled VW engine, reliable, no computers, points and condenser, carburetor, simple, easy to fix….

  19. Bring back small, well engineered, high quality, simple, light, pickup trucks….

    1980 VW Caddy pickup truck…MSRP $6000 in 1980….$22,740 in 2024 dollars

    Curb weight 2000 lb….load capacity 1100 lb….

    With diesel engine up to 60 mpg highway

    These were so good they are now a collector vehicle…..
    1981 Volkswagen Rabbit LX Pickup….SOLD….$39,000…Mecum…Jan 11, 2024

    https://www.classic.com/veh/1981-volkswagen-rabbit-lx-pickup-1v1lg0174bv090234-n1kzNbp/

    Today’s over weight, computer stuffed, problem filled, spyware filled, bad fuel economy, abortions….
    Nissan Frontier….. MSRP today $30,030

    Curb weight 4,495 lbs

    24 mpg highway

    • Hi Anon,

      Yup. My ’02 Frontier stickered for about $13k when it was new and weighs just over 3,000 lbs. So, the new Frontier costs twice as much and weighs 1,000 lbs. more.

      • Ahhh, but what you don’t understand is that you get more weight for your money now. Uncle Sam and all economists will view that as a win. {sarcasm}

    • 1980 VW Caddy pickup truck…MSRP $6000 in 1980….$22,740 in 2024 dollars…sold at auction in 2024…for $39,000

      In 44 years it appreciated 41%…..

      $50,000 EV’s after about 8 to 10 years when the battery is screwed…are worth zero…100% depreciation….thrown in a landfill to catch fire and destroy the environment more……
      and they get about 25 mpg when mobile….lol….progress….

  20. Seattle Craigslist, search Kei

    https://seattle.craigslist.org/search/cta?query=kei#search=1~grid~0~16

    Kei truck specs

    https://www.jdmimportsct.com/post/buyers-guide-kei-mini-truck-differences

    https://www.kei-trucks.com/blogs/kei-trucks/fuel-efficiency-and-gas-mileage-of-kei-trucks

    City Driving: Kei trucks excel in city driving conditions, where their small size and efficient engines shine. On average, Kei trucks can achieve impressive gas mileage in the range of 30 to 40 miles per gallon (mpg). Their compact size and nimbleness make them well-suited for urban settings.

    Highway Driving: While primarily designed for city use, Kei trucks can also deliver excellent gas mileage on the highway. Depending on factors like speed and cargo load, you can expect highway mileage in the range of 40 to 50 mpg.

  21. A friend of mine got one for his lake place. I took it for a spin when it first landed and it was a fun little beastie. I hadn’t driven a RHD manual for awhile, so it took a minute for my brain to engage.

    Thanks, Eric!

  22. I saw a Daihatsu truck roaming around last summer. It had a homemade shelter built into the truck box, seemed like the person had one place to live, his truck.

    Plenty of those sports/utility vehicles out in the country.

    John Deere, Massey Ferguson, Ford 4-wheel drive tractors are crawling fields in every state. Those axial flow IH combines run for forty years, just maintain them, maybe a new engine. They’re still out there working harvests. Four IH cornbinders working 160 acres of wheat takes about five hours, done. Haul it all away to the grain bin or grain house.

    300 gallon diesel fuel tank, 3 gallons per hour, 100 hours of field time, one month of planting, the job gets done in a New York minute, really. Two tractors will be 200 hours of field time. Gots to have a pickup truck too.

    All prep time beforehand, have to sleep, you have to pay attention, have to get the job done.

    We all know Michael Bloomberg is the world’s best farmer. Bill Gates is a close second.

    • Who is the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators?

      Here’s the bastards site…www.aamva.org

      The real question is where their funding coming from?
      Find that and then you find the real criminals…

      I cant seem to find out that information….

      Good luck y’all…

  23. Here is the full skinny, in an article posted three weeks ago by Mercedes Streeter of theautopian.com, on how David of Texas Kei Truck Advocates got it done:

    https://tinyurl.com/22dhfzt3

    Unfortunately TKTA is a private Facebook group with 192 members, so no further detail is available to social media shutouts like myself.

    Nevertheless, TKTA’s strategy can provide a roadmap for moving forward in other states. According to the Autopia article, their proactive approach was controversial. But it just succeeded … hopefully not by handing the DMV administrator $35,000 in a brown paper bag, as Colonel House would’ve done during his salad days as a young aristocrat on the make in Texas.

  24. Good, but… why exactly is any level of government dictating what kind of vehicle you can buy, own, and drive? Suppose I want to indulge myself and stick a 460 Lincoln in a fat tire bike? It would, of course, die horribly but that is entirely my decision to make.

    A couple years ago I decided to strive for pre 1964 vehicles. They are simpler, classier, don’t have smog systems or seat belts, they are in fact a nice way to enjoy old, free-er America, licensing is easy and often permanent. I know full well that the communists could change the rules at any time, that’s the single biggest reason democracy is irredeemably evil and entirely unacceptable, but those of us outside the mainstream are a small enough group to slip through the cracks and be left alone.

    Additionally if I want a small truck, anything before 1955 is smaller and quite useful. I am free to pick and choose what features I want, EFI/engine and transmission management, absolutely. Air bags and seat belts, not a effing chance. Disc brakes and power rack n pinion, and radial tires? Fo shizzle! Automatic with deep overdrive, what’s not to like? GPS navigation, sure, with a cheap tablet or standalone GPS docked in a custom pocket on the dash. With minimal snooping by third parties.

    I’ve also found there is a ready market for my stuff, when I get tired of it someone will pay for it.

    The point of this ramble is that this may NOT be a step in the right direction, as it accepts state authority where it is never legitimately granted. And when folks start getting killed trying to run their kei trucks in Dallas loop traffic, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth and demands by hysterical women of all genders to do something. Because that’s where we are at right now.

  25. I love the JDM vehicles. When I lived in NZ for a couple years I bought a used Toyota Townace that was perfect for my personal and business use. NZ has no car industry so many of the cars there are imported used JDM cars. In Australia I also had a Toyota Hiace converted in Japan to a camper that was a great campervan with all the comforts including a tiny bathroom with shower. It’s a shame that we have to wait til they are 25 years old to import these vehicles into the US – to support a multi-million $ salary for the incompetent traitorous CEO of GM.
    It reminds me of the Twentieth Century Auto Company in Atlas Shrugged where the employees voted to destroy their jobs and their employer for “the greater good.”

    • JG…. When I was in NZ 97-98.. there was a Toyota Assembly Plant at the base of the Coromandel peninsula on north island…
      Is it still extant?

    • It was the Twentieth Century Motor Company, not the Twentieth Century Auto Company. As the man who said that he would stop the motor of the world and did, you should know this!

  26. I titled and insured a military M-151 jeep in Michigan in 1981. There was absolutely no problem doing so. The Secretary of State issued a VIN. It was titled as an “assembled vehicle”. My insurance agent wanted to visually see the vehicle. There were no seat belts or other “safety systems” installed. I think that he just wanted to see what the vehicle looked like. Insurance was no problem as well.
    I wonder if I could get away with the same thing in today’s world…

  27. Support your local county as well when they run interference to your screwball libtard state government. We can drive ATVs on many county roads here “farm use”. I’ve seen several side by sides in town lately as well, the city cops don’t seem to be bothered and the county sheriff is a good ‘ol boy won’t bother hassling anyone local.

  28. Man if you keep reporting on Relevant subjects “for the masses” ..I can assure you Gitmo awaits…
    I LOVE THOSE ABSOLUTELY FUNCTIONAL ICE MINIMALIST VEHICLES 🎯🎯🎯
    Way to go ep👍…
    I just wish there was a slightly larger model..
    Without having to purchase the ubiquitous Daihatsu 1.5 tonner .. in the DR..
    The only problem my Caracas “squeeze “ has with this vehicle is….” Not Macho Enough “!!😂😂😂

  30. Edward Mandell House was the big money cabal’s inside guy for influencing Wilson to promote and then eventually sign the Owen’s-Glass bill that created the federal reserve 1913. Interesting that he wrote a fictional novel about a revolution in America into a dictatorship. (I wonder if he and Wilson were gay?)

    • If so, Woody was a pretty expensive rent boy:

      ‘“What,” I asked House, “cemented your friendship [with Wilson]?” House answered, “I handed him $35,000.” — George S. Viereck, The Strangest Friendship in History, Woodrow Wilson and Col. House

      https://tinyurl.com/3989a7s8

      And that wasn’t all: ‘Before leaving the stage, House co-founded the highly influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).’ The CFR cabal still torments us today, with its wretched permawars.

  31. The Kei or a Bongo would be perfect for a group of subdivision neighbors to co-own. Most suburbanites rarely need a truck, but the Kei / Bongo would be just fine for the occasional suburbanite use.

    • Mike
      Spot on … a wheeled conveyance to assist mobility at minimal “carbon footprint “ ….
      Should BE THE OVERWHELMING PRIORITY OF
      GRETA Thunberg…
      So where is the Asperger’s bitch when you need one spouting REALITY ABOUT CARBON???!
      The midget hijets Do the job..
      Why isn’t the spastic spouting about 50mpg hijets?

  32. Mission creep is the gradual or incremental expansion of an intervention, project or mission, beyond its original scope, focus or goals, a ratchet effect spawned by initial success.

    I remember my friend’s ’90s era Nissan truck. It was very small, the cab was cramped for two husky Americans. No AC or cassette player. Basically a Kei truck. All the earmarks of modern cars were there: The middle of the dash, which included the heater and air vent, was obviously preassembled and installed as one unit. The “bench” seat was actually two individual seats, the driver seat was a little wider. Easier to install and gave the option for the passenger to slide back. Cheap to build, cheap to ship over from Japan. Heaviest thing it ever hauled was my friend’s fat ass around but it worked for him.

    But it was made for the final days of the 55 mph speed limit. I doubt it could hit 65 going down a steep hill. Good thing too, since the 14″ tires had minimal disk brakes that would warp on a hot summer afternoon. But it was better than walking.

    As they got better, they got bigger. And the mission changed from cheap and practical to competition for buyers on the 0%, $0 money down Greenspan financing plan. When you can walk out of a showroom with a $30K vehicle with nothing more than a signature and a smile, who cares if it has a bunch of unnecessary accessories? Besides, the stereo’s cooler than the air-conditioning. And while we’re at it, those airbags and adult child safety seats are now required. What are you gonna do about it? Can’t fight city hall, right?

    And what about those seats? Now that they’re engineered for compliance instead of usefulness, better add weird back doors so you can get behind them. That simple hook latch on the back of the bench seat, the one that was just fine for the better part of a century? Is now verboten. Instead we’ll just design in a half-door behind the driver door and sell it as a cool feature. And now all vehicles are four door. More mission creep engineering.

    Now that we put all that effort into adding another door, why not go all out and put a full back seat crew cab. The old Toyota jump seats, well, no way they were “compliant” with the regulation, but people liked having them for the occasional ride home from the game, or maybe to help out a friend in need. Nope, sitting sideways on a vinyl covered piece of steel wasn’t “safe” in high speed crash testing so they had to go, even if the public liked them. More adult sized child safety seats in the back, more doors, more cab engineering. Less space for the cargo bed. Truck is looking less like a truck all the time.

    And what started out as a Kei truck (BTW also subject to the “chicken tax”), which pretty much must be larger thanks to the “launch zone” of the airbags (sit too close and they break orbital sockets and jaws when they inflate), and there’s no small simple pickup truck sold in America. That’s OK, sell features no one was asking for, like gear selectors that have little motorized hide-a-way cubbyholes so you can set up your laptop at the job site (or charging station) and get some emails sent.

    • Hi RK,

      Yup. My ’02 Frontier has the rear fold-out jump seats. They’re just fine for occasional rear-passenger use. But not “safe,” so had to go. All of this “safety” is costing us dearly. Our freedom especially.

  33. I really like that they have such a different look because they will not be blending in with the rest of traffic. Speaking of which what is with the new Tesla armageddon vehicle. To each his own but this thing is massive (and seriously ugly). How many miles can you drive this thing before you need to charge for two days?

  34. ‘A Kei truck is just small, light, simple and useful.’ — eric

    Many Japanese manufacturers use Toyota’s kanban system, in which the onus is on suppliers to continually replenish their parts bin at assembly plants. Small kei trucks shuttle through small streets to deliver small loads, multiple times per day.

    Supersize America takes a different approach:

    ‘The “Biden” administration will give up to $6.4 billion in grants to help [sic] Samsung, the South Korean company, fund its new chip manufacturing hub in Taylor, Texas.

    ‘Last week, federal officials said they would award up to $6.6 billion in grants to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Last month Intel was awarded up to $8.5 billion in grants, the single largest grant under the new program.

    ‘Legislation gave the Commerce Department $39 billion to dole out as grants, as incentives to chipmakers to construct and expand plants in the US. — NYT

    https://archive.ph/wjNjH#selection-7119.210-7119.365

    This is state industry, comrades, courtesy of the CHIPS ‘n Sciency Act, passed in a Congress Clown panic in response to a temporary pandemic-related supply shortage. It is inherently corrupt, picking out winners and losers. When the illusion prevails that fedgov funds are unlimited and cost-free, this sort of industrial policy log rolling goes HOG WILD.

    Colonel House — the de facto 28th US president after Woody Wilson was felled by a stroke and served out his remaining term in a sepulchral bedroom — could only dream of wheeling, dealing and conniving on this brobdingnagian scale.

    Death to the chip-mongers.

  35. Excellent report, Eric. Thank you.

    It would interesting to learn how the previous prohibition on registering kei trucks in Texas was reversed. Someone lobbied for this, and someone in state government changed the policy.

    The most delicious aspect of registering kei trucks is that they severely undercut the pricing of bloated, porked-out fedgov-mobiles like the Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado, and Frontier.

    If those fat-bottomed, chip-encrusted pickups can’t compete, let them die. The customer is king. Auto makers who became made men of the saaaaaaafety cult forgot this. Now it is our turn to be the deciders.

    • Thanks, Jim!

      I think there is a massive, untapped market for a small, simple and $20k or so truck. Just look at how successful the Maverick is. And it’s more expensive than it needs to be because it’s a hybrid. If people were able to buy a new small truck like my ’02 Frontier – which could be offered for around $20k or so if it could be offered with “just the basics,” I am convinced it would quickly become one of the best selling vehicles on the market.

    • Another commenter mentioned that Kei-like trucks were used by suppliers to Toyota as they had to iron out the problems associated with the automotive giant’s “Kanban” supply system; a big part being to have some kid or oldster that couldn’t handle the rigors of a full shift in the shop to make several runs to the “Toy-Yoda” plants daily in the mini-truck with a load. Toyota relocated its USA HQ to Texas. Any further questions?

      • Unfortunately, Texas is headed down the same road California took 30 years ago.

        Voters approved a massive property tax increase last Fall due to voters thinking they were getting “reform” at the ballot box, and I believe Ted Cruz’ will lose the US Senate race this Fall.

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