Tuesday, December 04, 2018

Think what's happening in France can't happen here? Don't bet on it.

Admittedly I have only lightly been paying attention to France because I don't give a shit what happens there. But the gist of it is they are making it really expensive to drive a car. Correct me if I'm wrong.

But France is just a preview of what they are gonna try here. Because governments are really getting pissed that you won't stop driving cars! They tried ride sharing, but you people still won't give up your effing cars. There are more cars on the road now than ever! Now I expect the "punishy" phase is going to kick in.

You see, I've been going to conferences for about two years where they have been telling me that people aren't going to own cars anymore. I can never actually figure out who is going to own all the cars people aren't going to drive - but I think I've finally got it.

For the past year I've been watching all these car subscription services pop up. Mr S. and I have talked about it a bunch of times because I don't really get it. It's essentially like time sharing a car. Or to be more financially correct - it's the rentacenter of cars. And there is going to be one car company that owns all of these cars. Apparently.  In their world view. Read:

The 'Netflix' model of car ownership is on the rise for drivers who need wheels--without the debt.

See... doesn't that headline make it sound pleasant? It's like Netflix - who by the way DOESN'T MAKE ANY MONEY.

Also read:

The future of the auto industry lies in car sharing, Chinese executives say.

This is exactly why Ford is dying. They are spearheading the march! I'm going to be at one of these conferences on Thursday and I'm already praying for strength that I don't say something shitty. I expect posts will either be nonexistent on Thur - or super ragey.

9 comments:

  1. Yeah. A lot of people don't have any financial repercussions from their stupid ideas. We should change that. I would be happy to do a 1-1 swap. It would make everyone happy. Wouldn't it? The socialists could live their socialist dreams. And people from other countries who want a better life can take their place. Easy peazy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eric Peters Autos site talks about this a lot where the auto industry or at least the former 'American' companies are an arm of the government.

    It shows that we have this 'third way' BS being foisted upon us in the auto industry. Thanks to silly CAFE standards that are unobtainable and safety standards we can't cool safe cars with some character. We could build some of the class cars of the 60's and 70's or whatever with some reasonable design and safety updates, but everything uniform and boring.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would say he is 100 percent correct. It's more than just the subsidies - these companies have imbedded themselves into the government now. A bunch of those confs are jointly held public private events.

    Not only that - but the government is actually being super shitty about the whole thing. Their view is basically - if you are going to drive on our roads - you will give me data on people driving cars. And they just roll over like a whipped dog.

    I want to post the audio some times, but I don't want to get blacklisted. It's sort of super crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Capital of Texas DébrouillardTuesday, December 04, 2018 7:56:00 PM

    This could be referred to as "the transportation cost of liberalism" ...

    Conservative writer Thomas Sowell described "the housing price of liberalism" back in 2014 in a National Review article that's making the rounds again.

    So what's the equivalent of "the unacknowledged cost of 'open space'" within transportation?

    It's the cost of everything around it that goes up through artificial regulatory forces, inevitably reducing the amount of spending power of everyone subject to that regulation.

    That's why the "gillets jaunes" (yellow hi-viz people) in France are in open revolt, but the solidarity goes deeper than that.

    Public service workers, including fire fighters and policemen, have been standing down during the protests and during riots, only getting involved as minimally as possible.

    That "minimal involvement" includes letting a few elite art galleries get torched, along with Dior's flagship shop for elite couture-ware.

    Former Chinese leader Zhou Enlai once made what was an unexpectedly strange remark about the final outcome of the French Revolution: "It's too soon to tell."

    And so it's too soon to tell whether these protests and riots are actually going to lead to the beginning of the Sixth Republic of France ...

    But given the class animosity of the French political elite toward the people who actually keep them supplied with goods and fed with food, it probably should be.

    What is interesting about these actions is how they've drawn together an otherwise unlikely group of allies: working-class people across a range of political views as well as business owners, college students, office workers who are just trying to make a living without going broke ... it's a far cry from the Portlandia so-called "anti-fascist" protests.

    I never thought there would be a French politician who would unite the Rive Gauche and Montmartre with Clichy-sous-Bois and Seine-Saint-Denis, but there's Emmanuelle Maricon showing the world his stunning skills of persuasion ...

    Yeah, they're water blasting the graffiti that says "the yellow hi-viz people will win" off of major historical landmarks in Paris, but it'll be back the next day.

    As for me, I have no problems whatsoever with the Eurocrats living in pants-shitting fear: they've fucked with my import permits for years, and I don't mind seeing a bit more than a little payback for that.

    *puts on my own EU-certified yellow hi-viz vest purchased in Stockholm*

    I generally tend to prefer "System D" solutions, as you might have guessed. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. "... the socialists could live their socialist dreams ..."

    Your idea in the worst yet most appropriate historical light:

    "FREE HELICOPTER RIDES TO VENEZUELA"
    (parachutes not included) :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. "it's a far cry from the Portlandia so-called "anti-fascist" protests."

    Every time I see those protests I think - is this not the whitest effing place on earth? Those people have zero self awareness.

    ""FREE HELICOPTER RIDES TO VENEZUELA"

    Okay - so that's not a euphemism. I'd never actually heard about that. But my first thought was - why would they waste the fuel to fly them out there? And if you dump them in the water - wouldn't some of them survive?

    Then Mr S. pointed out that the Nazi's didn't pick a cheap way to kill the Jews. Which was a pretty valid point.

    Then I'd decided that if I were a dictator - I'd be an effing cheap dictator. But the idea of killing them doesn't work for me. I need them to buy protects because why would you kill off your market?

    ReplyDelete
  7. "... if I were a dictator - I'd be an effing cheap dictator ..."

    ♫ ... and if I were king of the world ... ♫

    You were expecting "Tears for Fears" here?

    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sure if I lived in Boston, or NYC, I'd probly not bother to own a car. Both have well spread public transport systems, with easy access to taxis and the like nearby for other things.

    But here? In a farming county? Where its a 20 minute drive to the closest decent grocery store? And 5 minute drive to the closest gas station selling eggs and milk? Yah, no, I'll hold onto my car TYVM! The people trying to make up these things forget that the cities are not actually a large portion of our country, even if they do hold more in the way of people.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Agree. But to be honest..... this is Europe pushing us in this direction. The vast majority of the speakers at these things are foreigners from Berlin, or Sweden or Denmark. Yesterday there were two Frenchmen. You don't think Americans all of a sudden said - we just want to use bikes. No that was Sweden.

    But they do seem to understand we will need different solutions outside of the cities.

    ReplyDelete