Saturday, August 01, 2009

More Thoughts On "Cash For Clunkers"

Sleeping On It Hasn't Changed My Opinion...


I had some more ideas on the unintended consequences of the latest Congressional vote buying taxpayer money giveaway disguised as an "auto stimulus and climate change prevention program. (let's call it ASACCPP for short)"

Look at this chart:



and think about it with me for a minute while I explain some more details on how it's supposed to work.

Suppose that you have a car that's less than 25 years old, gets less than 18 mpg (when it was new), and is on the mysterious government approval list.

You wander down to your local dealer, buy or lease a NEW, previously untitled vehicle and drive off the lot having paid a reduced price based on whatever rebates the manufacturer is offering...

AND EITHER $3,500 OR $4,500 OF Government bonus under the CARS program.

And notice that on the above chart in the "Large Truck" category i.e. a Suburban or Tahoe, you only have to improve the mileage by 1 MPG to get the $3,500 and 2 MPG to claim $4,500.

Interesting?

I thought we were talking about huge mileage and pollution changes to warrant the Government handing out your and my money in giant chunks to support total strangers buying a chassis and a set of new wheels.

Then in order to make sure that the EVIL gas guzzling polluting machine is forever off the streets of the planet, the dealer has to pour some gook (actually sodium silicate) into the engine and rev it up and run it until it siezes up and explodes. Now the car/truck/SUV is worthless except for parts, and most of the older ones are simply being sold as scrap and/or crushed.

Anyone but me see any problem with this kind of Government market/product availability tampering?

Suppose that you're just some regular Joe Smuck working an average 40 hour job, and suppose you can't afford or don't need to take advantage of the ASACCPP program, and suppose that next year or the year after...AFTER this program is "supposed" to finally be over with (assuming it doesn't end now but instead goes the extra year or two Congress is debating) you end up needing a USED vehicle...

because you don't want a new one with the associated instant devaluation that goes with driving it off the dealer lot, or you still can't afford a new vehicle of the kind you need for your family or business.

What do you think the used car market is gonna look like then?

See, you're a carpenter and you can't afford a new $17,000 Ford F-150. What you want is a $7,000 five year old USED F-150 with a heavy chassis and a big engine because you pull a tool trailer on the weekdays and a bass boat on the weekends.

(Here's my point...stay with me here...)

Don't you imagine the pool of used 2006 model year trucks is going to look substantially different in 2011 than it looks this Summer?

And don't you suspect that due to the scarcity of your dream truck, that the price you pay is going to be substantially greater because CarMax and the "buy here pay here" used car dealer down by the grocery store only has TWO rather than Twenty on their colorful streamer and balloon filled sales lots?

Or suppose that instead of a newer used truck you just want to buy a low mileage replacement engine and put a paint job on your old hauler.

Since they're blowing up perfectly good engines, how many complete engines are you going to find sitting around at the local junkyard or on E-bay?

Can you say "Virtually None"???

And like whole working trucks, the few whole working engines will be more expensive by then...and I bet you dollars to doughnuts that somewhere in the fine print of this CARS program is a stipulation that the manufacturers stop selling new replacement motors like the one you need and further...

the next thing you'll know you won't be able to buy critical parts for your existing motor because the Government will have forced the manufacturers to stop making them too.

And you think that this program will ever actually go away?

I guarandamntee you it most definitely will for everyone but "working families" and "the disenfranchised", so expect to see thousands of tax dollars paid out as a never ending stream of new "rebates" and "subsidies" and "programs" and "investments" continue flowing into peoples' pockets that didn't earn it but instead are deemed by officials to "NEED" the money.

Heck, the government is already giving away housing, food, insurance, health care, and recently "emergency" cell phones to various freeloaders, deadbeats, illegals and street people...how long before they start just outright giving away new cars to the same ACORN constituency?

(And before you start bitching and writing me nasty comments and e-mails let me say I'm not referring everybody or anybody in particular here, but you know the government and I know human nature and we can bet that the level of fraud and waste in every single program I mention is/has been already proven to be incredible.)

So now we have additional billions of dollars spent in an entirely new area of Nanny Government intrusion, and for WHAT????

Somebody PLEASE, please tell me I'm wrong here so I can sleep at night...

It's all a lie...it's all done under the guise of saving only something like the equivalent amount of gas in an ENTIRE year that we burn as a nation over a long weekend, WHILE reducing the total CO2 output of the old "Clunkers" turned in by something like 0.01% over that same period of time (I admit that those are approximate figures because I'm too lazy to Google them but I remember the numbers are tiny in reality.)

It's all Bullshit...it's all about buying votes through wealth distribution in the end. I tell you people, this thing is going to blow up and come back to bite most if not virtually all of us in the long run.

You know that I could go on and on about other things that will probably happen, but I have to stop writing now before my head explodes and I pound the keys off my keyboard.

dammit...

Friday, July 31, 2009

I want My Cash For My Clunker

More Political Incorrectness From On The Road...


We made it to suburban Pittsburgh yesterday without incident...if you don't count the check engine light on the Chrysler 300 coming on about an hour and one half out of Knoxville.

Isn't that the way things always go???

You take your car in for an oil change and tire rotation in anticipation of making a long cross county trip, and I think that sometimes the technician plants some sort of time bomb in the dashboard just to make you worry for all one thousand miles of your journey.

So any way, I popped the hood and fumbled around for a few minutes and couldn't find anything leaking or smoking or on fire so we continued on through the intermittent rain to our destination without incident.

After dinner and a good night's sleep, this morning I was Googling around the Internet catching up on news and I saw a story about how the new one billion dollar socialist government program called the "Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS)" a.k.a. "Cash for Clunkers" was already running out of money.

It seems that so many people have taken Uncle Sam up on the program ($3,500 for cars and $4,500 for trucks/SUV's) in THE FIRST WEEKS of the program that the elected idiots in Washington are now faced with closing the cash give-away down. The other option is to increase the funding...to possibly as much as FOUR BILLION DOLLARS.

Great...

Wonderful...

Not only am I paying the mortgages of total strangers so they can stay in houses bigger and newer than mine which they couldn't afford in the first place, but now I'm helping put a new car in their driveway to boot...under the guise of "stimulating" auto sales.

You'll have to excuse me if instead of buying a car I feel stimulated to grab one of my guns and head toward DC looking for a few answers and getting my opinions on national TV.

This is a perfect example of Washington budgeting and Washington math in general...apparently everyone including the "economists" and the "accountants" failed economics and algebra in high school AND college.

But then, just out of interest I checked the CARS websites and found out that the program is limited to vehicles that are not older than 25 years and have a gas mileage of less than 18 MPG.

But you know what?

My old 1995 2500 series 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive Chevy Suburban that got 11 MPG on the highway when it was new and only gets about 9 MPG today is....get ready...

NOT AN ELIGIBLE VEHICLE FOR THIS PROGRAM?

wtf?

So they're getting rid of SOME clunkers and SOME low mileage vehicles, but not the WORST low mileage vehicles.

The government has some reasoning I'm sure, but isn't the net effect that while saying that you have a very old vehicle means you should have to buy a new one and pay full price with no government rebate, the convoluted logic is that people with newer cars are rewarded with a huge cash incentive to buy a brand new car and you better bet that a bunch of idiots (the same ones with the mortgages they can't afford) are now running out and upgrading "ole' Bessy" the family SUV sitting in their three car garage...

AT GOVERNMENT EXPENSE.

These new cars and trucks don't cost them anything from day one except taking on another five years of $300 per month (or $400 or $600) payments.

Wouldn't you agree with me that many if not most people don't deserve or most of the time need a new car until the can actually pay CASH for it?

Their OWN CASH...not yours and mine?

I have to go now and stop thinking about this now before my head explodes...

dammit.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

On The Road Again

Pennsylvania... Here We Come...


Well, I'm sitting here this morning putting the finishing touches on a few drawings and loading up my laptop computer and Missy the Turbo Pup's lockers and sea chests in anticipation of the eight hour drive to suburban Pittsburg.

The actual event requiring our presence over the extended weekend is a wedding on Saturday in Erie, PA, so we'll head up there that morning and return on Sunday, before making the epic saga drive back through the hills of the Virginias again on Monday.

If you've never been to the city on the shore of the shallowest of the Great Lakes (Erie) let me tell you from past experience its an interesting place. For instance, did you know that Welches grows zillions of tons of grapes right there on the rocky, pebbly shores of that big pool of melted Glacier water?

There's also a bunch of wineries there in the area although our current excursion will be limited to drinking a little (wine or other spirits) at the Reception rather than touring the vineyards.

As usual Internet services will be limited, although I may try blogging from my new Verizon LG Dare phone if I can stand typing with my thumbs on a touch screen.

That said, pray we have a safe trip driving through a world of unknowns and drivers of dubious capabilities, and in the mean time...Y'all have a lovely weekend...if you will...

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

President Reagan On Socialized Medicine

This Is Damn Prophetic And Scary...Listen If You have The Time




Where are you Ronnie When we need you today?


Thanks Rodger...

Simple Answers

Telling The Pandering Geriatric Socialists Not "No" But "HELL NO"


This thrilling invitation came in the mail for me today...



Besides pissing me off that they know my name and know that I'm turning 50 in a little over a month, their programs and political contributions...99.99% to liberal Democrats...piss me off more.

That said, here's my answer to their invitations:



Maybe somebody should call them and say I said NO...

WhirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRR... Ka Boom...

That Would Be The Sound Of My Head Going Supersonic...


OK (cover your eyes and ears Mom...) I'm totally tired of this "Health care Bullshit."

Why?

Because of "Government Spending" in general and the new health care discussion in particular.

Can someone please excuse me if I own a company and I don't do anything fundamentally wrong thus I don't want to pay a fine or penalty just because the stupid government idiots say so?

Further, Business owner or not, I want the choice of being able to NOT HIRE YOU and NOT PAY YOU, a choice that in effect the government is trying to take away from me by making me and my fellow citizens spend their tax money paying people they're not related to and don't even know.

Read THIS from this article here:

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry said he was “relatively confident” the panel will reach agreement by week’s end.

Kerry said his plan to tax “Cadillac” health benefits is gaining support. “There’s certainly consensus building now that it’s fair to ask the most expensive plans to contribute something” to help finance the overhaul, he told reporters.

Hoyer called such a tax “a reasonable alternative” that is “good health-care policy and good tax policy” as long as it isn’t aimed at “average families.”

So according to John sKerry, the $%#& shit head elitist bastard presidential wanna-be (who also served in Vietnam) ...If I actually took a job and managed to find a company that gave me good health insurance and by default good health care...something fundamental in the current government bullshit program bru ha ha ...and if my new company's plan actually covers me and pays for my health care beyond buying me an occasional aspirin and having the doctor poke around in my private areas...IF it's better than NOTHING and I make more than minimum wage then the government is going to step in and raise my taxes in order to pay for the health insurance of Bob the hobo living on the corner or the Wendy the Crack Whore spending time sticking needles in her arm and squirting out babies every 11 months?

Anyone but me remember that this week the so called imperial by-God Federal government raised the official "minimum wage" to something a little over seven dollars an hour (I'm too lazy to Google the number)?

But, they say, a "working family"of five can't survive on the wages of a single mom making $7.25 per hour (I finally broke down and Googled it)...They need HEALTH INSURANCE!!!

(I say don't get yourself in the position of having a wife and three kids while only having the job skills to make minimum wage when you're 40 years old...not my problem.)

So any way, the article goes on to piss me off further...

The bills drafted would transform an industry that makes up about 18 percent of the economy. They include a new government program similar to Medicare that would compete against private insurers for customers on an online exchange and a mandate that employers provide insurance or pay a fine. [emphasis mine]

Pay a fine?

Pay a FINE?

Because I own a company and in order to hire employees I have to compete with Medicare?

Medicare?

MEDICARE?

Medicare...A program that since shortly after the days of Lyndon B. Johnson has been BANKRUPT?

A program that was projected to cost $9 billion dollars in 1990 and actually was running over $60 billion that year?

A program that still is out of control and I'm too lazy to Google the numbers (I remember everything else of the top of my head) and they want to FINE ME in order to pay for my employee's insurance if I don't want to pay for it.

FINE ME FOR HIRING YOU?

They're not FINING me...

these assholes are TAXING ME...

And I have news for them. Every dollar they take is a dollar you won't get out of my pocket.

I won't pay and I won't play their game.

I won't pay...I won't pay...I won't pay...and on April 15th?

You'll just get a 1099 rather than a W-2...if you get anything at all.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Obama's "Dialogue"???

I Wouldn't Drink A Beer With Either One Of These Bastards...


From the mouth of my talk radio Idol Neal Boortz...

"Isn't that what they're saying in the aftermath of Obama's little slam against the Cambridge, MA police? I'm getting a bit tired of hearing so many self-described experts telling us how this whole Henry Gates incident should bring us all to the table so we can have a dialogue on race.

Do we need such a dialogue? Oh hell yes we do. But it just ain't going to happen. In this age of political correctness the only possible direction such a dialogue could take would be a forum on all of the terrible things whites have done to blacks and all the things that whites need to do to make things right.

Do white wrongs have a place in the discussion? Absolutely. Racism, bigotry and prejudice ... all part of the equation. But that's not the entire picture ...

Let me share just a few of the things that would be taboo in such a dialogue. First, insofar as Henry Gates is concerned; I doubt very seriously that the dialogue would include any information as to what percentage of home break-ins in and around Boston and Cambridge are committed by blacks. There is no way you might be able to suggest that the police were acting on experience given the fact that blacks are more likely to be involved in criminal activity in the Boston area than whites or other minorities. And you damned sure wouldn't be able to bring the idea that much of the problems experienced by the black community are due to culturalism rather than racism.

Don't even begin to suggest that it might be black culture, rather than poverty and discrimination, which lead to high incidences of black crime. And for God's sake, don't mention the anti-education, anti-learning mentality that suffocates so many young black boys and girls. You know ---- the culture in which a young black teenager is accused of trying to "act white" if he or she so much as raises a hand to ask a question in class.

Yeah ... we need a dialogue. Let' me know when we can get that started. Every time I've ever even brushed those topics lightly on the air it has unleashed charges of racism --- the one sure way to discussing what really might be going on. So ... y'all just get your dialogue going and let me know how it works out for you. "


From Nealz Nuze

Things That Are Evil Evils Destroying Our Country...

Who Knew?


Oil companies are evil
insurance companies are evil
stock brokers are evil
banks are evil
coal companies are evil
The U.S. Constitution is evil
CEOs are evil
Joe the Plumber is evil
pharmaceutical companies are evil
American foreign policy prior to Obama's presidency is evil
Las Vegas, NV and Orlando, FL are evil
car dealers are evil
Sarah Palin is evil
conservatives are evil
General Motors is evil (wait! Or is GM now a victim of evil. Not sure, must wait to see if GM makes a profit. Then, GM will be evil.)
doctors are evil
nurses are evil
Rush Limbaugh is evil
hospitals are evil (except the Mayo Clinic and the University of Chicago Medical Center)
white policemen are evil (or is it just "stupid")
Fox News is evil
USA made condoms are evil
Sean Hannity is evil
republicans are evil
those who make a profit are evil
George W. Bush is evil
blue dog democrats are evil
capitalism is evil
lobbyists are evil
Wal-Mart is evil
Those who drive SUVs are evil
Those who keep their air conditioners at 72 degrees are evil
wealthy people are evil
those who eat as much as they want are evil
those who don't exercise are evil
those who object to redistribution of wealth are evil
opposition to my health-care plan is evil
criticism of ACORN is evil
the unborn are evil
the elderly are evil
cow flatulence is evil
carbon dioxide is evil

Is Even Evel Kievel Evil?
(Thanks ET over at Curmudgeonly & Skeptical)

Sunday, July 26, 2009

"Dozer" the Giant Tortoise

Soup For One Hundred...


Recently I've taken on the task of doing some drawings for a fellow Forensic Engineer--a local retired firefighter--to support the rennovation of the basement under his log cabin.

The current residents are five little Pugs and a couple of Lab and Boxer mixed dogs...and TWO TURTLES.

Take a look at all 100 plus pounds of "Dozer":





That's one big dang turtle...wouldn't you agree??

You aught to see his poop...you could trip over it if you weren't careful.