When I write The Morning Dump I never shy away from politics, because cars are inherently political. I do, however, try not to be partisan. Car enthusiasm is one of the last, best ways we have to get people of various beliefs and backgrounds together, and The Autopian is for everyone.
It can be hard sometimes, and I usually have David or Jason around to do a read of what I write to see if I’ve done a good job of not making it seem like my beliefs are, in some way, being presented as everyone’s belief. They’re both out and the news is extremely political. I’ll do my best. I also hope you’ll do your best in the comments to keep it all productive.
Gas prices are elevated and, likely, will stay elevated for the near future. Americans will continue to pay more and more for healthcare and never do anything about it, but gas prices are somehow sacrosanct. One proposal is to reduce the federal gas tax which, on its own, isn’t likely to do much.
You know what’s great timing? The Secretary of Transportation went on a seven-month road trip with his family ostensibly paid by the same companies he regulates, and the message is basically: Gas up the car and go for a drive. Great timing, dude!
Maybe it’s the right time for an electric Volkswagen Golf? Nope! The electric Golf has been pushed out until at least 2028. That’s better than Mazda, which is putting out its first dedicated, non-Chinese-built EV until at least 2029.
Lowering The Federal Gas Tax Doesn’t Solve Many Problems, But It Sure Creates Some New Ones
My theory on the psychology of gas prices, which applies to eggs and milk, is that the numbers are small enough and seen frequently enough that human beings can’t avoid being upset about it. If the price of a hip surgery goes up by $30,000 you’re probably not getting hip surgeries frequently enough to know that’s happening. Unless you drink a truly frightening amount of milk, an extra $1 a gallon is probably not as damaging to your finances as $100 monthly increase in rent, but the milk feels worse. It feels like a betrayal.
One day you go to the gas station and it costs you $82 to fill up your car, compared to the $51 you spent last time. That’s what happened to me this weekend and it felt bad.
I remember going to a gas station in California a few years ago during the height of gas prices out there and I saw one of those stickers with the president on it and it said “I did that.” It irked me, mostly because I didn’t think President Biden was responsible for invading Ukraine. Those stickers have returned, this time with a different president, and under very different circumstances.
Clearly, President Trump is bothered by the higher gas prices, and both he and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have come out in support of lowering the gas tax for a bit, as CBS News reports:
“I think it’s a great idea,” the president said. “Yup, we’re going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we’ll let it phase back in.”
To clarify, since the early 1990s, the gas tax has been $0.184 per gallon of gasoline and $0.244 per gallon of diesel. State and local governments, though, tend to add a lot more than that. In Illinois, for instance, the combined gasoline tax is nearly $0.85 when all taxes are added up. If you managed to lower all of the gas taxes, it would, in theory, help lower some costs. Current estimates are anywhere from $0.10 to $0.15 a gallon, which isn’t a ton, but isn’t nothing.
In practice, it’s a little harder to say what the outcome will be. Energy economist Phillip Verleger calls it the “Gasoline Tax Hoax” because of how supply and demand actually works.
One can also offer an extreme example in which, say, the state of Rhode Island decides to subsidize gasoline to bring prices there down to $1 per gallon in a world of $4.50-per-gallon gasoline. Gasoline sales in Rhode Island would surge, while gasoline purchases in neighboring Connecticut and Massachusetts would drop. Assuming suppliers could adjust the supply distribution to keep the tanks in Rhode Island full, there would be a minimal impact on national consumption, and consumers who could get to Rhode Island would see the price cut benefit.
The situation would be different, though, if the cut that brought prices to $1 per gallon were extended to all consumers. The resulting 75-percent decline in nationwide prices would boost national consumption by perhaps as much as six percent, based on the very low short-run price elasticity of demand.
However, a problem would quickly arise unless suppliers could boost supplies by six percent. If not, prices would quickly jump back to $4 per gallon. Refiners and marketers would pocket the government subsidy.
So not only might fuel prices not drop, we may also end up using roads more at time when the suspension of the gas tax means billions and billions of dollars are no longer there to fund road or transit projects. It’s good for oil companies, sure, but we’re just giving them a temporary handout while requiring either more debt or more taxes in the future to pay for roads, which just creates more problems down the line.
I think the appeal for both Congress and the White House is that it at least gives the appearance of doing something. Oh, hey, speaking of doing something. I wonder what the Secretary of Transportation has been up to lately?
The Secretary Of Transportation Launches Road Trip Reality Show At Basically Worst Time
Full disclosure: I always seem to have a trouble with the current Secretary of Transportation, no matter who that is, and it generally has nothing to do with their politics. If you asked me to tell you the last time we had a good, Senate-appointed Secretary of Transportation (I’m excusing acting directors), I’d maybe have to say Rodney Slater, way back when I was 14. If you’re gonna argue for Norman Mineta… I’ll maybe also accept that argument.
I think we need to fundamentally fix and improve our national transportation system, which would require a kind of strong vision that helped create the interstate system we associate with President Eisenhower. In this way, I’m usually disappointed, because most of them accomplish very little.
Our current Secretary Transportation, the former reality TV star Sean Duffy, has at least found a way to make many, many people mad.
As you can see in the trailer above, the Secretary of Transportation and his TV host wife, as well as their kids, have been making a reality TV show around going on a lot of road trips for, as the Department of Transportation calls it, “an unforgettable civic experience as they rediscover the people and places defining our national identity for America’s 250th birthday.”
I’m not entirely sure that the initial instinct here is entirely bad. Road trips are awesome, and for the 250th, taking a road trip or two in order to promote American tourism seems fine. I’m dragging my own kid, via car and rail, out to various historic places and national parks.
It’s the extreme, reality TV version of it that seems to be making people mad. There is no Secretary of Transportation in history that I’d want to watch spend seven months going on road trips. Well, maybe William Thaddeus Coleman Jr., but even then it’s a stretch.
Clearly, the timing is not great, and you can see it in the comments of the YouTube trailer, which include gems such as:
I’m Retired Navy. I’m lucky I have enough gas to get groceries.
And:
While planes were crashing, air traffic controllers and TSA not getting paid, airport lines in chaos, airlines going bankrupt, and gas prices exploding, our Transportation Secretary was on a SEVEN MONTH LONG road trip with his family filming a reality show?
To Secretary Duffy’s credit, this thing has been filming so long that gas prices were probably way lower when he, say, drove out to hang out with Kid Rock, which is something every Cabinet member has to do for some reason. Also, the government did not foot the bill for this, according to the Department of Transportation. Who did? NPR has some details:
Those involved say production costs were covered by a nonprofit by the same name, The Great American Road Trip Inc. Its public list of sponsors is stacked with travel-related companies — like Toyota, Boeing and United Airlines — with ties to the Department of Transportation, raising more questions.
On Monday, the nonprofit government watchdog group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, accusing Duffy of violating federal gift and travel rules, and calling on the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General to investigate.
“You have everyday Americans who are struggling with the price of gas, struggling with the costs of everyday items, and you have the cabinet secretary announcing that he is going on a trip with his entire family, which appears to have been funded by the industries that his department is overseeing,” CREW president Donald Sherman tells NPR.
The interesting conundrum here is: Is it worse to have taxpayers pay for the vacation, or worse to have companies regulated by the Secretary of Transportation pay for the vacation?
Volkswagen Confirms The Electric Golf Isn’t Coming Soon
It’s been a wild ride for the electric Volkswagen Golf. Early last year, the conversation was whether or not the electric Golf GTI should have fake shifts, and by the end of the year the discussion was whether or not Volkswagen could even afford to build it.
According to CEO Thomas Schäfer in this Autocar article, it’s gonna be a hot minute before we get the electric Golf:
Schäfer told the FT’s Future of the Car event in London this morning: “We have a fantastic line-up now that we do not need an electric Golf in 2028. We are well set with what we have in our portfolio with our vehicles.”
Volkswagen’s existing EV line-up will be joined this year by a new range of electric models that include the new ID Polo, updated ID 3 Neo and incoming ID Cross. Schäfer’s comments suggest the Golf EV’s later-than-expected launch is partly tactical to give these new arrivals some market exposure before the first electric version of its most popular and well-known model is launched.
However, another reason, he hinted, was a further delay to the SSP platform that will underpin the Golf EV. The new architecture will form the basis of the next-generation of Volkswagen Group vehicles and Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume previously claimed it would bring price parity between ICE and EV models.
The first SSP cars will probably be Porsche and Audi, but until Volkswagen gets the scale it needs, the math just doesn’t work.
Mazda Doesn’t Have To Take An EV Write-Down Because It Didn’t Spend That Much
Mazda, smartly, did not put too many eggs in the EV egg basket, and is now delaying its global EV plans to 2029 while it focuses on hybrids. It’ll still sell Chinese-built EVs like the Mazda 6e, but it’s seeing more growth in hybrids, so that’s where the money is going.
Also, as Mazda CEO Masahiro Moro points out (via Automotive News), by being late Mazda didn’t have to take a multibillion dollar hit to its bottom line:
“Did we have to impair or write off any facilities? We have not,” Moro said May 12, while announcing the Japanese carmaker’s financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31.
“We made the decision before we started. For battery EVs we were always careful.”
Mazda Motor Corp., a self-described “intentional follower” on EVs, trailed global rivals in developing the technology, partly because of its limited R&D budget and partly out of prudence. But being late allows Mazda to sidestep the billions of dollars in wasted investment claimed by such rivals as Honda Motor Co., General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis.
Decade of the Hybrid, et cetera.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
There are a lot of incredible MTV Unplugged performances, and it’s hard to pick out a favorite, but “Down in a Hole” by Alice in Chains is surely up there.
The Big Question
Do you have any big road trips planned?
Top photo: Deposit Photos
You missed the best quote from that NPR article:
What are we even doing at this point? The whole thing would be funny if it weren’t reality.
Also, the solution is not to drop the gas tax, but to move away from gas. I’m starting to wonder whether solar + EVs will succeed on their energy independence advantages rather than their environmental benefits.
We just bought an EV primarily for the energy independence advantage and cost predictability. And previously I was very anti-EV (mostly out of ignorance). However, the war in Iran opened my eyes to the fact that the whims of people in power can have very real and expensive impact on my monthly budget. Obviously electricity costs aren’t fixed either but at least it’s much more highly regulated in my state and can’t nearly double in a span of 6 weeks.
The payback gets better the further south/sunnier you go.
But you can’t blow a black cloud of cancer from the tailpipe to show your manliness to the world.
“ I’m starting to wonder whether solar + EVs will succeed on their energy independence advantages rather than their environmental benefits.”
Honestly, that’s been the biggest reason I’ve been a proponent of renewables for some time. I also agree with the now well shared Technology Connections YT video about the logic of not just burning a non-renewable resource wherever possible when it can be used for more durable purposes. The ecological benefits were a very good secondary benefit, but a secondary one nonetheless…
I am optimistic that it will. Since 2010 Solar efficiency has improved from 15% to 20% and cost dropped by 50%
Yep. It’s a hell of a lot easier for someone to generate their own electricity vs. making gasoline. Even if you by some miracle had your own oil well, you’d still need a full distillation and refinery setup.
Personal natural gas wells exist in some places and can power a generator to provide both electricity and heat.
The people in charge still can’t see that China has been planning for this for decades and aim to achieve energy independence as soon as possible. They know that if you can generate most of your energy without any consumable input, you are no longer beholden to other powers, and you can outcompete them due to reduced operating costs.
This even excludes the propaganda advantages to spruiking how you have protected your citizens from the “evils” outside of China, so continue your loyalty to us.
TBQ: Yep. Driving to New Mexico and back from Wisconsin next month. I’ll be driving a GMC, I wonder if GM will fund my road trip since it doesn’t seem like they got in on the grift for Sec. Duffy’s trip. Did you know that dude has nine kids? Nine!
9 kids that is quite the “quiver full”.
Biden floated suspending the federal gas tax back in 2022, and the Republicans railed against it. Suddenly now it’s a good idea?
Some googling and quick math shows that this will cost about 2 billion a month in lost tax revenue. And for what? Even if the full .18 got removed from the gallon price, when it goes up a full 2.00 or more in the span of 6 weeks, .18 is negligeable. I can find more of a variation between stations. It’ll go down .18 for exactly one day, then be up .15 the next day, then another .05 a few days later.
Experts are saying the full effects haven’t even hit us yet, 6/gallon avg prices are coming, and will not go anywhere anytime soon, even if this wraps up TODAY.
Don’t even get me started on Duffy. I don’t think there’s one cabinet official that isn’t ether directly from, or in the pocket of, the very industries they’re supposed to be regulating. The ethics violation investigation is cute. Unethical behavior is a job requirement in this regime.
Road trips: The gf, the dogs, and I are heading to NH in a few weeks. It’s only about a 200-mile drive, I don’t consider it that much of a road trip. We’re planning on taking the Ram, I’m excited to see what it’ll return for MPG on a highway run that long. I can probably do the who trip on a single tank, depending on how much we drive around while up there. The 33-gallon tank makes for a 600+ mile range.
I’ll probably cut back on coffee and dining out, etc, but as far as fuel, I have to live my life. I’m not just sitting home. If it costs me ten, twenty bucks in fuel just to get to the trails to ride my mountain bike, so be it.
Exactly! 0.18 per gallon… I typically buy 10-12 gallons of gas a week (short commute), so I’ll try not to spend that $2 all in one place.
I’m so damn tired of this stupidity…
Same, I usually fill up about 15 or 16 gallons or so every two weeks, that works out to less than 3 bucks. That doesn’t even cover one medium iced coffee.
This gives off incredible “let them eat cake” vibes. Everything else is through the roof, but saving literally a few bucks a week on fuel is supposed to save us. “Look at all we’ve done for you!”
They dropped the federal excise tax on gasoline here in Canada a while back. It’s not nothing, but it isn’t much: we’re still close to $1.90/litre for regular. That’s much higher than it should be, and I think we all know who to blame for that.
The longest is a 350 mile one way trip to about the geographic center of Vermont. I’ll be taking my EV towing my little camper, same as last year. The only sticky wicket is keeping enough charge at the end of the trip since there’s no charging anywhere near the destination. I’ll charge to 70% in Montpelier to end up at about 50% at the very rural campground. There is level 2 charging close-ish but I’d prefer not to use it unless it’s somewhere I’m going anyhow.
TIL another reality TV star is a current politician. Gatorade! It’s what plants crave!
Emperor Tang taking credit for HR8600 now – https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8600
We have a few small road trips planned this summer. Each is about a 6 hour drive each way. Typically at that distance I like to grab a cheap flight. Unfortunately those cheap flights have disappeared this year- used to be around $100 each way and now they’re pushing $250-300. At $500-$600 for 2 people, even with the price of gas its significantly cheaper to drive. Plus gives us some more opportunity to explore the PNW.
I’m driving from Oklahoma to West Virgina next week. 20 hours of driving each way. It’s going to be spendy, even at 30 MPG.
Having a small, reasonably efficient car does give me flexibility to go places, but as usual it’ll probably be within the state. May also do an Amtrak trip as well. No plans, but I have a tendency to kinda wing it on Staycation.
If they suspend the gas tax, the oil companies will just fill that gap and take us right back to where the prices are anyway.
Exactly. I recall that being the case in states that suspended it. IMO, when it’s gone up $2/gal, 18 cents does not make a difference.
Wait….you’re telling me that corporations aren’t just going to choose to do the right thing out of the kindness of their hearts?!
unlike when the government does things out of the kindness of their hearts, and not to distract from Epstein…
It is literally against their fiduciary duty to their shareholders to not try to maximize profits. And in the current world of activist shareholders, that just isn’t going to fly.
On the other hand, if we had a real government, there is this magical thing called a “windfall profits tax” that could help quite a bit with this.
That is incorrect – there is no fiduciary duty to shareholders to
maximize profits.
https://libertymaniacs.com/cdn/shop/files/trump-pump-sticker_1200x.jpg?v=1774298533
The latter, and it’s not even remotely close. For case one, you have a public servant using their departments budget selfishly and acting like a fortune 500 CEO swaying the board to give them luxury treatment “because I’m in charge.” The latter case is blatant, outright corruption at the highest level. It’s a “public” servant serving their own interests and enriching themselves at the direct detriment to the public who they were sworn to serve. The first case shows a selfish attitude, the latter shows active contempt for the public bordering out treason.
Put another way, in the first case, the tax payers spend a few million to a billion dollars on an egotistical ass-hats self aggrandization. In the other case, the cost to the tax payer will inevitably be in the tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars (and often in lives lost) as these companies use cheap bribes to avoid costly business expenses. These companies aren’t footing the bill out of the goodness of their hearts, they’re doing it because it is extremely cost effective for their goals.
This truly is the most transparent(ly corrupt) administration in our history. To put it an even more stark way, you have the presidents supports parroting that “he donates his salary see he is not corrupt!” ad nauseum. But at the same time, his family’s wealth is growing by the billions. The trump family wealth has grown orders of magnitudes more than the combined average wealth of every president since Carter. A drop in the bucket is used as an excuse for an Olympic swimming pools volume of horrendous behavior.
PREACH ON!!! All this makes me want to scream.
And does he even still pretend he donates his salary? Dude made a billion on his crypto pump and dump scam, but yeah, he’s soooooo generous for donating 250K. I donate a larger portion of my income when I donate 50 bucks to an animal shelter a few times a year.
That whole family is nothing but trash & grifters.
Maybe? I recall in his first term there was a lawsuit because all of the money he was “raising” on the campaign trail for veterans didn’t make it to the veterans. And I think his salary was going into the same “foundation” that was quite obviously never planning to pay anything out.
Is that still the case? I don’t know. Is he getting paid that much monthly just by the profits from having tons of people at Mar-a-lago constantly? Only pretty sure.
And there is absolutely no evidence that he donates his salary to anyone but himself.
I don’t have any road trips planned (glad I did my 2000 mile road trip to Moab in my 13 MPG Sequoia last year) but I was thinking of trying to join a Lemons Rally team. Fuel prices have likely squashed that idea.
Paying $5.27 for 93 the other day squashed any plans I was putting together for even weekend getaways.
I’m not driving unless I have to now, in order to be able to pay for everything else that’s also ridiculously expensive. Thanks, Trump.
Just paid $5.79 for 87.
I weep for our wallets, paying for a pointless war on top of a trade war no one asked for.
“This is exactly what I voted for”, proudly proclaim the people that voted for the guy running on ” lower prices and no new wars”.
Gas prices have certainly shaped my summer plans. I originally planned for a 4,000 mile jaunt and welp, with my 8mpg rig, thats being thrown out the window. Hopefully the godzilla el nino doesn’t make it too hot out here to survive.
“4,000 mile jaunt”
….
“8mpg rig”
…..
“Hopefully the godzilla el nino doesn’t make it too hot out here to survive”
Oh the irony!
I’ve signed up for the tenth anniversary Lemons Rally. They’re encouraging everyone who ran the inaugural rally to bring their original vehicle if possible but in my case that’s my ’70 International 1200D, a last-minute substitution after my ’76 Volvo 66 GL broke down on the way there. The truck… doesn’t get the best fuel economy. I suspect a financially more prudent plan would be to break down in the Volvo again.
Love me a corn binder – owned a Travelall and a Scout. But no, while IH trucks use fuel, there is no “economy” associated with it.
Mine gets poor mileage but at least it’s got dual tanks which, come to think of it, doesn’t really help much.
Yeah, that was the event I was hoping to participate in. I was hoping my Ford Durango would be ready by then, but it’s clearly not, and either the airfare or fuel required to even get to NorCal for the rally is not insignificant and that’s before driving a single mile on the rally.
A Durango would be ideal, particularly since the finish line is at the Concours d’Lemons. Still, if you end up interested in teaming up in whatever I manage to get to the starting line, let me know. All I can say at this point is that if it gets there at all it will be slow, uncomfortable, and, more specifically, devoid of air conditioning.
I’ll keep that in mind!
Hey, maybe if I offer to put an Autopian sticker on it they’ll sponsor a gallon of gas. Well, perhaps not a whole gallon, but still.
Neither the taxpayers nor corporate America should pay for the trip. Duffy should pay for the damn trip out of his own pocket
it was paid for by some “fund”.
And those corporations funded the fund.
And pay 1000% tax on top of it, since he’s avoiding his job as a public servant
Public servant is now an oxymoron. It’s more self serving.
So Sean Duffy is paid to be the secretary of transportation, but instead of doing his job, he’s off doing a reality TV show. The grift is strong with this administration. This is like me working from home but deciding to Netflix and chill while I occasionally move the mouse around so I appear active on Teams.
Shh! What do you think Matt is doing?
Just kidding, Matt.
Hey! I can do both!
Multitasker.
DON’T GIVE IT AWAY FOR US DAMMIT.
Pro tip:
Create daily recurring Teams meeting in Outlook, invite only yourself
Join meeting in Teams, choose ‘do not use audio’
Teams status becomes ‘in a meeting’ and red
If you’re extra tricky, change your status to ‘Available’
Active Teams meeting bypasses IT-managed battery/power settings
Computer stays awake indefinitely
Teams status remains this way as long as the computer stays on 😉
I don’t even think it’s the timing or cost of this (even if it was paid for by the government), it’s the fact that the guy in charge is taking his family on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip instead of running the department. Either hire a real secretary of transportation so this guy can do “Reality” TV or hire a separate cast for the promotional show.
Hmm. Where are the “I did that!” stickers on retail fuel pumps this time?
They’re around
Yep, I saw one a couple of weeks ago at my neighborhood gas station and that was before we broke $4 (Texas gulf coast, so relatively cheap)
Starting to see them pop up more and more on social media around me.
I just saw one with Trump and Epstein that had the tag line of “We did that.”
I have been wondering the same thing.
I’ve seen ones that say “I RAN up prices”.
Removing the federal gas tax is a disservice to ALL americans. Our infrastructure is already decrepit. But voters just care about right now?
Voters haven’t been capable of caring about the long-term for generations. That said, when you’re struggling to put food on the table, it’s hard to care about anything other than the immediate need.
Have you seen Americans?
Putting what Americans call “food” on the table isn’t the struggle, keeping it there is.
You said it yourself. There are a lot of reasons that so many Americans eat “food”. One of those factors is the affordability of nutritious food versus junk. In a similar vein, even if nutritious food is technically affordable, families working multiple jobs may not have the time to actually prepare something.
Getting back on topic, I agree that eliminating the gas tax is an absolutely terrible idea. That said, when you only have $15 budgeted for gas, an extra few cents per gallon can make a literal difference. So, I understand why people are for it even if I think it’s an awful idea.
Families working multiple jobs have been around a long time in this country and many others. The solution there is usually to go back to multi generational living which they also spreads out the rent.
In my shopping experience nutritious food is usually much cheaper than junk. Charities even give it away! An apple costs far less than a candy bar, especially if that apple is pulled directly from a tree and can be eaten whole, core and all. I have somewhat recently bought eggs as low as $0.80/dz in my local store. Chicken leg quarters $0.89/lb. Chopped ham, $0.50/lb. Block cheeses, $1/lb, a can of tuna, $1. That’s cheaper than pet food. Dried beans, rice, $1/lb or less in bulk. Bag o’ salad $1-4 depending on how big the bag. I could go on with many more examples but you get the idea. Buy what’s cheap, when it’s cheap and figure out a meal plan. A lot of the battle for health can be won simply by holding back on salt.
Availability of that cheap, nutritious food might be a challenge in SOME areas; however if one is flexible as to what that nutritious food is, where it comes from and is not hung up on ridiculous bullshit like name brands, *organic* or whatever latest marketing nonsense is going around more often than not a solution can be found. I and others in my circle have lived on a lower than most graduate student’s stipend for about a decade (it was slightly below the federal poverty level in one of the highest cost of living areas in the country) so “Cheap Bastard” didn’t come out of nowhere.
And if time is really THAT tight it’s very possible to get along comfortably with intermittent fasting, just a single meal or two per day as I’ve done myself. I know others who eat only once a day too, sometimes even taking it as far as one meal every THREE days a few times a year. They claimed it’s no big deal once they put their minds to it. Millions, maybe billions of people do it every day around the world. The biggest challenge in my experience is avoiding boredom grazing but the benefits are IMO worth going for.
That one meal can be as quick, as nutritious, as simple, as cheap and as easy as a home made one pot stew, soup, chowder, chili, casserole, sandwiches, fritattra, burritos, tacos, dinner salad, leftovers, whatever.
(As a bonus it can also helps keep the calorie consumption down since it’s harder to eat an entire days worth of calories in one sitting.)
“That said, when you only have $15 budgeted for gas, an extra few cents per gallon can make a literal difference.”
At that point its probably worth asking whether a different, more fuel efficient personal mobility solution can be found. Poor people are just as prone to confusing “I wants” as “I needs” as folks with greater means.
I say, the last good, Senate-appointed Secretary of Transportation was LORD PALMERSTON!
PITT THE ELDER!!
LORD PALMERSTON
PITT. THE. ELDER!
Okay, you asked for it, Trust!
“To love America, you gotta see America and meet her people.” But only if those people are white, if that promo video is any indication.
Great Unplugged performances:
Nirvana “Man Who Sold the World”
Pearl Jam “State of Love and Trust”
10,000 Maniacs: “Hey Jack Kerouac” “What’s the Matter Here” “Like The Weather” “Because the Night”…
Also big shout-out to Tesla (the band, not the car), for going unplugged before unplugged was cool, or even a thing, with Five Man Acoustical Jam. Something they never seem to get credit for. (A Tesla car can only go unplugged for a few hundred miles)
Correct. The sizzle reel or trailer or whatever these are called is odd. Here’s what the 2020 census reports about US ethnicity:
But 100% of the people in the trailer are white. If you really want to learn about American history, one needs to visit:
My thoughts on the rest of the itinerary
Just to add to the list if one wants to see modern automotive factories, Toyota offers tours at a few of the sites here in the US, as well as the obligatory mention of Corvette Assembly tour since it is America’s Sports Car. Plus, Mammoth cave is just up the road from Bowling Green and seeing the largest cave system in the US is neat.
Visit the upcoming Ludlow Tent Colony Site too:
https://home.nps.gov/articles/000/war-in-the-coalfields-the-ludlow-massacre-and-its-impact-on-the-eight-hour-workday.htm
Reality show? In the USA? Is that even possible? Does not compute…
Here we have $1.9/gal as the petrol tax (and that doesn’t include VAT or other things).
About that topshot: Given the choice of having to lose an arm or having to lose a leg, I think I’d rather be short 1 leg… You can get by OKish with a prosthetic leg, but there’s so many things you can’t do without a second arm.
Great topshot (Pete?)!
Agreed, hope I didn’t imply otherwise with my comment.
Not at all!
The have those carbon fiber cricket legs, too, and those things are badass.
Hell yea. Cheers to winning! So much winning! Just the greatest country. The best. Is there anything we can do wrong?
“Nothing bad can happen. It can only good happen.”
WTF?