The US Government's Entire 645,000-Vehicle Fleet Will Go All-Electric (msn.com) 216
Jalopnik reports:
The United States government operates a fleet of about 645,000 vehicles, from mail delivery trucks to military vehicles and passenger cars. On Monday, President Joe Biden announced that his administration intends to replace them all with American-made, electric alternatives...
In 2015, the government operated 357,610 gasoline vehicles and 3,896 electric ones; in 2019, those numbers grew to 368,807 and 4,475, respectively. That's excluding the tens of thousands of E-85 ["flex fuel"] and diesel-based vehicles on the road, which, together, comprise nearly a third of the 645,047 total. So, yeah, there's certainly a lot of work to do...
The Washington Post reports: The declaration is a boon to the fledgling electric vehicle industry, which has grown exponentially in the past decade but still represents less than 2 percent of automobiles sold in the United States... "It's important as a symbolic thing," said Timothy Lipman, co-director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California at Berkeley. "But I think it also will have a way of helping to jolt the industry forward at a time when it kind of needed that...."
One of the biggest issues: Just three automakers currently manufacture electric vehicles in the United States, and none of those cars meet Biden's criteria of being produced by union workers from at least 50 percent American-made materials. The closest is the Chevrolet Bolt, assembled at a General Motors plant in Lake Orion, Michigan. But most of that car's parts — including the battery, motor and drive unit — are produced overseas. But that could easily change, said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research.
If Biden succeeds in making every car in the federal fleet electric, he would increase the total number of electric vehicles in the United States by more than 50 percent. "One of the big questions for companies is, 'Is the consumer there?' Well, [the government] is a big consumer," Dziczek said. "Now they know there's some solid demand from the government to support their early launches of new vehicles...." With 640,000 nonelectric vehicles, the federal fleet represents the annual output of about three or four automotive plants, Dziczek said. That's not exactly the million jobs Biden promised in his announcement Monday. But it might be sufficient to convince car manufacturers to change their supply chains or shift their production to U.S. facilities.
In 2015, the government operated 357,610 gasoline vehicles and 3,896 electric ones; in 2019, those numbers grew to 368,807 and 4,475, respectively. That's excluding the tens of thousands of E-85 ["flex fuel"] and diesel-based vehicles on the road, which, together, comprise nearly a third of the 645,047 total. So, yeah, there's certainly a lot of work to do...
The Washington Post reports: The declaration is a boon to the fledgling electric vehicle industry, which has grown exponentially in the past decade but still represents less than 2 percent of automobiles sold in the United States... "It's important as a symbolic thing," said Timothy Lipman, co-director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California at Berkeley. "But I think it also will have a way of helping to jolt the industry forward at a time when it kind of needed that...."
One of the biggest issues: Just three automakers currently manufacture electric vehicles in the United States, and none of those cars meet Biden's criteria of being produced by union workers from at least 50 percent American-made materials. The closest is the Chevrolet Bolt, assembled at a General Motors plant in Lake Orion, Michigan. But most of that car's parts — including the battery, motor and drive unit — are produced overseas. But that could easily change, said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research.
If Biden succeeds in making every car in the federal fleet electric, he would increase the total number of electric vehicles in the United States by more than 50 percent. "One of the big questions for companies is, 'Is the consumer there?' Well, [the government] is a big consumer," Dziczek said. "Now they know there's some solid demand from the government to support their early launches of new vehicles...." With 640,000 nonelectric vehicles, the federal fleet represents the annual output of about three or four automotive plants, Dziczek said. That's not exactly the million jobs Biden promised in his announcement Monday. But it might be sufficient to convince car manufacturers to change their supply chains or shift their production to U.S. facilities.
US Forest Service (Score:4, Interesting)
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Obviously there are going to have to be exceptions. I know of at least 3 active USFS vehicles that haven't been off-grid for a decade or so, and are unlikely to ever be in a location that can be charged up.
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Obviously there are going to have to be exceptions. I know of at least 3 active USFS vehicles that haven't been off-grid for a decade or so, and are unlikely to ever be in a location that can be charged up.
That won't stop these shills from claiming EVs should be banned in US govt service because they are a bad fit for the Forestry Service.
Re: US Forest Service (Score:3)
Bring on the electric fire trucks and FEMA response vehicles.
One problem, Biden never said when it would happen - not a single target, nor a commitment to at least stop buying ICE vehicles after a date certain during his administration. Also, when Govt replaces ICE (internal combustion, not border patrol) vehicles, are they taken off the road and crushed, or are they to be sold yeti private buyers and key on the road for years?
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I'm sure the Chevy Bolt will be a fine replacement for Forest Service vehicles.
Nice strawman you've setup there. How about the Tesla Cybertruck which was designed explicitly to reduce cost? The consumer version can be outfitted for 465 miles per charge but if you're buying a huge fleet that Tesla would be willing to customize them.
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What Tesla Cybertruck?? You're comparing 1-ton diesel pickups - with hundred gallon aux. slip tanks* - to an idea.*Useful for refueling all that stuff in the field that requires energy-dense portability, including the aforementioned fucking vehicle.
I'm as big a fan of electric propulsion as anybody, and I think petrochemicals should stay in the fucking ground. That said, stupidity and lies aren't going to get us any closer to a suitable replacment.
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What Tesla Cybertruck?? You're comparing 1-ton diesel pickups - with hundred gallon aux. slip tanks* - to an idea.
Do you believe that Tesla is not going to produce the Cybertruck or are you arguing in bad faith that the vehicles need to be replaced immediately? Your position implies that only immediately available solutions can be used.
with hundred gallon aux. slip tanks [u]seful for refueling all that stuff in the field that requires energy-dense portability,
You seem to have a misconception about the purpose of the tanks. The tanks are there not because they need to travel without stopping but rather due to the fact that they do not have immediate accessible to fueling stations. They do however have electricity which means they can rechar
Re:US Forest Service (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, I'm pro EV and all, but either your folding solar panels are from the freakin' future and/or your have days-long picnics.
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Meanwhile Rivian and Lordstown motors will have product ready for delivery way before then. Hell the electric F-150 might beat tesla for availability.
Then there is the electric Hummer - although that seems overpriced - but maybe that will be what the government decides to pay using our money.
Tesla isn't even a blip on the government radar at this point.
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There is no consumer version of a tesla truck, they haven't announced a release date yet. Any actual date is at least a year and a half away.
Well, you are behind the times because production is scheduled to commence later this year.
Besides, how quickly do you think we're going to change over an entire fleet? It's going to take years to complete the transition.
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The government usually buys known entities though with huge repair and parts availability.
As someone said in another post they will target union built vehicles, that means a long established player. Which leaves just F-150 or hummer for trucks unless one of the start ups has a union already. Rivian is tied to Ford so maybe; and Lordstown is retooling an old GM plant (GM probably has a design ready for Chevy/GMC to direct
Re:US Forest Service (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's see how well they get an electric alternative to replace the M1 Abrams - 'cause the TFA specifically talks about military vehicles.
Do you honestly believe that the "fleet of about 645,000 vehicles" was including tanks among them? Are you really that blinded by stupidity?
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Are you really so blind that you completely discarded humvees and went straight to tanks? Seriously, are you that obtuse?
Re:US Forest Service (Score:4, Informative)
Are you really so blind that you completely discarded humvees and went straight to tanks? Seriously, are you that obtuse?
You don't even need to go to humvees, even the unarmored utility ones. The military uses lots of regular cars and pickup trucks. If its something that does not need to deploy with a unit overseas its cheaper to get a pickup truck for many roles.
Re:US Forest Service (Score:4, Informative)
Re: US Forest Service (Score:3, Insightful)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Yeah, but now you need several trucks per tank with long cables, and special special ops forces to carry the plugs and those cables into the towns you are invading. Obviously the cables need to be camouflaged - probably disguised as medical deliveries or fresh water pipes. ...
But on the up side: those trucks can use batteries, too. After all they already have their extra long charging cables
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You don't put engines in wheels for a good reason: you want unpsrung weight to be as low as possible, to improve ride quality and to insulate vulnerable areas of the vehicle from all the shocks that come with direct road contact.
I've seen slashdotters spout off on financials, social sciences, law, but this is the first time I see someone talk utter nonsense about vehicle design.
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you must be new here!
Re: US Forest Service (Score:2)
Uum, how's that the company's decision?
The whole point of a union is freedom... like in from the company's stranglehole ... or like in market.
Re:US Forest Service (Score:5, Informative)
> I'm sure the Chevy Bolt will be a fine replacement for Forest Service vehicles.
Mayde not, but the Cybertruck sure will. And it's relatively cheap too, especially if you factor in reduced maintenance cost
For example, the Beacons National Park seem to be very happy with their new electric cars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Dont see any refineries in national parks (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: Dont see any refineries in national parks (Score:3, Informative)
Re: Dont see any refineries in national parks (Score:3, Informative)
If memory serves correctly, 1 mile per hour per three square feet. This range can in the future be increased by more efficient panels or electric engines.
Imagine a camper caravan of six vehicles where each bring their own panels, then you give power during the day primarily to a single "supplies" unit but also a bit to their own vehicles, and then every three days the caravan moves perhaps 50 miles. Would be an interesting concept for sure.
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This range can in the future be increased by more efficient panels ... not very much, or is it?
No, you need bigger ones, not more efficient ones. If they were 100% efficient, you had 5 miles per hour charging per 3sq feet
or electric engines. Nope. Depending on are of deployment, electric engines are above 99% efficiency ... since a century, or longer.
Re: Dont see any refineries in national parks (Score:4, Informative)
So this Telsa 3 requires (240 Watt-hours/mile) / (19.2 W/m^2) = 12.5 hours*m^2 per mile. That is:
Electric motor efficiency is already at close to 95% peak, 90% on average, so we're not going to get any significant improvements there. If we doubled panel efficiency to about 45%, then that would cut these times in half.
So either you're mis-remembering, or the stat you recalled was for something else. Maybe one of the cars used in those solar car races [wikipedia.org].
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I'm pretty sure the figure the OP is using does not average the time the vehicle can charge with all the times it cannot.
That said, we do (well I do anyway) appreciate the effort you go to to calculate and present the current state of play with regards electric vehicles and the issues involved in charging them. Thanks!
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Have you done the math on how long it takes to charge an electric vehicle with solar that you can take with you? I think you'll be unpleasantly surprised.
I think Mark Watney [wikipedia.org] did ... and he (eventually) got to where he was going.
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>Have you done the math on how long it takes to charge an electric vehicle with solar that you can take with you?
It stinks, if you're talking built-in. I think Musk suggested 10-15 miles worth of charge per day for an integrated solar option on the Cybertruck. Which honestly would still mostly handle my daily driving, but would be a drop in the bucket for a hard-working vehicle.
However, off-grid does not necessarily mean mobile. If you have a ranger's station somewhere where you would refuel the gas t
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Because electricity delivery by wire is hard. -eyeroll
Yeah, and delivering a battery array and s few rapidly deployable wind generators or a solar plant to remote areas and setting them up is, alas, future tech we can only dream about in science fiction. Ah, if we only could build some of those fantastic flying machines dreamt of by Jules Verne and H. G. Wells! Especially ones that can take off and land vertically and deliver cargo to remote places like that. We could call them ... helicopters!!!
We've done this before (Score:4, Informative)
https://about.usps.com/who-we-... [usps.com]
Re:We've done this before (Score:4, Insightful)
1990s electric vehicles were probably a bit dicey for quite a bit of the mail delivery fleet, but 2020s electric vehicles seem pretty much ideal.
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1997's RAV4 EV is a fairly ideal postal vehicle, or would be if you built it in RHD anyway. It has over 90mi range, and the average rural postal route is 45 miles.
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We'll see. That would be dumb of taken literally (Score:3, Interesting)
The last president said he was going to cut spending by 1% per year. Didn't happen, not even close.
The president before that promised to create a $1 billion veteran's job corp. Didn't happen, did nothing in that regard
He said he'd have a tax credit for bringing jobs back to America. Didn't happen, he did nothing on that. His party controlled the House, Senate and White House for two years - total control, and they did nothing.
Biden says he'll do this. We'll see if he does anything at all. Like Obama's first two years, his party controls the Congress so they could do pretty much whatever they want. We'll see if they actually do anything or if they waste all their time just complaining about some guy who used to be president.
Of the hundreds of different kinds of vehicles the federal government has, which do thousands of different jobs, some of those are a good fit for electrical vehicles. For example any that move stuff around a particular facility. They don't need long range. Other vehicles, doing other things, are not a good fit for electric. Hopefully if the Biden administration does anything, they use the right tools for the job.
Re:We'll see. That would be dumb of taken literall (Score:5, Insightful)
The majority of the fleet is going to be things like postal vehicles, and sedans/passenger vehicles used in urban environments. Those are obvious candidates as they are replaced.
There will obviously be exceptions, USFS vehicles operating deep in wilderness, same thing for NPS, etc...
Re: We'll see. That would be dumb of taken literal (Score:2)
What time scale? By 2050? (Score:2)
Did Biden every mention a time scale? Was it going to happen tomorrow? Upon replacement? Or by 2050?
By about 2025 many if not most new cars used for urban driving will be electric anyway as the falling price of batteries makes them economical, plus a bit of green feeling.
Last I heard politicians were going to pave the roads with gold by 2050.
Re:We'll see if he does anything at all. (Score:5, Insightful)
That should be written as
We'll see if the GOP in the Senate will allow him to do anything at all.
From the indications so far, Moscow Mitch will be doing everything he possibly can to obstruct the dems from passing even one bill. Business as Usual really.
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Moscow Mitch will be doing everything he possibly can to obstruct the dems from passing even one bill.
Moscow Mitch. I'm stealing this one.
But you are correct. The GOP is going to do everything in their power to make sure they get pay back for the last 2 years.
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Moscow Mitch will be doing everything he possibly can to obstruct the dems from passing even one bill.
Moscow Mitch. I'm stealing this one.
Just noting that meme started in the summer of 2019, but I'm for keeping it going -- for funzies because Mitch reportedly *hates* it (which obviously means there's some truth to it), and that's good enough for me 'cause he's a dick. :-)
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> We'll see if the GOP in the Senate will allow him to do anything at all.
The VP (Kamala Harris) is the tiebreaker. The Dems control the Senate. Also the House, and the presidency. It's their show now.
Honestly, I find it strange you're already trying to make up excuses for why they won't do anything right - you don't think they'll actually do anything good?
If not, if you think they are worthless, why root for them? Just because it's fun to root for a politiball team, worthless or not? Kinda lik
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because of the Fillibuster then for many bills, it will need 60 votes in the Senate. If Moscow Mitch says NO then like dozens of bills, even bi-partisan ones will sit there and fester like they did under Trump.
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And the point where it'll be ended is if Moscow Mitch decides to try to filibuster DC statehood. Because that's GOING to happen at some point this year, and Schumer is not going to take "filibuster" for an answer on it.
DC is never going to get statehood. DC was specifically set up in the Constitution to be separate from the states. To add DC as a state they will have to amend the Constitution. While Congress can amend the constitution it will still require ratification by 3/4 of the states. Which will not happen.
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That's interesting to know. I just Googled it and I see it's been delayed a couple times already. I see the three competitors at this point are a conventional engine, a plug-in hybrid, and an all-electric.
The last set of vehicles has been on the road for about 30 years, so hopefully this decision is made well, based on what best the suits the need, rather than a short-sighted attempt to score political points.
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Biden has no real choice but to do something to stimulate the economy out of the pandemic. Same as Obama had very little choice.
Question is who gets the benefit from it, ordinary folk out the residents of the swamp?
Lived there 48 years (Score:2)
I hope I'm wrong, but I'd expect Joe to take care of his friends and neighbors he's been with for the last 48 years.
He was elected to the Senate in 1973 and has been living in the swamp since then. I'd expect he'll do like Shrek and take care of his swamp home.
Hopefully I'm wrong.
"Who profits?" (Score:2, Insightful)
Charging infrastructure is key (Score:5, Insightful)
The model for electric is different in that you can charge at home overnight and for those users whose daily drive is within the range of the vehicle, it's a no brainier. However for users that can't charge at home because they live in an apartment, condo, or something without charging facilities, or for users that need to drive beyond the range of their vehicles, public charging is a requirement. Today public charging is inconvenient.
Note that today the charging infrastructure is workable in many (most?) populated areas of the country (referring to the US), but I wouldn't say that it is convenient. Outside of populated areas the charging infrastructure is weak. I own an electric vehicle and if I want to drive somewhere several hundred miles away, I need to plan my trip in advance with respect to charging. I can't just get into the car and go without thinking about it. For broad adoption, beyond early adopters such as myself, charging needs to be convenient.
My hope is that shifting the governmental fleet to electric has a side effect of improving our charging infrastructure.
Good luck with that (Score:2)
Infrastructure costs money. We've had politicians announcing a new energy grid for the USA for literally decades. It was talked about in the 1970s, the 1980s, Al Gore campaigned on it in the '90s and 2000 (remember his "smart grid" talking points?). The Bush43 people talked about it post-911 with an added talking point about national security and redundancy in global war on terror... the political class has talked endlessly about it. It's not been stopped by partisan fighting - CA for example is entirely do
Still donâ(TM)t have a charger (Score:2)
Will likely make it harder for average people... (Score:2)
Buying up that many electric vehicles will , at least in the near term, make it harder/more expensive for average people to get electric vehicles.
There is only so much manufacturing capacity for some of the components (like batteries) for EVs, and the number of purchases that the govt will have to make to swap out that many vehicles will put a stress on the supply - which will drive up prices (and those prices are not exactly affordable to average people as it is)
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Re: Will likely make it harder for average people. (Score:2)
Then the people can buy the ICE vehicles removed from service.
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Sorry, but your 101 supply and demand thinking does not work that way.
Such a huge government investment will make prices fall and not rice.
Empty promise (Score:3, Insightful)
Empty promise with no target date, in other words, meaningless.
Meaningful legislation would have the government stop buying internal combustion engine vehicles on a date certain, and every decommissioned ICE vehicle crushed, to keep it off the road after it is sold off by the government.
A fifteen or twenty year slow transition across several administrations with surpluses vehicles sold off and remaining on the road for years is an empty promise by a guy that's only in office for four, or maybe eight years - tops.
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Federal passenger fleet vehicles are supposed to be replaced at 75k miles. That will be most of them in the next 8 years. Things like off road vehicles and special uses like fire control, dumpers, etc have different acquisition rules and longer lifespans.
Real q (Score:3)
Re: Real q (Score:2)
Prove your implication that they didn't and the implicstion that they need to. Otherwise you waste time.
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If the gov buys 100k extra EV cars thats a real cost in terms of OIL just for the manuf processing. As always prevention is often a great solution, if you dont need many cars, then dont. buy them and you just saved a large amount of OIL.
All of them?? (Score:2)
While getting an electric motor to produce 1500hp isn't all that big a deal, getting an electric motor plus battery that'll give you 200 km range when installed in an MBT might be a bit trickier...
And that's disregarding the problem of refueling on a battlefield. Which an Abrams needs to be able to do. Overnight won't cut it....
Yeah, I know I'm picking an extreme case, but he did say ALL, not "just the easy ones"....
Hell, arguably "all" could include aircraft, and replacing the F-15 with an electric w
Reality reports... (Score:2)
Reality check: technology for this change does not exist. Chinese are by far the industry leaders in electrifying public transit and logistics vehicles (BYD et al), and they're nowhere near the tech needed for the kind of replacement this declaration requires for implementation. Everyone else is a generation or two behind, and frankly for a reason. There's no point in getting this sort of thing mass produced when battery technology to make it work at massive scale just isn't there.
Which is why even in China
Might increase the range of HumVees (Score:2)
...well, not really, since lower energy density is lower energy density. My real point is that "range" is not a coveted property for fighting equipment. Rides tend to be short in the military service, what with clever, ruthless human beings dedicating themselves to opposing your trip.
This guy embedded with a HumVee crew and noted that a 45-mile trip to Abu Ghraib and back would be a heavy travel day for them. Mostly, they conveyed VIPs back and forth around Baghada:
https://www.fourwheeler.com/fe... [fourwheeler.com]
"And
What will this mean for the POTUS Limo? (Score:2)
One million jobs? (Score:2)
Yeah, so, um, GM has said that they are going all-electric by 2035. That means that the existing plants and workforce are going to be transitioning. There won't be any new jobs because there isn't going to be an increase in demand for vehicles in general. In fact, there will probably be fewer jobs because building electric motors is a) a lot simpler and b) largely automated.
Run the numbers (Score:3)
Biden said the following, in the linked-to article in the summary:
âoeThe federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which weâ(TM)re going to replace with clean electric vehicles made right here in America, by American workers, creating a million auto worker jobs in clean energy and vehicles that are net-zero emissions.â
A million jobs to replace 650K ICE gov't vehicles? What the hell? Each and Every car will support 1.3 full-time jobs? You know, when Trump said shit like this, he got called out on it - why does every excuse Biden's fantastical claims?
is it though? (Score:2, Informative)
Well, now we know why Nancy Pelosi bought all those expensive options.
Sure... but here's the thing: the were bought after the announcement which means makes any comparison to insider trading laughable. You had just as much time to invest as she did.
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but here's the thing: the were bought after the announcement
Since when is Jan 25th after Jan 22nd?
Re: is it though? (Score:5, Insightful)
One of the problems with discussing anything political now is that very few people are open and honest. Stop hiding behind sarcasm, jokes, wit, irony, and cynicism and nonsense.
I can't even follow half the discussions on Slashdot, or anywhere else, now. People have forgotten how to be plain spoken and honest. Everyone is so concerned with appearances, mod points, likes, etc.
I see this in other areas, too. I find many people are unwilling to discuss their emotions, and instead divert with jabs, jokes, self-deprecation, or anger.
If you lose your sympathy and your sense of empathy, then you've lost your sense of humanity. Without those, no one will ever see eye to eye.
Having put it plainly, I will say it poetically: This is where we are headed, in a very fast car, with no breaks, and the road is icy.
Re: is it though? (Score:2)
I didn't mean just politics. It's bleeding out into everything, unfortunately. Any discussion, about anything. Does no one else see this?
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I'm not seeing it, but then again I'm an introvert loner living alone and working from home since before the pandemic, and a number of friends I can count on two hands.
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One of the problems with discussing anything political now is that very few people are open and honest. Stop hiding behind sarcasm, jokes, wit, irony, and cynicism and nonsense.
Agreed! Thank you. That was really well put.
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Yeah, right. I'll get right on that.
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In the Bizzaro universe.
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Since when is Jan 25th after Jan 22nd?
An accident with a contraceptive in a time machine.
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Well, now we know why Nancy Pelosi bought all those expensive options.
See, we already knew that, because Pelosi is required by law to report that she bought stocks due to the STOCK Act. The companies she invested in do not have government contracts yet. Any bump in stock price for those companies related to the news is completely speculative.
You could make the argument that it is immoral for elected officials to trade stock at all and it should be illegal altogether. However, she followed due diligence by reporting her stock purchases, as required by law. We can safely assume
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You might as well say that investing in this industry has been a good idea ever since he won the election.
Investing in companies that put out battery EVs and those that produce batteries has been a good idea since 2010 when it was shown to be the only logical path forward.
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For investing there is a big difference between knowing something is likely vs a sure thing. A quick $2000 stimulus was also a campaign promise, and if you banked on that you lost.
You seem to follow the logic that following the laws and regulations means something is moral: ... However, she followed due diligence by reporting ... as required by law"
"argument that it is immoral
Some countries have capitol punishment for stealing. Is that then moral?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki [wikipedia.org]
Re:is it though? (Score:4, Informative)
Strange flow of time you have over in your universe. In ours, Biden made the announcement on the 25th, and Nancy bought the shit on the 22nd.
... of December.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Nancy-Pelosi-stock-options-Tesla-Disney-Apple-15896632.php
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December 2019? Oh wait, you mean of December 2020. As in 5 months after July 2020, when this article was posted:
https://www.caranddriver.com/n... [caranddriver.com]
Biden also announced that he wants to replace the United States' government fleet with U.S.-made electric vehicles to help spur demand.
Did you people not even pay ANY fucking attention during the campaign? Got caught by surprise that a half year after he announced he'd do something he's doing it? Wow, who could've seen that coming?
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Translation: "It's not my fault that I didn't believe him"
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EVs make the most sense for cars driven often and used for stop & go.
Like postal delivery vehicles.
Nice straw man (Score:5, Informative)
Also, the options weren't bought by Pelosi, but by her husband. And the company he bought those options in? Tesla.
Another fun-fact: Tesla is a notoriously anti-union shop. As the only non-union automaker in America, they're literally the very last company who would ever benefit from Biden's plan.
In fact, Tesla's stock actually fell this week after Biden's plan was announced.
But none of these facts matter to you, do they? Because it's painfully obvious what's really going on. You've taken a thread that's about something positive Joe Biden did, and tried to turn it into a thread about something (supposedly) negative that Nancy Pelosi did. Just to give the liberal-haters something to steel their hatred with.
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Nonsense. 48% of US auto production is non-union. Also, this "notoriously anti-union shop" has only lost a single court case related to unionization issues (for something idiotic - for Musk mentioning the fact that UAW never negotiates for stock options), and didn't lift a finger to stop its German machinery division, Tesla-Grohmann, when they decided to unionize.
Tesla fell due to its
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why Nancy Pelosi bought all those expensive options.
So good there's the SEC to fight "insider trading".
I imagine it will go like investigations into Senator David Perdue (R) Georgia, member of the Senate’s cybersecurity subcommittee, 2,596 Trades in One Term ... [nytimes.com], 2020 congressional insider trading scandal [wikipedia.org], and ... suspicious stock success ... [fortune.com] (and many other sources):
NYT: The Georgia Republican’s stock trades have far outpaced those of his Senate colleagues and have included a range of companies within his Senate committees’ oversight, an analysis shows.
Wikipedia: Senator David Perdue made a series of 112 transactions with stocks sold for around $825,000 and bought stocks worth $1.8 million. Perdue started buying around $185,000 in stock in DuPont, a company that makes personal protective equipment, on the same day as the Senate briefing up to March 2.
Hint: Nowhere. He was cleared/exonerated.
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Agreed. It is great to see bipartisan unity on the really important issues.
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Seems a strange requirement, by the way. Is that even legal?
Yeah, that's a narrow spectrum (Score:2)
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Re: Yeah, that's a narrow spectrum (Score:2)
So you're saying unions are run like ... businesses?
Yeah. That's disgusting and must be stopped!
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According to TFS, only union shops will be considered for supplying these vehicles, and IIRC Tesla isn't one.
Seems a strange requirement, by the way. Is that even legal?
It seems very dubious to me, but maybe legal. But just because it is legal does mean it makes good economic sense. Why not require the workers to be tithe-paying Christian church members?
Similarly, the "Buy American" requirement was rightly condemned by The Economist:
One of Mr Biden’s edicts, however, is an early economic-policy mistake: the tightening of rules obliging America’s federal government to prefer domestic suppliers to foreign ones.
Presidents and voters like Buy American because they think it creates jobs. In a direct sense, it does. But by locking firms out of global supply chains and shielding them from competition it promotes inefficiency, destroying more employment than it creates. By one estimate America would gain a net 300,000 jobs if it got rid of its local-content rules. There is no evidence that buying at home boosts innovation either, whatever its advocates might claim. In fact, it almost certainly hampers productivity increases in the long term. And coddling local firms is a raw deal for taxpayers.
It is a relief that, unlike Mr Trump, Mr Biden supports the rules-based system of global trade. He will not sabotage the WTO or go out of his way to antagonise America’s allies, whom he wants to rally against China. But his soft protectionism—which, thanks to the Trumpification of the Republican Party, is more popular in Congress than it has been in decades—will rankle the outside world; the European Union, which recently reached an investment agreement with China, is already bristling at his executive order. In his instincts about the economics of trade, America’s new president is not so different from his predecessor. That is bad news for America and for the world.
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That would have left the door open to alternatives to battery powered vehicles and any other new technologies And perhaps that is precisely what he did not want ...
Can you just see if the US gets into a conflict somewhere and the armed forces say, "hey enemy, can we take a quick pause while I get my tank back to a recharging point because quick charges won't cut it right now and I need to leave it plugged in for a couple hours?"
No, as no one besides you is so stupid that. the president was talking about ar
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Wouldn't it be a perfect candidate, given how it's a heavy and large and explodey as a American mom's ... SUV already? ;)
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-Hey it was just you