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Electric Class Warfare

Paul Jacob on who benefits from Biden’s EV push

Star Trek may have adversely affected American politics. Its techno-communist utopian militarism was one thing, its attitude towards engineering? Perhaps worse.

In how many episodes did Captain Kirk demand that Scotty push the warp drives further, or decrease the time required for a task — arbitrarily according to his need, not actual possibility?

And, because television: presto, it was done; just in time for the finale!

We see that in the push for electric vehicles (EVs). 

The EV mandates, explains The Epoch Times, “will likely cause a sizable wealth transfer from rural red regions of the United States to urban blue sections, and to wealthy Democrats who reside in them. . . .”

For while Democrats say they’re trying to “save the planet” from an increase in atmospheric carbon, really, analyst Robert Bryce counters, “it’s a type of class warfare that will prevent low- and middle-income consumers from being able to afford new cars.”

How? The EPA’s new “rules are the strictest in history and will effectively force carmakers to have one-third of new car sales be plug-in EVs by 2027 and more than two-thirds by 2032.” But according to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, “as much as $48,000 of the cost of the average EV sold in the United States is paid not by the owner but in the form of ‘socialized costs’ that are spread out among taxpayers and electricity consumers over a 10-year period.”

So the new rules will reduce the supply of gas-powered vehicles, driving up costs. And the increased number of already-subsidized vehicles will also be paid by taxpayers at large, while the benefits go to . . . mostly Democrats in the bluest counties of the bluest states, as statistics show.

In recent years, Democrats have prided themselves that their “blue states” subsidize “red states,” mocking the “rugged individualist” pretensions of the hapless bubbas in flyover country. But now such boasts ring hollow. 

This is the far-flung future? 

Subsidy and regulation spoil the Star Trek promise.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.


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5 replies on “Electric Class Warfare”

Back in 2015, I posted a ‘blog entry on a mathematic fallacy entailed in “progressive” gloating or fulmination about transfer payments to jurisdictions in which a majority decried such payments.

In any case, I do not expect wide-spread subsidization of electric vehicles to continue for long. Agitation on behalf of ostensibly green technologies is to rationalize curtailing use of disfavored technologies, but these ostensibly green technologies are not typically practical, and their impracticality is to be acknowledged with feigned disappointment after use of the disfavored technologies has been curtailed. The serfs are to be compelled to live close to their workplaces and to use mass transit. If these plans are carried to fruition, a vast majority who presently imagine themselves amongst one elite or another and zipping about town in their electric vehicles will instead find themselves amongst the serfs.

Those that can most afford it will struggle and cope at massive expense. Then the system will falter and the hue and cry will precipitate massive subsidies for everyone else. Just need to print more money.

How does the government ‘force carmakers to have one-third of new car sales be plug-in EVs ‘ ? If the public won’t buy them then that’s just too bad. As usual, the only people to be hurt will be workers themselves. Automobile industry and sales jobs will disappear, as people won’t buy the product. How does the government force consumers to buy these products? (It’s not like health insurance.) The used car market will thrive. I’ll hang on to my 2015 Honda for as long as I can.

The grid, in CAL for example, can’t even keep up with the current number of EVs on the road.
Who in their right mind thinks more EVs would be better?
But then again, we are talking about liberal democrats.

Don’t buy an all-electric vehicle:
If you don’t want to get the equivalent of 80-100 mpg.
If you don’t want to take the ride of your life.
If you don’t want regenerative braking.
If you want to continue having oil changes.
If you want to worry about your radiator and coolant.
If you don’t like instant acceleration.
If you don’t want to stop on a dime.

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