wabbitseason
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2010
- Messages
- 1,511
/facepalm
My thoughts exactly.
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/facepalm
corporation might as well be law makers in this country... The bigger the CEO the more things get passed in their favor... blah cant stand our government. Big money must get out of our government for it to turn back into a democracy.
As a Texan, can I fly to CA buy a Tesla and drive it back?
Lenin, Stalin and Mao would all disagree with you
It's a poor decision for Michigan but it doesn't really matter. Very few if any people in MI would buy a Tesla. The temperature extremes -- especially in winter -- make any battery operated vehicle a bad decision. Plus you have so many people with ties to the auto industry in MI that you'll have little demand even if it were a great product.
We are a republic, not a democracy.
We're neither.Zarathustra[H];1041180473 said:We are both.
What defines a dealership in this law? Can Tesla set up a mall kiosk somewhere in the state and satisfy the requirement? I doubt they have a law that dealers can't deliver to your door.
Zarathustra[H];1041180072 said:Yes, we are a constitutional republic.
And a constitutional republic is a form of democracy.
So, we are also a democracy.
Your argument above is like saying, It's an Orange, so it can't be a fruit!
I would argue that in many ways our Democracy is a sham, due to big money determining in large parts the outcome of elections, and what politicians vote for and against, but we are - at least on paper - a democracy, simply because a constitutional republic is a form of democracy.
There are other forms of democracy too. For instance, parliamentary constitutional monarchies are rather popular. Less popular is what they do in Switzerland which is kind of a direct democracy.
Germany rocks a federal parliamentary constitutional republic, France has some form of unitary semi presidential constitutional republic, the U.K rocks a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, etc. etc. etc.
What they all have in common is that they are democracies. Not all of them are direct democracies like Switzerland, but they are democracies none the less, as power ultimately is supposed to emanate from the people, through an electoral process.
When you state that the United States is not a democracy because it is a constitutional republic, all you are demonstrating is that you know absolutely nothing about what you are talking.
Can we please stop this nonsense now?
Unions have such a good influence in this country.
The UAW isn't behind this one, I know it's important for the radical right...
Perhaps, but I read somewhere a few months ago, I think in greencarreports.com that despite union and dealer middlemanship, mainstream cars are only marked up by 6% while Tesla, despite being sold direct, are marked up by a whopping 25%.
Zarathustra[H];1041180537 said:I haven't read this legislation, but typically laws like this enforce that the automotive company may have no ownership stake in the retail outlet.
So, GM can not own it's own chevy dealer, etc.
It's kind of stupid, but in state and local politics the dealership lobby is a big one, and they like to keep the status quo.
The Key take away are two things.
In the US the majority does not always get its way. There is a skew to protect regionalities. If Montana didn't have 2 senators, with only 50,000 people it would be voted in to being the dumping ground for nuclear and toxic waste for the country.
The second, you missed, is the Constitution. The Contitution in the US elevates the individual and give him protection from the State (aka Democratically Elected officials), such that if the government (which should be the will of the majority in a democracy, theoretically) decide to F with a person because they're in the majority the other person isn't, they can't easily. Other countries have Constitutions which tend to cement State authority and often above individuals.
Perhaps, but I read somewhere a few months ago, I think in greencarreports.com that despite union and dealer middlemanship, mainstream cars are only marked up by 6% while Tesla, despite being sold direct, are marked up by a whopping 25%.
Zarathustra[H];1041180616 said:That is because most conventional car manufacturers operate in a fiercely competitive marketplace, whereas if you want an upscale, fast, high end electric car, there isn't much choice.
Teslas margins will come down when they start facing more competition. The dealership/no dealership model isn't the only factor in pricing. Supply and demand is to.
I' not sure if they do, but during most of their history Tesla has had a waiting list in order to buy one. That very strongly suggests that not only is demand greater than supply, but it also suggests that if they really wanted to, they could raise prices, and still sell the same volume they are currently selling.
Yes they do have an enormous waiting list, one factor in our decision not buying one. We'd have to wait over three months before getting our car, if that. Tesla's factory was also on the verge of being partially shut down at the time I was shopping for a new car, so their production rate was halved. They're retooling their factory to enable it to increase production to bring it in line with the number of batteries they'll be getting from the Panasonic Gigafactory.
I'm glad I held out and bought a 2014 Honda Accord Touring instead. In about 2-3 years when the Honda is paid off, hopefully Tesla's $30-50k 400 mile Model III will have launched.
We are a republic, not a democracy.
"We" are neither a republic or a democracy.
The United States is a plutocracy in which wealth determines the laws and not what the people think.
Isn't controlling the government controlling the country for the most part? Same thing.You mean oligarchy. The wealthy controls the government. Plutocracy is when the wealthy rules the country. They're just pulling he puppet string behind a thinly veiled curtain.
So like that means the Coke brothers are evil because they're rich.
Isn't controlling the government controlling the country for the most part? Same thing.
Every person that drinks water eventually dies, so how good is it, really?they're evil because they rot your teeth and fill you up with chemicals. Pepsi brothers are just as bad. Christian Brothers rot your liver. Stick with Water, brother.
I'm not sure how just two out of the bunch shows me much. I don't think many things in life have a 100% success rate. Anyway, a lot of people like to hate on Noam Chomsky but I'm with him that the US is a polyarchy (neither dictatorship nor any democracy). I've never heard a better explanation myself.No, the wealthy still has to walk softly around politicians who can turn on them at any time - see Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
No, the wealthy still has to walk softly around politicians who can turn on them at any time - see Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
I'll give you Bernie Sanders, but Elizabeth Warren? lol lol lol.
I find these types of comments curious, in a time when wealth inequality is at its highest level since the great depression.
Wealth inequality is so high because people use machines and foreign workers to reduce production costs. This happened why? Because unions made it expensive and inefficient to produce things with people so people solved problems that's what they do. If unions care they need to target the government and their inability to protect American exports from protectionism in developing countries that has caused US production to lose in places it should have had big advantages.
suit yourself, they were examples. There's a lot of regulation-supporting Democratic and Independents out there that wants to put Wall Street and Big Oil in their places. That's why we're an oligarchy, not a plutocracy. Not to mention the increasing numbers of what the right likes to call activist Federal judges.
The wealthy can only push for policy changes if they find the right leverage. Even on the left - see insurance companies having a hand in the ACA, and General Mills pushing for the Monsanto Protection Act. No party is immune to the influence of the wealthy, but the wealthy still don't have total control for us to be a plutocracy.
Zarathustra[H];1041180471 said:Meh,
Extreme cold DOES reduce range rather significantly, but most people commute 30 miles or less each way to work, so it's not THAT relevant.