Category: Subsidies

Nazzo Fast, Guido

Foreign Affairs, Politics, Subsidies

I’m not so sure that this is a good idea.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that his administration is considering importing beef from Argentina to lower its price at home and help Argentina stabilize its struggling economy, which he described as being in critical condition.

Dear  King  God-Emperor Donald:  Those are both laudable goals, i.e. to help a loyal ally and simultaneously help U.S. consumers who are being flattened by stratospherically-high beef prices at home.

However, I can’t help but think that you should also consider trying to ease the crushing burden of federal regulations that beef farmers — actually, all farmers — have to deal with, regulations that are a legacy of the Leviathan State you’ve inherited.  That will lower their cost of production, and should make beef less expensive.

Lowering beef prices through imports will simply make our beef farming less profitable — not that it’s all that profitable to begin with — and frankly, I care more about our farmers than about the Argies.

After all, it’s Make America Great Again, not Make Argentina Great Again.  With all due respect to Señor Presidente Milei, he has to deal with problems of his country’s own making, just as we have to beat back the Commies Over Here.  We can and should help him, but not at our own expense.

Just a thought.

Boondoggle Over

Business, Gummint, Subsidies

I see it suggested that Elon Musk’s apparent disapproval of Trump’s budget (the Big Beautiful Bill — ugh, FFS) may stem from the fact that included in the suggested budget cuts are federal subsidies for EV purchases.

If this is the case, then Musk’s ire may be understandable… but not excusable.

Sorry, dude:  the whole climate-change-is-gonna-kill-us-therefore-we-must-all-buy-EVs bullshit is one of the more egregious examples of governmental waste and budgetary irresponsibility.  You’ve ridden the gravy train because if Gummint is going to throw money your way then why not take it — say your shareholders — but that time is over, so suck it up and spend more time on other pursuits, those which don’t rely on government subsidies to survive or turn a profit.

Like I said, I don’t know if this is the reason for Elon’s peevishness, but if it is, then it’s just silly.  The gravy train was bound to end sooner or later, and from a taxpayer’s perspective, sooner is better, although said taxpayers who were going to buy a Tesla may not see it the same way, of course.

Too bad.

LOL No

Corporate Fuckery, Gummint, Subsidies

If this doesn’t make you chortle, nothing will:

Executives at Ford Motor Company, General Motors (GM), and Stellantis are begging President-elect Donald Trump to keep in place President Joe Biden’s Electric Vehicle (EV) mandates. The plea comes as automakers have invested billions in EVs that have failed to turn a profit.

Aw diddums.  How my heart bleeds for your lost profits, you chiseling bastards.

What’s the old expression?  Oh yeah:  lie down with the dogs, get up with fleas.

Well, you kowtowed to the government stupidity, always forgetting the other old dictum:  what the government giveth, the government may take away.

Had there not been so much virtue-signaling from the auto manufacturers as they glommed onto those subsidies (#Jaguar #Volvo #etc), I might have had a little sympathy.  As it is, however, I don’t give a rat’s ass.

And I know the followup threat:  “Without subsidies, we’re going to have to close factories and lay off workers!”

Here’s a thought:  take all the executive bonuses you were going to pay your management — yeah, right down to junior levels — and pay those billions (and it is billions) into an independent investment fund, i.e. a fund that’s managed by a financial institution so that you can’t raid it whenever you feel like it (#PensionPlans), and let the interest payments go to the workers you’re going to lay off.

It won’t be enough, but it sure as hell is better than the alternative, which is continuing to make a product that nobody wants, partially (or mostly) funded by taxpayers.

You should have done your research before sinking to your knees — anyone with a brain could have told you that the whole eco-electrical boondoggle was doomed to failure, especially if it was going to be dependent on government building the charging-station infrastructure (and which we’ve already seen has been a catastrophic failure).

The best lessons are those which come through suffering;  so suffer, and learn.

You idiots.

Yeah, Nazzo Fast, Guido

Drive Time, Subsidies

Stephen Green takes a long-overdue look at the inevitability of electric cars and such, and comes up with this priceless observation:

We need to talk about the word “inevitability” because when it comes to electric vehicles, I do not think it means what supporters think it means.

And then the killer:

Inevitability, you see, is when government spends money we don’t have and passes laws that won’t work to bribe or force people into buying cars they don’t want.

Like Karl Marx’s sense of inevitability — the inevitable fall of capitalism and the inevitable advent of its replacement — such things which go against human nature always need assistance from the firm foot of government to be applied with a heavy hand.

If the above is slightly incomprehensible to you, you need to read Stephen’s whole piece.