Glad to hear the Lights Out campaign is working. I hope more people pay attention. All Texans can appreciate living in a region so important to so many species, and taking care of Texas means taking care of an amazing chunk of nature. Turning off unneeded lights by 11pm is such an easy way to do that.
He's right. The idea of a sub $15k sedan is a threat to the US auto market. Make it an EV to boot and America just can't compete in the free market.
It's a shame that the common person has to get shafted to protect the auto industry and while I have zero sympathy to the c-level management and shareholders, the auto industry does employ many working class folks who could be very much harmed by cheap imported cars.
The major problem here is that China is offering prices below production costs aiming to ruin foreign competition. Once the objective of a monopoly-like market is reached, they can increase the price.
China's domestic market has already seen a heavy price war leaving many EV companies in financial troubles (and, consequently, leaving buyers often without the possibilty of software maintenance and other after-sales services).
Baidu's brand WM Motor, for example, ran out of liquidity last year, as well as Tencent's Aiways. Other brands like Levdeo or Singulato filed for bankruptcy if I remember that right.
The major problem here is that the US is owned by the oil industry and they will never allow competitive EVs to be built here. The US could easily match what China's doing, but those subsidies go to oil instead.
800,000 prison laborers in America that same year (0.24%).
For as flawed as the American judicial and prison systems are, they are not even remotely as awful as China's - and neither is the labor performed by American prison laborers compared to China's slaves. They are not the same. Chinese slaves aren't even given a trial - they are just randomly picked off the street and forced to work themselves to death.
The U.S. as well as Europe should definitely shift subsidies away from fossil fuels to renewables, and their industries could technologically keep up with China's. However, it wouldn't solve the problem here imo, as China has a structural overcapacity across the whole supply chain.
In a nutshell, China will do everything to flood the market with ever cheaper products. Its state policy has always been incentivizing lower prices for larger market share, but this policy has reached unprecedented levels (and not just in EV car market, btw.).
A major reason for this is Beijing's bias against a 'social welfare' state for the benefit of industry subsidies. During the pandemic, the government provided high company subsidies to keep people employed, but no household support (which left and is still leaving domestic consumption low). The federal and local governments provided their subsidies irrespective of firms' profitability. Knowing that the Chinese state-planned system traditionally rewards the mentioned scale of business over financial health, firms increased their production capacities even more, hoping to compensate lower margins with volume.
The result is now a massive and increasing overcapacity that can't be absorbed by the domestic market.
One last difference [between Chinese subsidies compared to U.S. and European subsidies] is how much support central and local governments have given failing enterprises with little consideration of profit and efficiency. In addition to generous credit and tax support measures, struggling companies were granted credit forbearances during COVID to help them face liquidity crunches and operational disruptions [while private household received nothing, leaving domestic consumption low]. Government support and prevention of market exit boosted the number of loss-making companies [...]. In a crowded environment, with loose budget constraints, firms lowered prices and accepted razor-thin margins to retain market share. Perversely, it also pushed them to build additional capacity in hopes of offsetting lower margins with higher volumes, and because they knew from prior episodes that if authorities ultimately forced a market consolidation, survival would be determined based on scale, not financial health.
[...]
Chinese firms are still using overseas markets to make up for lower prices, margins, or even losses on the China market. But this China-world price discrepancy also means that Chinese firms could lower their export prices further in the future to gain market access, weed out competitors, or make up for new tariff barriers in the EU or the US.
According to DiPippo et al. (2022) and recent OECD studies, the industrial subsidies in China are at least three to four times or even up to nine times higher than in the major EU and OECD countries. According to a very conservative estimate, industrial subsidies in China amounted to around EUR 221 billion or 1.73% of Chinese GDP in 2019. According to recent data of 2022, direct government subsidies for some of the dominant Chinese manufacturers of green technology products had also increased significantly - the electric car manufacturer BYD alone received EUR 2.1 billion [in 2022, which is up from just EUR 220 million in 2020].
We have been observing a massive price war within China's domestic EV market for some time. Many EV car producer have already filed for bankruptcy or are on tbe bring of collapse. Consequently, many Chinese customers are unable to access after-sales and software maintenance services.
How many times do we need to bail this industry out? Detroit's problems are entirely the fault of its own short-sighted greed. They've deliberately chosen not to produce affordable sedans, instead focusing only on super expensive giant luxury vehicles. This has even happened before. The exact same thing happened back in the 80s with the Japanese car companies. Toyota and Honda ate Detroit's lunch because Detroit had become complacent and greedy.
To be fair, the EV market is already somewhat reliant on slave labor in Xinjiang, but Chinese companies especially-so for obvious reasons. Buying cars from Chinese companies means there's basically no ability to pressure them out of using Xinjiang-sourced lithium.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the US actually bans import of products by companies in Xinjiang that can't prove they don't use forced labor in their supply chains, so this isn't a hypothetical harm reduction, either.
A bunch of pieces by neolib outlets like NYT basically predicted that Netanyahu would end this by early Summer at the latest, and that would give Biden enough time to recover in the polls. Leaving aside how cynical that is ("those silly kids/ activists will get bored, and Muslims will all forget after a few months, right!?"), Biden's team needs to give real thought to what happens if Israel is still in Gaza in November (and they will be, since Netanyahu has made clear that withdrawl is not his plan even after the active bombings are "done").
There are so many ways his support for this is hurting not just himself, but Democrats and any semblance of youth faith in political engagement. If this was translating to actual loss of political power for the USFG, I'd be all for it, but by all appearances it's just going to negatively impact down-ballot Democrats, and progressive-Left staffing in government agencies, ceding power to the Right.
There is a point at which, regardless of what Biden's personal views might be, he needs to act as though he actually cares what his constituents want. This paternalistic "I know the best way to handle it" act may have fooled some people back at the start, but Biden's 'concerned-friend' approach has visibly not worked to rein in Netanyahu, and sticking to it now just looks like he doesn't understand, or can't admit, that he was wrong.
A psychiatrist explained to me, years ago, that women are much more likely to attempt suicide, but by using less-violent means, are much less-likely to succeed in terminating their lives.
Males are less likely to try it, but more likely to succeed.
Girls/women usually try pills, overdoses, guys usually try something violent.
See the "more suicides are tried by girls & women" part of the equation, not just the "more successful suicides are by males" part of the equation.
( I've faint marks from when I opened both wrists with a scalpel-blade, when I was about 10yo, and haven't had the guts to intentionally make-absolutely-certain of my termination .. perhaps-ever.
Both parts of the equation I'm identifying are offensive/wrong, and mis-representing of what's actually going on, as various "activist" factions do, is what I'm attacking. )
Lewis Moghul, 22, was found to be more than three times the legal alcohol limit
Both Dr Box and Dr Helman believe graduated driving licences could stop between 20% and 40% of crashes involving young drivers, who currently account for a fifth of all road deaths and serious injuries in the UK each year.
If someone is already breaking a law regarding driving, what's to stop them from breaking another?
This isn't a news article. It's literally propaganda to instill support for what they're planning. If you notice, you weren't the target audience. The sob story they lead with, the driver would have been out of any graduated license program already by his age, and later in the article they mention he's already aged out of the group they want to do this to.
Graduated driving licences could see a minimum supervised learning period, curfews and a limit to the number of passengers new drivers can carry.
Of course reckless drivers who were going to drive drunk won’t respect these either, but also these are laws that can dissuade parents from giving/lending their cars. Surprisingly a bunch of parents are oblivious to their kids drinking and driving patterns, but a blanket ruling like this might help.
Three young men smile for a photo in the pub - 45 minutes later, two of them are dead.Lewis Moghul, 22, was found to be more than three times the legal alcohol limit when he crashed his red BMW 225D MSport, killing himself and his 19-year-old passenger Sammy Phillips.One witness described the car as travelling at "insane" speeds before it left the road and smashed into trees in Oxfordshire in February last year.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data for the UK also reveals men under the age of 25 are four times more likely to be caught drug-driving - and twice as likely to be caught drink-driving.Sammy's older brother Jamie Morris, 25, told the BBC he feared the combination of young men and cars was "lethal".Watch on BBC iPlayer: Drive Fast Die YoungJamie, from Llangynog, Wales, said he remembered "hyperventilating" when he learned of his brother's death.
Government casualty statistics state "young male car drivers are four times as likely to be killed or seriously injured" compared with all older drivers.Dr Elizabeth Box, RAC Foundation research director and transport psychologist, cited evidence that young male brains develop "at a slightly different rate" to females.She said this made them more likely to take risks, especially in social situations.
Both Dr Box and Dr Helman believe graduated driving licences could stop between 20% and 40% of crashes involving young drivers, who currently account for a fifth of all road deaths and serious injuries in the UK each year.Graduated driving licences could see a minimum supervised learning period, curfews and a limit to the number of passengers new drivers can carry.Dr Helman said for all young people, carrying passengers of their own age in a "party car" scenario increased the risk.
She wants to see greater sentencing powers and graduated driving licences and said behaviour that puts other people's lives at risk was a crime.
As part of its investigation into the disproportionate number of young men killed or causing the deaths of others on the roads, the BBC uncovered an alarming trend of young men filming themselves driving dangerously and posting their exploits on social media for "likes".Judge Francis Sheridan, who has overseen a number of high profile criminal cases involving road deaths, has described this as "a serious development".
The original article contains 1,048 words, the summary contains 380 words. Saved 64%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Sad article. I think it really has a lot to do with how men a raised - especially that parents and peers “tell” boys to suppress their negative emotions. The only permitted male emotion was anger, but anger does not jive with out modern society. And at least for me, even with parents sporting my emotional expressions - it took long time and a predominantly female social circle to be able to really access my feelings.
As someone who has made campfires, I can confirm that blowing on a fire gives it oxgen and makes it bigger. Goshdarn windmills blowing on the whole State as part of the librahl agenda to make wildfires around north America.
His poison will live on long after he’s dead. He’s throwing fucktons of money at politicians, conservative friendly universities, conservative “News” organizations, Youtube right wing grifters, you name it.
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