Rich TAkes! on The Modern USA

RichTAkes! RAnt Of The Day

I was skimming through a forum the other day when I stumbled across a comment, a portion of which was,

Anon: …in the modern USA, there are lots of people who are trying very hard to find ANY kind of work, let alone better work, sometimes to the point of traveling around the country and sending out hundreds if not thousands of applications, but aren’t getting hired. They’re always either overqualified or lacking the right credentials (read “connections”)

Here is my rant in reply in part as to why the job market stinks, unless you land a government job which is the only sector that has been booming since Obama has been President.

Continue reading Rich TAkes! on The Modern USA

Obama’s Big Truck MPG TAkes!

Yesterday,

Obama announced out of thin air that he was directing the EPA to mandate new MPG requirements for Class 8 trucks, mostly semi-tractors. What the EPA has already done to the Class 8 market is nothing short of breath-taking. 

Lohr 90

I first started big-time car-haul back in ’86, by ’88 I was running an 80,000 pound 65 footer with a large block 14 liter which got 6 MPG, a huge improvement over the average 4 MPG equipment from less than ten years earlier. In 1990, we had a small block 10 liter, rated at the same 300 horse power which got 8 MPG and was good for 10 MPG in certain applications.     

Beginning with 2006 models, big trucks were mandated by the EPA to reduce particulate emissions, that puff of black smoke which appeared slightly when shifting gears, it is unburnt carbon which falls harmlessly to the ground. Diesel engines have never contributed to smog, they only emit CO2, not CO, as gasoline engines do. Pre-2006, larger horse power engines yielded better fuel mileage, if the gearing was set up correctly. (most fleets did not spec larger HP engines, since they cost significantly more)

Last year, I moved into a first generation EPA emissions unit, and I was towed five times, and lost 20 days of work due to the emissions system breaking down. Any Class 8 tow-truck driver will tell you that 90% of his tows are all new EPA-mandated 2006 and newer equipment, in many cases, these power units are less than a year old, sometimes this occurs within the first week of being put into service. 

The 2009 Sterling that I am operating now is lucky to get 4 MPG, the older, pre-emissions 2005 model that I got out of was good for 5 MPG, and it was only towed once (the engine blew, it was long over-due for a rebuild).

Things got so bad that Caterpillar got out of the highway engine market altogether. They didn’t need the hassle, Class 8 engines was only a small part of their business. The EPA mandates added easily $20,000 to the price of an engine, and the manufacturer could lose a lot of that in warrantee claims.

So now comes Obama, proclaiming that he will have the EPA mandate the equivalent of CAFE standards for big trucks, with another expensive unrealistic mandate, which will serve to put the small operators out of business, and the big fleets will be able to suck it up by passing along higher freight rates to everyone, resulting in higher prices for everything.

Continue reading Obama’s Big Truck MPG TAkes!

Rich TAkes! for April 22, 2012

Rich TAkes!

~ a collection of links I found interesting lately ~

Into The Wild: Lost Conversations From Steve Jobs’ Best Years

 Apples are Growing in American Homes

Ray Easterling dead: NFL star kills himself after lifetime of depression ‘brought on by concussion’

Drone Use Takes Off on the Home Front

10 Tenets of The Communist Manifesto Manifested in American Life

Surveys: Republicans more open-minded, better informed than Democrats

Democrats Increasingly Abandon Obama on Health Care And Keystone

I hear there is an election coming up

Gun industry’s economic impact skyrockets during Obama years

the “Obama factor”

Marco Rubio pushes his own DREAM Act

no path to citizenship?

Farewell, the New Frontier

Obama kills the Space Race, after Bush laid out a path to the moon again

Vatican orders crackdown on ‘radical’ nuns in the US

it’s about time

Hillary supporter’s untold Obama horror stories

stories about how Obama stole the primaries away from Hillary

Don’t Do Business with Progressive Appeasers

Dem Senator Doesn’t Know If He Will Vote For Obama

GSA Made Up ‘Jackass Award’ to Justify Dinners

Continue reading Rich TAkes! for April 22, 2012

Rich TAkes! March 19, 2012

Rich TAkes!

~ a collection of links I found interesting lately ~

Drug-resistant white plague lurks among rich and poor

this is scary, scary stuff!

Silver Coins for the Silver Haired

this should be required reading in every high school government and economics class

Supermodel Elle Macpherson Loves Obama: ‘I’m Socialist – What Do You Expect?’

I appreciate your honesty, Elle. Not that I really care about your opinion.

Gingrich Charge of a Socialist America Confirmed

Obama Is Not A Keynesian, He’s An American! – YouTube

This is both hilarious and horrifying

Continue reading Rich TAkes! March 19, 2012

Think Global EV to Close

Electric car company filing for bankruptcy

The electric car maker that launched its North American operations in northern Indiana has filed for bankruptcy protection in Norway, a major creditor said Wednesday morning.

Think Global AS plans to liquidate its assets, according to a statement from its exclusive battery supplier, Ener1 Inc.

Think EV

Not that long ago, President Obama visited the plant which was opening in Elkhart IN to produce the Think EV electric vehicle. I wonder how much “stimulus” money this venture received. At the time this was announced, Elkhart had the highest unemployment rate in the nation, after having the lowest rate before the crash in 2008.

 

Initial production plans called for a modest 2400 units per year.