Friday, April 8, 2011

If they don't have bread

Then let them eat cake, a young Marie Antoinette is said to have joked at her husbands corination during the Paris Bread Shortage...  Then oblivious to the national debt, the queen overspent on clothes, gambling and diamonds and everything else imagianable. Her spending habits caused quite a stir as France was on the verge of bankruptcy. The long series of wars fought by Louis XIV and Louis XV had left France with Europe's highest national debt.  We all know how the story eventually ended for both Marie Antoinette and her husband Louis XIV 

There is some question about whether or not she actually make the statement, but to this day it's used to show a disconnect between the rich and poor.  Or to describe a leader who is completey out of touch with the needs of his people...

The video shows Barack Obama's version of "Let them eat cake"



That's right, if you can't afford four or five dollar gas you need to go buy a Forty or Fifty Thousand dollar Hybred Obamamobile and 800.00 a month car payments.  To top it off, he thinks it's funny...

He has a point...  According to this article "The Car from Atlas Shrugged Motors" by Patrick J. Michaels

In other words, GM was desperate for customers for what they perceived would be an unpopular vehicle before one even hit the road. It had hoped to lure more if buyers subtracted the $7,500 from the $41,000 sticker price. Instead, as Consumer Reports found out, the car was very pricey. The version they tested cost $43,700 plus a $5,000 dealer markup ("Don't worry," I can hear the salesperson saying, "you'll get more than that back in your tax credit!"), or a whopping $48,700 minus the credit.

This is one reason that Volt sales are anemic: 326 in December, 321 in January, and 281 in February. GM announced a production run of 100,000 in the first two years. Who is going to buy all these cars?

Another reason they aren't exactly flying off the lots is because, well, they have some problems. In a telling attempt to preserve battery power, the heater is exceedingly weak. Consumer Reports averaged a paltry 25 miles of electric-only running, in part because it was testing in cold Connecticut. (My engineer at the Auto Show said cold weather would have little effect.)

Read the entire article
In other words in the winter, with the heater running, or worse yet in the summer time, in rush hour, with the heater going, the batteries wouldn't get most people home from work...

Yeah, I guess there's a reason the President was laughing..

10 comments:

  1. too funny.. We have enough oil in this country to last 500 years. Speculators are driving the price up due to other factors.. GOLD and the dollar. People are too ignorant to understand. If anything.. demand should be lower today due to the earthquake in Japan.. Japan love to drive. There is NO driving today in Japan. Take Japan out of the equation..

    As we approach Memorial day.. we will see $5/gal. It will stay this way until July.. then slowly ease down.. I am worried about that debt ceiling. Who knows what they will do..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Swan, Obama is well aware that the run up in gas prices the last time was not due to supply and demand, but to speculation, but the time the market collapsed there was no reserve storage left in the country.

    A 2% reduction in world supply hasn't driven the price up over 30% in the last few weeks.. My guess is like before it's speculation. Obama can't mention the word, without getting his butt in a sling..

    So he'll use it to tryand sell cars no one wants to buy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Talk about running on natural gas. Wonder if he buys store bought cigarettes or rolls his own.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don't comment on that last comment, Grumpy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Why not, no reason not to at least light cigarettes with natural gas

    ReplyDelete
  6. Isn't the U.S military the biggest consumer of fuel in America?
    I am sure he has had the Secret Service SUVs converted to CNG power.
    In the mid 2000s, the federal gov. bought a lot of E-85 flex-fuel vehicles for use in states that had zero E-85 fueling stations.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Weekend Warror..... Wonder if they're parked in a field next to to all those unused trailers they bought after Katrinia...

    ReplyDelete
  8. anon - We do know he does inhale. That was the point.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I wrote to T. Boone Pickens, and told him I would pay to convert my car to natural gas, if he would tell me where I can fill up in Melbourne. No Answer.

    Re: fuel efficient cars, Toyota Prius has been selling quite well. I know two owners who are both delighted with them.

    ReplyDelete
  10. No has has mentioned how much it is going to cost to re-charge the Volt. I know they are putting charging stations in high income places, but has anyone said how much it has cost them in electricity.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.