I love economics/finance/investing and monetary policy. I hate when people are dumb or irresponsible with money and even more so when it is money I give them. Thats not to say that I don't think some investments are worth the risk. I think saving GM will pay off, I also think the moon mission in the 1960's was worth it, and we should be investing in another mission to the moon by 2020 if not to Mars. I'm extremely progressive when it comes to pushing the limits of technology and building modern instructor for this country to facilitate business and commerce. The 20th century is over, sure people have a lot of fond memories of it, but it is time to move on. As hard as some people will try, they can't make the next 20 years look like the last 20.

I don't want to steer this thread off track so I'll just say that if you look at the educated and wealthy areas of this country, they lean a different way than the poorer and less educated areas.

 

You don't want to steer the thread off track and then you say this? Yes, the real knuckledraggers are the people in the heartland, the "educated" and elite are in the Northeast and California. We've all heard the stereotypes.

Don't the "poorer" inner-city areas typically lean a very certain way as well? That kind of blows your assumptions out of the water.

 

Not to mention those areas you mention are only "wealthy areas" because of crazy inflated earnings and prices: A $75k a year salary in SC is the equivalent of a ~$120k salary in parts of the Northeast and a $250k house in SC cost $500k+ in the Northeast.

And oh by the way, this engineer grew up in Laurel, MD through highschool so I know all about how "educated" and "rude" and "selfish" and many other things people in the "wealthy" areas are. Howard County MD supposedly had the "best schools in the country" when I was growing up, but there were lots and lots of stupid people.

It sounds like you may be a classic example of not actually knowing about what you speak. And oh by the way, "the poorer and less educated areas" of SC (lower state) lean left. The same is true for Georgia, etc. The opposite is sometimes true in northern states, like MD (southern maryland and parts of the eastern shore) which is probably where your misguided steretype came from. You need to be careful you are not being "close minded".


CAFE standards will soon be the death of the cars we all love. Perhaps the death of the V8 muscle/sports car. Those types of standards could very well dictate smaller and lighter cars with V6's and 4cyl. Perhaps some automakers will still stick their necks out to make niche V8 performance cars in small volumes, but if the market dries up and the profits aren't there, they will eventually stop making them.

In my mind, forcing me to drive small econo **** boxes because a faction of the US thinks it will somehow save the planet while they turn a blind eye to other nations dumping raw waste and sewage directly into rivers and oceans is un-American. And if your reasoning is oil independence, there are other ways than forcing auto manufactures to make cars people don't want. We are the freaking USA, we don't get strong armed, if we need to make some tough decisions and take some tough actions to make sure that doesn't happen, so be it. This nation is full of a bunch of wusses that will do anything to make sure they don't "offend" anyone. Sometime people need to be offended, sometimes kids don't make the team, sometimes they are picked last, or people get their feelings hurt. Tough, suck it up and move on.

Believe me, there were coherent thoughts and things about CAFE in there, haha. Thanks for the vent guys.

 

Just look at what states have the highest college graduation rates and which have the lowest and you will see what I mean.

CAFE won't kill V8 cars, high gas prices and new technology will. The LT1 V8 has been made obsolete by the LTT V6. You no longer need 8 cylinders to make 300HP+, and over the next decade you will see the 300HP V6 go extinct and be replaced by the 300HP 4cyl.

For the record, I also don't like CAFE and don't think it works they way the gov't wants. Gas tax is a more efficient way to boost mileage standards along with things like variable sales tax rates based on MPG. Set a tax structure that rewards efficiency and punishes consumption and let the market do the rest.

 

Thanks for keeping it clean so far, guys, but please remember that politics are off limits here.