At this point I really do not understand why these things are allowed on the roads. They might work some day, but they don’t now and as such are a hazard.

Yep. We got a higher efficiency furnace, high-R windows and 8 inches of additional insulation sprayed in and we're still paying more than before to heat the place thanks to Texas.

Well, again, Texas decided they weren’t going to interconnect with the rest of the nation’s power grid because freedom and independence and we ain’t helpin’ no one what ain’t kin. And then when it got a little cold Texas howled and stuck its hand out and as a result, the rest of us are paying extra on our energy bills…

I dunno. Looks gangly and awkward on top of that chassis. I get that it was never gonna be an airplane again but I think the Cosmic Muffin treatment might have been a better approach. That way most of the non-plane running gear is hidden below the water.

Why?

Mini, Crayola and a 9-year-old comes to mind...

We have also been saddled with a lot of required things on new cars which has brought the prices up too.

Thank you!

I drove an ‘04 Grand Cherokee for work back then. For what I was using it for, it was great. Went anywhere I needed it to including bouncing across snow-covered farm fields. That job involved a lot of windshield time and yeah, the seats were pretty good. But it’s reliability was pure shit and the dealership got off on…

Ever use a window AC? Know how it cools the room it’s in, but not the rest of the apartment?

I think you and I are circling around the same issue. “Work or you don’t eat” is what’s going to happen if we allow the machine owners to run things. And those who have nothing to work on, won’t eat. The owners won’t give a shit because it doesn’t impact them.

What about it?

“Work or you don’t eat” will suffice at that point if we allow the machine owners to take over.

I tend to agree. The solution will have to be a universal basic income or, better yet, making most things free. The alternative is, as you said, having 90+ percent of the population out of work or at best severely underemployed. You can only be on the bottom rung of a two-rung ladder and get kicked in the head by…

Yes, we should all be sympathetic to the economic harshities facing a completely unnecessary step in the car-buying process.

Your analysis is spot on, but people are talking about it. Bernie Sanders has been yelling hoarsely about it for years, but he gets painted as a left-wing socialist nutjob who’s just itching to drive us into communism, so people don’t listen.

It’s being called a “vibecession” now. Even though the economic indicators are good, people are still freaked out and behaving as though they’re bad.

I remember my dad buying a bare bones (like, no AC, no radio, manual windows, manual transmission with no tachometer) Tercel in 1984 for $5,000. That’s $15,000 today, and you can get a Versa for $3,000 more out the door that does come with AC, a radio, power windows, a passenger-side mirror, a lot more power, auto…

This. I see where they're going with this - let's make the First only apply to corporations. Individuals had better shut the hell up. It's just another step in the process of elevating business above citizens and elevating MAGA speech while banning anything else.

Exactly. And the problem is exacerbated by Republicans intentionally setting up voting districts to maximize travel requirements for likely Democratic voters. This area mostly populated with Black people? We’ll put their polling place an hour away and far away from the bus line to make sure a bunch of them won’t be…