Um, if you paid attention, you’d notice that’s what I do already.

The beauty of the TC is that it gives the family hauling capacity I do need while eliminating most of the truck capacity I rent for, all without resorting to something with lousy fuel economy and a high price.

Yield is certainly important - but you have to consider the other uses of the land. If you get twice the yield but are displacing food crops, you may be letting northern forests go back to being untouched rather than sustainably harvested while actually decreasing forests in more temperate and tropical climates. You…

I suspect you’re not quite aware of how much it costs to increase capacity.  We’re talking billions of dollars - amounts no company is willing to invest without reasonable expectation of long-term profitability, and that isn’t guaranteed when tariffs can disappear overnight.

Only to fools who don’t look at those other components. :)

Um, that’s exactly what I said.

I do.

The nice thing about the TC is that it fits the family hauling needs while eliminating the need to rent a truck the vast majority of the time, all without resorting to something with lousy fuel economy.

It’s not really that simple. Bamboo is typically grown on a plantation, and biodiversity within that plantation is generally poor. It’s also typically grown in warmer climates, on what would otherwise be arable land. Hardwood, on the other hand, typically comes from cooler climates (Canada is a huge source for us),…

The american steel companies were already profitable and able to compete. This simply boosts their profits, and they aren’t expanding jobs significantly because they were near capacity already. Since the tariffs were imposed, total employment in steel mills has increased by about 170 jobs total, per the Bureau of…

I’m sure you’re not.  Plenty of us think rationally.  I don’t want a truck, though I would like the cargo carrying ability of one now and then.  So I wouldn’t consider a truck, but I would consider a Transit Connect.

Well, they used to believe in free trade.   They never truly worried about the debt, as evidenced by their massive runups of debt every time they had complete control of congress and the white house.

Oh, Saturns rusted plenty - you just didn’t see it as much, as the outer trim panels were plastic - the unibody still rusted very nicely... :)

1st:

It’s actually a very simple case of supply and demand.

US steel and aluminum companies were already running at near capacity. When foreign imports become more expensive, the demand will want to shift to the American suppliers, but without more ability to supply, they can’t fill the demand. In that case they have no…

And Cat is VERY heavily dependent on exports, so if we get into a trade war, they get killed...

Ok - so since you clearly aren’t aware how this works, all that construction / reworking of assembly lines? Those are capital expenses, not operating expenses. The affect cash flow, but don’t directly affect profitability.  The depreciation of the buildings and equipment comes in as an operating expense... NOT the…

Except those index funds never vote their shares.

So you could quite literally have 80% of a company held by index funds whose investors care more about the long term for their retirement, 10% held by individual investors worried about the long term, and 10% held by activists and day traders worried about the short…

Who on earth thinks expenses are going to drop anywhere near that much?

I think its cute that you think they’re getting their costs under control.

Average depreciation around here on 5 year old ones is 45% or so. The same curve would project a used 3 in about 5 years would run around $25k.

But as they produce more and they’re less exclusive, I’d anticipate the depreciation curves getting worse.

Unless they’ve dramatically changed their costs since last quarter, they’re losing money on each one sold already.  Getting to $35k without running bankrupt would mean cutting costs by over $20k per vehicle.  

Oh, nonsense. The Tesla gross profit margins are cooked in ways that no other automaker’s are. They’re known to shift costs that belong in COGS over into SG&A, which distorts things.

Every time their sales go up, their losses go up.  The simple truth is that they’re losing money on each vehicle sold.