I’d like to see the polling you’re looking at that suggests independents are so rabidly anti-union that they will (not) vote in large numbers on the basis of an electric vehicle rebate.

Unions are deeply flawed institutions, but they’re better than the alternative. 

Tesla has far more demand than production, therefore we will only sell cars to Hertz for the same margin as to consumers.

The number of commenters who look at the (relatively) high-tax states of Europe and somehow come to the conclusion that (relatively) high taxes leads to increased wealth disparity, and higher gas taxes will lead to poor people starving on the streets outside of super markets, is alarming.

David believes Germany has a less robust car culture than the US. He’s provided no evidence that gas prices are the cause of that difference.

Car enthusiasm would necessarily contract.

It would necessarily make car ownership so expensive that a whole swath of people who currently express their enthusiasm via car ownership would be priced out of their outlet.

Are you under the impression that people don’t do these things in Germany?

You really don’t care about enthusiasts who currently can only participate because their primary car is also their enthusiast car.

No, I’m not defining out any enthusiasts.

For me, the metric that matters is: “percentage of people who consider themselves enthusiasts.”

I guess I just don’t share your emphasis on “daily driving” as the most important metric of car culture. Or even ownership, for that matter.

Interesting. I would argue that the (relatively) cheap fuel costs in the US actually contributes to a lot of people’s apathy towards cars. People are less thoughtful about what they buy/drive and don’t think about car tech so much because there is less concern.

If you think reducing fuel consumption would have a horrible effect on car culture then the problem is not fuel prices, the problem is your definition of “car culture.”

It would actually be great if gas was this expensive (or moreso) all over the world.

I’m sure I sound like a naïve/crazy person, but it remains astounding to me that airlines can completely change the date on which you fly without having to refund the cost of the ticket. Can I show up to the airport on a different day and use my old ticket?

Was this before or after the time when they put a bounty on unflattering photos of Lena Dunham?

He’s been in 18 of the 23 episodes of the show that have aired so far. And I’m not even talking about knowing his name. Who cares that his name is Colin? His role within the show is what’s important, and yes it’s a secondary role, but I wouldn’t call it “minor.” He’s a near-constant presence at Logan’s side and was…

Understood that lots of people forget a lot of what happened between seasons... but how many of those people are literally being paid to write about the show?

Yeah, kind of... surprising... that someone who professionally recaps the show doesn’t recognize Colin.