$130 billion of Ford’s debt is attributed to their credit division, which facilitates lending for dealers and consumers of its products. If they spun this unit out as a separate company this debt would likely be considered investment-grade (the oft-hyped “imminent auto loan crisis” is overblown, especially in compariso…

Most DUIs are the result of for-cause detainments, and not sobriety checkpoints. This leads to the natural conclusion that a stoned driver who follows the rules of the road is probably not going to get a DUI. It’s waaaaay more common to drive stoned than drunk, and for an informed, moderate user it’s not even an…

In my entire life I’ve never bought from a street dealer. I hardly know anyone who buys from street dealers. We buy from connections that we make through word of mouth, even if sometimes the transactions occur in public places. That’s an important difference, as I always know who I am meeting and where.

To clarify a common misconception, ammunition is not nearly as dangerous when it is not within a pressure vessel such as a gun barrel (with the bullet acting as a seal). In an unconfined space, such as in a magazine, the small explosive powder charge doesn’t have enough energy to be hazardous beyond a very short…

If you’re going to spend $55k on a SUV then you shouldn’t have to worry about fuel economy. Otherwise you should get a Highlander or something instead.

The high-end aspirational Toyotas are all SUVs and trucks: the Sequoia, the Land Cruiser, and the Tundra (excluding SR trims). The Avalon will never touch those models on MSRP.

My grocery store doesn’t, other than endcap displays and a small open area at the front of the store. The dry goods and refrigerated arrangements haven’t changed in years.

It’s the “it’s bad because it’s illegal” hand-wringing nonsense. An age-old tactic for old rich guys and their lackeys to control “undesirable elements” of society by tricking the public into believing the rules are there for good reason. It’s the same tactic that was so cruelly employed against blacks and Mexicans in…

It’s an intentional design feature, intended to convey that this is a functional car rather than a rolling sculpture. Since it is almost certainly an electric switch and actuator rather than a mechanical linkage it would be trivial to hide anywhere on the car.

If billionaires were fairly taxed then we would have the resources available to solve many of these issues. This $20 million wasn’t burned, it was a fine levied by the government (i.e. a tax). In that light this $20 million was better spent than the average $20 million in liquid assets owned by the average billionaire.

On top of this, there is only so much scrap steel available to recycle in the USA. Practically all of this scrap steel is processed though “mini” steel mills that have been optimized for economical intermittent operation using a relatively pure input material. These mills are small and cheap enough to operate that…

3/7 hall of famers ain’t bad at all

Since when is US transportation infrastructure a boondoggle? The interstate highway system was the most expensive project in history and it has been a massive stimulus to the US economy. Dollar for dollar, infrastructure investments are just about the best money that the government can spend.

If they owned Tesla outright it would represent around 15% of the fund, at current valuation. In reality CalPERS has allocated approximately 0.01% of their assets to Tesla shares.

That’s about $50 million worth of Tesla stock right now. CalPERS has $350,000 million in assets. Tesla is 0.01% of CalPERS’ portfolio

This is the dumbest thing I’ve heard today. At current valuation CalPERS could buy Tesla outright with an allocation of just 10% of their assets. Obviously CalPERS does not currently own Tesla, so their true allocation is even less than that.

I’ve never bought a new car either but it’s not only about the money. A new car generally has better provenance than a used car, as it has next to no wear & tear. For people who need their cars to earn a living (e.g. most new car buyers) an unexpected breakdown can impede their ability to make money. On top of that,…

At this scale the 20 year old riding high on credit cards is what keeps the economy going. GDP is basically a measurement of the rate that money flows through an economy, and if people save too much then GDP will decrease which can lead to a downward spiral from the resulting low productivity of leveraged assets.

Even if he walks away from Tesla and it folds immediately, he might still make a trillion dollar company out of SpaceX (which has a world-class offering that generates positive cash flow, unlike Tesla).

I wouldn’t be so sure about your business strategy. People like to feel like other people know what they’re doing, and nobody can crystallize that feeling that like a radial disruptive demagogue rich guy. Tesla’s hype (and market value) have far exceeded their actual accomplishments and Elon’s actions are a huge part…