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What To Do With The Gas?

Jeff Miller

Jeff Miller

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WAYNE said:
Well maybe this little tibbit will open everyones eyes about farm subsidies. Just go to google and enter farm subsidies and your zip code. When you see your area multiply that with all the usa zip codes. Also you will see the names of your neighbors that are getting the benefits.
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OH MY GOD!!!! - strike that comment

Updating my post. I went to https://farm.ewg.org/index.php and saw millions going to some of my neighbors and lost it. I looked further and the subsidies being reported were cumulative. When I drilled down further to what was actually received in a given year the subsidies weren't all that bad.

That said, I would still like to have a true free market economy with no subsidies anywhere. Well, at least once I have my elio in my garage :)
 
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Elio Amazed

Elio Amazed

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Sethodine said:
My point being that little family farms don't get government subsidies anyways
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What makes you think that?

Many of the farmers are paid subsidies to NOT farm portions of their land.
It's the DOA's way of insuring that prices stay in the "sweet spot" to insure the nation's food supply.

It began in 1933 when Henry Wallace and the Feds had 6 million pigs slaughtered...
And 1 million farmers were paid to plow under 10.4M acres of cotton in addition to burning bales on the docks.

The theory (and often the reality back then) was that when the farmers overproduced their goods...
The prices would drop to where it cost far more to produce the goods than they could be sold for.
The following years would see insufficient food supplies and skyrocketing prices due to scarcity...
Because millions of farmers would have already lost their farms or couldn't afford to plant.

Basically economy based famine.

And why do you think farmers would benefit with higher grocery prices?
When Exxon has a record year, do all their low level employees automatically get bonuses or raises?
Wal-mart has already announced that they are going to put more pressure on their food suppliers to cut their prices this year.
 
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W. WIllie

W. WIllie

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Now Walmart (Ca.)charges 10 cents per bag for the recycleable bags.
A check with my "informant" reveals they pay 4 cents per bag.
6 cents profit per bag.
 
Ty

Ty

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McBrew said:
They have to charge at least 10 cents. I'm pretty sure that's a state (CA) law now.


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Click to expand...
Probably. It IS kind of silly that we shop and use throwaway bags every time we go. It just makes sense to use bags that don't get thrown away. We use cotton bags every week for most things. They don't charge for plastic bags and we use those for picking up "doggie detritus". I keep one of those insulated bags in my truck so I can make those "honey please" stops during the week.

I'm guilty of using plastic bags. I like the cotton ones better though. They don't cut into my hands when carrying them and they hold more.



And we can hope that the Elio catches on and encourages other manufacturers to make lighter, smaller vehicles that are publicly acceptable and wanted. That would let us all ease on into electric vehicles and save some gas... thus bringing the train back on track.
 
NSTG8R

NSTG8R

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Ty said:
Probably. It IS kind of silly that we shop and use throwaway bags every time we go. It just makes sense to use bags that don't get thrown away. We use cotton bags every week for most things. They don't charge for plastic bags and we use those for picking up "doggie detritus". I keep one of those insulated bags in my truck so I can make those "honey please" stops during the week.

I'm guilty of using plastic bags. I like the cotton ones better though. They don't cut into my hands when carrying them and they hold more.



And we can hope that the Elio catches on and encourages other manufacturers to make lighter, smaller vehicles that are publicly acceptable and wanted. That would let us all ease on into electric vehicles and save some gas... thus bringing the train back on track.
Click to expand...


Artfully done, Ty! :hail:
 
Sethodine

Sethodine

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So, I've been doing some more research on the prices for other models of EV (mostly compliance cars sold in CA and OR). It turns out that they are ALL depreciating at truly spectacular rates. At the speed that prices are plummeting, I will be able to pick up a 2014 or newer model year EV for half of what we paid for our 2012-model Leaf last year.

Or to say that in a way that actually makes sense: I will be able to buy a 2 year old EV for less than half of what a 3 year old EV cost me a couple years ago. ($7k vs $14k)

Our aggressive payoff schedule means that the Leaf will be paid off by next May or sooner (paying off a 5 year loan in 2 years). So a second EV is looking like a not-too-unrealistic situation. And if I won't be receiving my Elio until Summer 2018 anyways, then a second EV is almost a certainty.

Hmmm, lemme try some math.
Each month, I pay about 3-4 times as much in Gas than we put into our Leaf in electricity, or about $75/mo more than an EV would cost.
So if we put $1000 down on a $7000 EV, then pay off the rest in the following 7 months, after subtracting gas savings we would be paying about $783/month for a car that is 12+ years newer than my PT Cruiser (well, slightly more $, once you include the small finance charges that go into that).
So by January of 2018 we would be debt free (again) and have two low-cost EV commuters and a Gas car that we drive once or twice a month for the "long" trips. And if I keep putting that $783/mo into a savings account, I'll be able to buy my Elio with CASH or else pay it off in just a few short months.

Considering we're currently paying $876/month on our Leaf payoff schedule, the second EV might not even take 7 months to pay off. I know it doesn't beat paying cash, but it's darn close! And that isn't taking into account any pay raise I may get this January, or the pay bump my wife is getting now that she has a new job, etc.

Guys, I think I just convinced myself to buy another EV this May. Golly!
 
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