Originally published at: Pete Buttigieg shuts down lying pro-gas lawmaker with quick concise facts (video) | Boing Boing
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Love the calm, effortless delivery.
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(never happen) dream 2024 ticket: Katie Porter n’ Pete
can some national media personage at least ask Katie?
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Isn’t that Scott “Can I get a pardon?” Perry?
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Betting on gasoline as the fuel of the future in 2022 is like betting on whale oil as the fuel of the future in 1882.
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Ran into this exact error on Reddit, and had a similar answer. I got a new 2018 Prius Prime (my first new car!) and after trading in my Plug in Prius, it cost me $21k.
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Looks like when the congresscritter said he was relying on KBB values he may have used this article. It’s fairly obvious why the $56,000 he quoted is hot garbage for purposes of this kind of conversation – if you want to talk about affordability, you have to talk entry price, not average price, especially in a market that’s still top-heavy in terms of sales, dragging the average sale price upwards. Mayor Pete’s riposte was spot-on in that respect.
But he also played fast and loose with his mumbling about “subsidies” by which I assume he meant the Federal tax credit (though he did randomly mutter something about states as well, which are basically none of his business because states’ rights, baby). He never actually made a point, just wandered around in the vicinity of one and mumbled “subsidy” and “taxpayer” and such. I was sorry Buttigieg didn’t have a crisper answer to that one – on the one hand, it’s hard to have a crisp answer to a mushy point, but on the other hand Pete didn’t seem to know that GM isn’t eligible for the credit any more and Ford is going to phase out pretty soon.
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When the Supreme Court ruled that “money = speech” in the Citizen’s United case it bulldozed any hope for reasoned, impartial debates. Now moneyed interests can fudge the numbers, muddy the waters, and basically sponsor politicians who repeat their talking points. It’s like freedom of speech is a not a right shared equally, because the more money you have the more you can dominate the discussion.
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Exactly that. Average price paid also includes luxury models that go into the hundreds of thousands. Teslas are popular but only the 3 and maybe the Y could be thought of as “entry level”
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I can add to that. The state of Indiana – the one where Buttigieg was mayor of South Bend, and only recently moved from – CHARGES AN EXTRA TAX ANNUALLY for any hybrid or EV. They’ve worked out how much the average driver (in Indiana, that’s a pickup or SUV) would have paid in state gasoline taxes for the year, and they add a multiplier to that number, to make it specifically more expensive to drive even a hybrid car in that state.
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Yeah, Michigan does too, and so do many other states (a majority, IIRC). Since I drive significantly fewer miles per year than than the mythical average driver, I’m in effect subsidizing gas drivers.
I do think roads need to be paid for so this is to some small extent OK, but fuel taxes are a terrible way to do it; this has been true since long before EVs came on the scene. As I recall Mayor Pete does support a per-mile tax/fee in lieu of fuel taxes, which I think makes sense.
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It’s like they want to destroy the planet to own the libs. The legislative equivalent of rolling coal.
Disgusting
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It’a a ham-fisted attempt to collect gasoline tax on vehicles that use less to no gas. I bought my stupid Prius in 2009, before these surcharges were created. Now that I’m in the market for a replacement vehicle, this yearly surcharge makes for a disincentive. It just seems so weird that the Big-3 haven’t pressured Lansing into making the fees more equitable by now. Their own workers are one of their larger market segments, a huge number of which are right here in Michigan.
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I think the Republicans who dominate the Michigan Legislature are subject to exactly the same pressures as Republicans nationally: they have to performatively Own The Libs at every opportunity, lest their base turn on them. Good policy isn’t just second priority, it’s a non-priority.
I’m crossing my fingers for an improvement in November with the new district map, but I’m not expecting miracles.
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Yeah, I’m skeptical of the new maps. And thanks for reminding me that I have to sit down this weekend to fill out my August ballot.
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I wonder which would end up killing more whales.
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You know what, at this point I am actually surprised the building of a US whaling fleet is not some republican candidate’s election promise.
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As if the coal-rolling death cultists of America care about facts
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All cars are expensive. EVs will still have issues like their ICE cousins, but I’ll say that Pete is right about them not being extraordinarily more expensive. But I think the core issue is that Pete let the GOP nerd decide the issue to be discussed, EVs, and not dealing with the fact that we don’t allow transportation oriented development of cities (social housing should be part of this discussion as well) which would reduce the need for cars since you could get to places by bus and/or rail easily.
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I’m coing to compare Fiat 500 offer. Roughly the price of the electic model is twice the normal one, but we have to consider that on the elecric model some things that are optional on the standard model are on the base model. Going to “Convertible” version makes the price difference smaller.
Start to add alloy wheels, better car radio with navigator, tinted glasses and so on the gap is going to look smaller.
Fiat also make the Fiat Panda, it costs less, but it has less stuff on the base model.
Tesla models are more expensive, there are luxury cars designed with USA roads and drivers in mind Fiat cars are designed for European and Italian people: they are designed to be driven easily in the narrow roads of the old Roman Quadrilateral of Turin. I see like 8 500 electric for one Tesla in Turin. They cost less and could be parallel parked way more easily even without assistance.
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