Dealers to carmakers: Stop sending us electric vehicles we can’t sell! That’s the lead crazy on today’s Insanity Wrap, an entire week’s worth of the best bad news.
Before we get to today’s big story, here’s a short video to make you lose whatever little faith you might still have in humanity.
How Long Can You Stand to Watch?
Approximately every 10 hours a person in San Francisco dies of a fentanyl overdose.
The majority of fentanyl trafficked into the US is coming from Mexican cartels.
In 2022 the DEA seized enough fentanyl to kill every American!#confrontthecartels #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/pytsBLNW3U
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 30, 2023
This week, I was riveted and watched the whole thing.
You should, too.
When Electric Vehicles Lose Their Sales Charge
Electric vehicles are stacking up on dealer lots, unsold, while manufacturers crank up production to record numbers, according to a report this week from Business Insider. “We have turned away EV inventory,” said Scott Kunes, chief operating officer of Midwest-based Kunes Auto and RV Group. “We need to ensure that we have a good turn on it.”
The BI story indicated that while car dealers have 54 days’ worth of inventory on hand of traditional cars and trucks, the supply of EVs is double that. That’s why some dealers “are telling automakers they don’t want any more until they can sell what’s sitting.”
So here’s an uncomfortable question: Why are automakers building record numbers of EVs when people aren’t exactly buying them in record numbers?
Here’s your answer: Government.
Financial Times reported last year that “Public subsidies for the construction of EV and battery plants are ballooning around the country.” In 2021, “governments approved about US$2 billion in incentives, more than the previous six years combined.”
Since then, thanks in large part to Presidentish Joe Biden’s inflation-inducing Inflation Reduction Act — you know, that multitrillion-dollar spending orgy that’s really the Green Nude Eel in drag? — those subsidies to manufacturers of EVs, EV batteries, and charging stations have gone nowhere but up.
Consumer demand, however, has not.
All of those subsidies for manufacturers and tax credits for buyers have nevertheless resulted in EVs that cost on average about $10,000 more than a gas- or diesel-powered car or truck. “It’s hard for the average customer to make that leap while spending an extra $10,000,” Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, told BI.
You don’t say.
Back before the ’22 Red Wave turned into a drizzle, I shared an old business joke that goes like this.
A consumer products company introduced a new dog food with a massive marketing campaign. But after a strong start, sales fell off a cliff. So the company spent even more on ads and then, as sales slid even further, hired outside consultants to plot an even bigger campaign. At great expense, the company mailed out coupons and offered in-store rebates.
Nothing worked. Soon, the finger-pointing and infighting began.
The ad guys defended their commercials but argued that they’d been run during the wrong shows. The social media people blamed biased algorithms. The execs blamed the consultants. The consultants said the execs hadn’t followed the plan.
People were fired. New people were hired. Kibble sales still stank.
One of the new people finally said, “Maybe the dogs just don’t like it.”
If car buyers are the dogs and EVs are the kibble, maybe it isn’t about the rebates and incentives. Maybe we’d prefer something a little less crunchy.
Previously On Insanity Wrap: I Know Hollywood’s Dirty Little Secret
Before We Continue, Here’s a Short Video to Restore Your Faith in Everything…
WARNING *DOG ON PREMISES*
The Dog: pic.twitter.com/1Qr9ssmWGX
— animals making your day (@madeyousmiles) August 30, 2023
If there’s anything better than kids and puppies together, it’s more kids and puppies together.
Your Weekly Dose of Mandated Unity
This little three-minute video by Matt Orfalea is nothing but unaltered clips of both Democrats and Republicans disputing presidential election results. It’s from last year and got Orfalea temporarily demonetized on YouTube. Matt Taibbi noted that “despite total factual accuracy,” YouTube’s automated review system slammed Orfalea for violating its “Elections Misinformation” policy. After a public outcry from Orf, Taibbi, and maybe others, YouTube finally relented and un-demonetized Orf’s channel, “after manually reviewing your video” and determining “that it is suitable for all advertisers.”
So why bring it up now? Here’s why:
This week, Orf discovered the video had been re-classified as problematic by a new “human reviewer,” who declared it in violation for “harmful or dangerous acts” that “may endanger participants.” Potential problems, the reviewer determined, included “glorification, recruitment, or graphic portrayal of dangerous organizations.”
Some proggy YouTube censor moved the goalposts. It no longer matters if the video is factual; what matters is if it might inspire “dangerous organizations.”
And what makes an organization dangerous? If some proggy censor at YouTube doesn’t like it.
Orfalea can’t make money off his video any longer, but that shouldn’t stop people from sharing it and getting the truth out.
Hint, hint.
Your Weekly Dose of Mostly Peaceful Protest
The board caved because they were caught on camera.
Important questions still need to be answered:
Who approved this policy to begin with?
Why a person that lacks such knowledge or American history in an administrative position, aka ‘enforcer’?
What happens when a student… https://t.co/4IylmYGgoI
— Mailyn Salabarria (@cbntaRMNP) August 30, 2023
Jaiden, the Gadsden patch backpack kid here in southern Colorado, scored a big win this week — as I’m sure you already know. But as my sister Coloradan Mailyn Salabarria points out, that’s just one victory in what’s going to be a very long war.
Outside the Denver-Boulder Axis, Colorado is deeply conservative or libertarian. If we need to fight these battles in Colorado Springs, the populous heart of Red Colorado, then we’re badly on the defensive everywhere.
Keep up the pressure and that will change.
Recommended: Gross: AI Is Turning Into ‘The Human Centipede’
Who Will Speak for the Dead?
Unclear how many in Lahaina lost lives as Hawaii authorities near the end of their search for dead
“Crews in Hawaii have all but finished searching for victims of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century,” according to the AP, “and it is unclear how many people perished.”
Based on the story, we’ll never know the truth.
One death is a tragedy, if you’ll allow me to paraphrase Stalin, but a thousand is a statistic they won’t reveal.
Man, I need some cheering up after that one. Good thing we’ve got this week’s closing meme coming up right after this important reminder…
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One More Thing…
That’s a Wrap for this week.
Come back next week for another Insanity Wrap… …assuming we make it that long.
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