Author: Eric Peters

Car ownership will soon be a thing of the past, some say. Some wish. Instead of buying a car every so often and driving that car for a period of years – and owning the car – people will simply tap an app and rent a car by the hour or day; whatever their need at the moment happens to be. It sounds breezy – and oh-so-easy! This may indeed be our metrosexualized future  . . . god help us. But not for those reasons. There are always other reasons. The real reasons. There is money to be made, naturally. … Continue reading →

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People who are jealous of their right to own firearms know how important it is to mercilessly stomp even the slightest suggestion that their right to own a gun be restricted in some manner, no matter how trivial it may seem. Because the principle at stake is critical. If it is acceptable to chip away at a right because of this – then surely that will follow. It is like the income tax, which people were assured would apply only to “the rich” when it was first proposed. Now, of course, it applies to everyone. Because the principle of taxing people’s … Continue reading →

The post Demonizing the Demon appeared first on LewRockwell.

People made fun of cars like the Vega and Chevette – but at least GM made money on them. And when GM stopped making money on cars like them, it stopped trying to sell them. They got cancelled and replaced. Profitability used to determine whether a car remained in production. Of course, those were the Old Days – when the car business wasn’t a government-supported, politically-motivated crony capitalist enterprise, as it is today. Today, profits don’t matter. Grotesque losses are embraced – probably because GM (and the rest of the industry) knows that the government – read, you and me … Continue reading →

The post The Money Pit appeared first on LewRockwell.

Violence is, unfortunately, fungible. As this society becomes more and more officially violent, it is probable that unofficial violence will also increase. In fact, it is almost a mathematical axiom. It is also one not comprehended by those most responsible for initiating the process. Police and politicians seem baffled by the growing disenchantment with their class. They seem to expect people to behave toward them with respect and deference no matter what they do – by dint of the fact that what they do is Official and Legal. Why are politicians – left and right – increasingly despised by reasonable … Continue reading →

The post The Government Is Violent appeared first on LewRockwell.

Violence is, unfortunately, fungible. As this society becomes more and more officially violent, it is probable that unofficial violence will also increase. In fact, it is almost a mathematical axiom. It is also one not comprehended by those most responsible for initiating the process. Police and politicians seem baffled by the growing disenchantment with their class. They seem to expect people to behave toward them with respect and deference no matter what they do – by dint of the fact that what they do is Official and Legal. Why are politicians – left and right – increasingly despised by reasonable … Continue reading →

The post The Government Is Violent appeared first on LewRockwell.

Almost every negative thing happening in the car business – in particular, ludicrous technical complexity for the sake of electronic gimmickry and also to cope with diminishing returns federal “safety” and emissions mandates – could be gotten under control by the simple expedient of cutting off the monopoly money/debt-financing that makes it all possible. The seven-year loan. “Free” money (zero or very low interest). Give-away leases. The car industry is riding a bubble that’s proportionately as large as the housing bubble of a decade ago. And it is going to pop. For the same reason that a wave has to … Continue reading →

The post Pop Goes the Car Bubble appeared first on LewRockwell.

Whatever their failings, machines generally don’t second-guess you. Turn them on, turn them off. Point them in a certain direction. Command them to move or spin or do whatever it is they were made to do and – assuming they are not broken – they will usually do it. And won’t try to nudge you to do what they think is best. Electronic gadgets, on the other hand . . .  . They pre-empt and nudge. Do things you didn’t ask them to – and won’t do things you want them to. They turn on – and off- at random, according to their … Continue reading →

The post Beware the Car Options appeared first on LewRockwell.

Almost every new car I test drive – even the humblest hybrid – has a speedometer that reads to at least 120 mph. 140 is common; 160 not unusual. Some cars have speedometers that read to 180 or even 200 MPH And some of those are capable of pegging them. Few ever do. It would be interesting to know how many cars are ever driven faster than 100 MPH. And also how many ever see 130 – even briefly. My bet is maybe one out of ten and then only for a brief moment of furtive lawlessness. Current Prices on … Continue reading →

The post The Danger of Low Speed Limits appeared first on LewRockwell.

Cars are so much better than the government had intended that one can only imagine how good they might have been had the government not been involved at all. In the first place, the government meant for most of us (but not them) to be driving small cars with not much power. This was the purpose of Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements, which first went into effect back in the 1970s. And initially, it worked exactly as intended. Cars got “downsized” across the board. The typical layout of the American family car went from rear-wheel-drive with a V8 engine up front … Continue reading →

The post Cars Are Better Than the Gov’t Intended appeared first on LewRockwell.

Imagine a ticket for “failure to display a front license plate” – not even a moving violation – costing you almost six figures. Nathan Cox of Mechanicsville, VA doesn’t have to, because he lived it. Well, he paid it. $94,000. And it could have been worse. Initially, he was looking at $1.3 million. Technically, it wasn’t the fine for not having a front plate – which in Virginia is a $75 hit to the wallet (plus court costs, of course). But the vengeful Virginia State (Storm) Trooper who pulled him over for the absent plate was determined to make Cox … Continue reading →

The post The $94,000 Traffic Ticket appeared first on LewRockwell.

You’ve heard the saying – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? True enough. But there are also things you can’t fix once broken. The car will never be quite right again – and may be a lot wrong. These Irreparables include: * Water damage – This has always been a killer; a water-logged interior almost inevitably means a soon-to-be-moldy interior. Carpet and insulation sops up the water, wicking it up into places that are dark and not well-ventilated. If areas like the interiors of door panels, the underside of the roof, the trunk and so on that aren’t supposed … Continue reading →

The post Irreparable Damage appeared first on LewRockwell.

Really, it’s surprising it took them so long. But it is much more surprising that automotive journalists are leading the chorus ululating for the outlawing of the Dodge Demon muscle car. The automotive journalists at Automotive News – which is (or was) to the car world what The New York Times once was to the news-gathering world, cree that the Demon is “inherently dangerous to the common safety of motorists” and demand that it be “kept off our roads.” See here. This is not much different than discovering an editorial in the morning paper written by Bernie Sanders arguing that the IRS should … Continue reading →

The post Demonized appeared first on LewRockwell.

Late last week, it was revealed who squealed. The Clover responsible for making it impossible for any of us to buy a diesel-powered Volkswagen henceforth – and a lot more – is Stuart Johnson, the former head of VW’s Engineering and Environmental Office in Auburn Hills, Michigan. He was outed in a book written about the VW “cheating” business by New York Times reporter Jack Ewing. Johnson, of course, is about to get everything short of a ticker-tape parade. A bust of him will likely be cast and placed in the Hall of Mirrors – or whatever the equivalent is … Continue reading →

The post Snitch for the State appeared first on LewRockwell.

Late last week, it was revealed who squealed. The Clover responsible for making it impossible for any of us to buy a diesel-powered Volkswagen henceforth – and a lot more – is Stuart Johnson, the former head of VW’s Engineering and Environmental Office in Auburn Hills, Michigan. He was outed in a book written about the VW “cheating” business by New York Times reporter Jack Ewing. Johnson, of course, is about to get everything short of a ticker-tape parade. A bust of him will likely be cast and placed in the Hall of Mirrors – or whatever the equivalent is … Continue reading →

The post Snitch for the State appeared first on LewRockwell.

Late last week, it was revealed who squealed. The Clover responsible for making it impossible for any of us to buy a diesel-powered Volkswagen henceforth – and a lot more – is Stuart Johnson, the former head of VW’s Engineering and Environmental Office in Auburn Hills, Michigan. He was outed in a book written about the VW “cheating” business by New York Times reporter Jack Ewing. Johnson, of course, is about to get everything short of a ticker-tape parade. A bust of him will likely be cast and placed in the Hall of Mirrors – or whatever the equivalent is … Continue reading →

The post Snitch for the State appeared first on LewRockwell.