savings

  It's something I have talked about before and most likely will again. I see these ads on television for automobiles and trucks. Low down, no down, deferred payment plans, special offers and deals. Drive and sign or sign and drive whatever. Yesterday I heard one hawking a Ford F-150 truck for $15,000 off the suggested manufacturers retail price. The MSRP as we all know it. As usual I turn to the wife and say, if they afford to sell those trucks for $15,000 off how much have they been overcharging the rest of the year? They aren't selling them at a loss! 

  Now the last new car I purchased, off the showroom floor, was a 1975 Gremlin. Bought it at years end and it was on sale. It was a bit under three thousand dollars and financed for four years! I include that information to show that I really have little knowledge or experience in buying new cars. Paying for four years on a car was enough for me. I've always just bought used, er, pre-owned cars. Yeah, I remember when they were used cars. A quick search on Google and I find the msrp on a Ford F-150 is in excess of forty thousand dollars. So, with $15,000 off I should get it for $25,000. That isn't what they advertise however, what I'm hearing is you can save $15,000. It's what I call female math. You know, buy something on sale to save money. The actual need for the object or product isn't important, the important part is saving money. Spend more, save more. 

  And now the government is attempting to get everyone to buy electric vehicles. In fact, there is legislation proposing spending billions of dollars for infrastructure to support that. There will be tax breaks and advantages for doing so. The average price for an electric vehicle is about $59,000 dollars. Haven't heard of any at $15,000 off just yet. Perhaps the incentive will be to install a charging system in your home. If you live in an apartment building, I'm guessing you're out of luck. Haven't heard much about the plan for that. The average family has two cars these days so two charging stations will be required, unless you take turns. And just how that much on demand power is going to be available is unclear as well. Will there be rolling blackouts, even though those cars won't be rolling anywhere. It's pretty difficult to jump start an electric vehicle you know. And forget about push starting them, you have to really push a long way to get them started. 

  Some cities have started putting in bicycle lanes. Is that the future? Are we now going to expect people to ride their bicycles to work? Well, electric bicycles anyway. The average cost of an electric bike is about two thousand dollars. Soon they will be available at 500 dollars off! But you're saving the planet, right? Sure, you are. No fossil fuels were used in the manufacture of any of those things. No fossil fuels were used in the composition of the materials used to build those things. Never mind about the millions of tons of earth moved to extract the lithium and other minerals used to make those batteries. That's not a problem. Don't worry about the millions of tons of used wind turbines blades in the landfills, they are working on a way to recycle them. And pay no attention to the millions of gallons of oil used to lubricate those turbines, it's not being burned, it just leaks into the ground or the ocean when there is a failure. 

  I'm thinking I'll just wait a while longer before buying a new car or truck. Should be able to get a great deal when you can't buy fuel for them. A factory clearance sale! I should save enough money to buy even more stuff on sale to keep on saving. I'm going to save enough that I won't need anymore! The future is bright with electric light! Just gotta figure out how to generate it in sufficient quantities. If you have to ride a bicycle to achieve that, you'll just have to ride a bicycle.