3 minutes ago, Scottman said:

In no particular order, the MAGA agenda.

1/ Repatriation of offshored American owned industry 

2/Secure the borders

3/Redefine the rules for immigration and asylum 

4/Reduced involvement with countries that are not strategic trading partners 

5/ Streamline federal regulatons

6/ Reduction in federal spending 

7/ rationalization of federal government agencies 

8/ Return an undetermined amount of federal land to their respective States

9/Reduce top income tax rate

10/ Reform the State department and return diplomacy to a position that doesn’t require cargo planes filled with money ( I mean that literally!) be deployed to resolve international issues

there are more items on the agenda, that is just the more high profile issues. I have no expectations of even half of these things being addressed.

This also is not my personal wish list, just a recitation of what I see.

So, no year then when America was great? 😀

@Scottman I was just joshing with you. I'm not a fan of 'governments' stating wide ranging slogans without clarification of exactly what they're on about. Our own government is equally culpable and during the pandemic, instructed us on their press podiums to, "stay alert, control the virus, save lives"

Whilst our current PM preaches from a podium with the instruction like a call to arms, stating, "Stop the Boats", which I always feel is an instruction for all of us to get in our own dingy, sail out from shore, and stop the boats ourselves LOL I'd have more faith if he stated he wanted to 'Make the UK Great Again' 🤣

12 hours ago, StephenFord said:

So, no year then when America was great? 😀

It must have happened once. According to 1066 and All That by Sellars and Yeatman:

 "Chapter 62: A Bad Thing

America was thus clearly top nation, and History came to a ."

16 hours ago, StephenFord said:

I'm curious Scott, Trump runs on a ticket of MAGA, (Make America Great Again). Is there any consensus of when America was last, 'great'?

Before the white man got there !

On 12/10/2023 at 4:13 PM, StephenFord said:

So, no year then when America was great? 😀

1897.

9 hours ago, Scottman said:

1897.

I was expecting 1776, possibly around the July time of year 🤣

10 hours ago, Scottman said:

1897.

errrm go on then ????? i'd hazard the war with the english ?

No. Don’t get hung up on politics. I picked 1897 because that was the year that two separate companies took an English invention, the steam powered shovel and scaled it up to make it possible and economically viable to dredge canals and ports as well as dig the deep foundations required for large, tall buildings. Oh, and also a project they named the Panama Canal. Which improved the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

also, we didn’t yet have a personal income tax. That didn’t happen until the First World War.

I don’t think that political events can be cited as “when” any given nation could claim greatness. I think that it has more to do with the collective economic inertia that comes from many millions of people who are engaged in solving problems and making things possible that they couldn’t have dreamed of, being an unintended side effect. 
commercial passenger air service being another example. Or private car ownership. The list of advances is too long to recite.

England jumpstarted the industrial revolution. That’s nothing to turn your nose up at. 
English common law. On balance, a pretty good idea!

 

Ford has announced that it will cut the production of the F150 Lightning in half For the 2024 MY.

judging from the numbers of unsold units I have seen on the lots, that number might be cut down a bit more!

22 minutes ago, Scottman said:

Ford has announced that it will cut the production of the F150 Lightning in half For the 2024 MY.

Is that an EV version?

Yes the Lightning is battery electric 

1 minute ago, Scottman said:

Yes the Lightning is battery electric 

Now, I've always thought battery cars were simply stupidly flawed for use in the UK and we're pretty small, but I can't think what USA thinks being 3000 miles coast to coast. In the 70s, I did a road trip from Detroit to LA, and back again. Trying that in an EV would simply blow my mind with the potential logistics. I couldn't count the number of gas stations I used on that trip, to actually wait and charge an EV would mean the journey not being made.

I'm relying on you guys to start a revolution back to proper motoring 😂

 

4 hours ago, Scottman said:

Ford has announced that it will cut the production of the F150 Lightning in half For the 2024 MY.

judging from the numbers of unsold units I have seen on the lots, that number might be cut down a bit more!

I'm really interested to see what will happen here when that ZEV Mandate kicks in just 3 weeks from now.

https://www.am-online.com/news/market-insight/2023/12/12/dealers-concerned-zev-mandate-won-t-boost-ev-demand-in-2024#:~:text=The ZEV mandate will require more than a,Government £15%2C000 for every car that doesn't comply.

How are they going to meet that?

There's the option of buying credits from the likes of Tesla, but that can only go so far.

Why would I as a customer want to buy one next year, if I didn't want one this?

I've seen talk of substantial incentives (or discounts as we used to call them) but that will hit residuals and pi** off people who bought one already.

 

This highlights the problem some brands (including Ford) have in meeting the target:

https://fleetworld.co.uk/comment-uk-zev-mandate-could-lead-to-fines-worth-2-4bn-in-2024/

I believe that the government’s will attempt to implement the wider adoption of BEV by using printed money and a tax credit scheme to move otherwise unwanted vehicles onto the road. 
That can be done in a variety of ways including incentives to use them as rental or taxi. Which is already happening in America.

The government’s are “all in” on electric vehicles. They will contort logic. Invert the truth and mangle common sense to get this done. They don’t have any issues with the lack of infrastructure to charge the EV fleet. Why would they care about that? That’s our problem! It actually fits the suspicion that many people have that the government’s preference is for the people to have NO vehicle’s, limited mobility and minimal ability to range any significant distance from their homes and work.

that does help explain the lack of infrastructure upgrades! No need to upgrade what you are not going to allow in the near future.

The lack of public demand for the EV is just a little bump in the road on the way to getting the citizens into the fully “state managed and limited” mobility devices. You will be able to go where and when you want, as long as it is approved by the government. Or not, if they decide you shouldn’t.

32 minutes ago, Scottman said:

You will be able to go where and when you want, as long as it is approved by the government.

I must confess to never being a fan of 'conspiracy theories', they involve far too many people and rely on precision coordination, and sworn secrecy - something most people are too dumb to participate in! However, increasingly on EVs I am being converted as to why such a stupid mandate is being so closely held to when it's so blatantly obvious it's an epic fail...

This has been in the planning stages for over twenty five years, Stephen. 
All one needs to do is look at the level of coordination that has been done. 
There is very little difference between the plans for the Continent and the United States. 

I strongly suspect that the “big plan” is the primary reason why Brexit has been slow walked. The EU has no intention of letting the British people have any significant influence in how they are governed. I haven’t seen even one piece outlining the economic development plans of the United Kingdom. It’s all just silence and dithering.

8 minutes ago, Scottman said:

... It’s all just silence and dithering.

There's a reason for that - have you seen our PMs since Brexit? 🤣

Yes. But, I didn’t feel that is was my place to say it out loud. My Paternal Grandfather was a Brit. I was raised with a strong affection for Britain and many thing’s British.

What is occurring here is bad. Whatching the events in the UK unfold is not unlike watching the death of a relative.

Why don't people actually want to drive anymore? Any 'auto' system is abhorrent to me. When an 'auto' car kills someone, and it will, it'll be interesting to hear the legal arguments, on, "well, it wasn't me, the car did it..."

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-12-13/tesla-recalls-2-million-vehicles-system-monitors-autopilot

 

About Donald

He and his businesses have been plaintiff or defendant in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six business bankruptcies.

This guy could once again be the most powerful man on earth. 🤦‍♂️ 

He’s half Scottish, the MacLeods on the Hebrides disowned him years ago. Though money can buy most things in life. Personally I’d have voted for Bernie Sanders. 

Spotted on my newsfeed today Ford and Volkswagen are making an EV called the Capri. allegedly Ford lovers are up in arms.

25 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

Spotted on my newsfeed today Ford and Volkswagen are making an EV called the Capri. allegedly Ford lovers are up in arms.

I posted about that a couple of weeks ago but I think the post was deleted! 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/ford-capri

 

1 hour ago, Jimpster said:

Spotted on my newsfeed today Ford and Volkswagen are making an EV called the Capri. allegedly Ford lovers are up in arms.

It's an id4 underneath I'm told. VW are getting quite involved with ford now. The new transit custom is bottom half ford and top half VW essentially. Looks like it anyway. Also the transit tourneo connect is a VW with a ford badge on.