VW Scandal

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A bit off subject but a bit of fun poked at greed by one of my favourite comedian

Enjoy

[El Presidente]

Life is hard enough when corporatists are offering individuals in government incentives to sway policy. But when government is offering incentives to corporations to change society, to consolidate power and to gain further control over the governed, free society is all but lost.

Ray it is called "nudge theory" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_theory

There is a good book on the subject which I read and was duly horrified.

Mind you I can see some benefits to the changing of some of society's worst bents (youth vioilence on a Friday night out/ domestic violence etc). But it is a whole lot more than that.

[PigFish]

I am well familiar with it!

Do you know the father of this wonderful idea? None other than Cass Sunstein... Don't know who Cass Sunstein is? Well, he is generally accepted as a Red by many (conservatives) who know of him...

Want to know more? He is the husband of our own ambassador to the UN, and that would be Samantha Power, whom he met while working on the Obama campaign...

Want to know more? This SOB used to be a cabinet member, holding the seat of Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. How convenient...

In other words he was the nations top propagandist and subversive... and worked in the White House, not in some back alley, against it.

Alarmed for your Yank friends yet mate....?

You see if you want to tear down the country, like former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, you have moved from planting bombs to grading tests and forming campaign strategies... like Cass here! You moved from protesting "the Man" to being "the Man," in one short generation!

This mate is why many of your Yank members and friends want to hold onto that "insert nasty topic here" and not surrender their power to defend their freedom...

-Ray

[Orion21]

I agree fully with your perspective regarding the government. That is a separate and frightening issue. The issue I take with Volkswagen lying to their customers.

Volkswagen did get backed into a corner. I just don't agree with them being victims regarding the way they tried to get out of it.

I love Volkswagen cars. I am saddened that some executives cheated in order to compete and tarnished the brand without regard for their customers. Only the bottom line. If the engine could not legally provide all of the power and mpg they promised, then they should not have promised it.

Duly noted and I agree to a point. The larger picture I see is an industry that is being undercut by governmental special interests. THe largest Economy in the world subsidies alternative energy (insert product/industry) to the tune of billions of dollars per year. At the same time they give up no opportunity to make it harder for traditional energy (insert product/industry) to continue to make a profit. Look at the government mandated mpg ratings increasing time after time and the EPA continually creating more and more stringent emissions guidelines. My point? It is that a $50B company cheated to stay in business because the government has created subsidized competition to put them OUT of business. Our EPA and President don't care if VW creates a near 0 emission diesel engine. In an ideal world every car company would only be able to sell electric vehicles that produce no pollution that is contributing to the changing climate, which is going to end the world as we know it. This is not about higher mpg or cleaner cars, it's about creating a new world that looks drastically different than the one we have today. It's a Utopian view of completely green energy driven infrastructure, cars and creating a new economy.

Yes, VW created software to trick the system put in place to make their products less and less desirable to buy. VW cheated to sell 11 million vehicles people might not have bought because of driving dynamics due to overly restrictive emissions settings. Do the math, if 50% of those cars weren't sold because of the correct software settings that is $137,500,000,000 in gross revenue that company would not have earned. In text that is one hundred and thirty seven billion and five hundred million dollars revenue at $25,000 per car. Vw made a decision to make the theorized 137 billion in revenue vs support their own demise. The EPA says they may be fine up to 18 billion for their cheating, so from VW's view they still made 119 billion they wouldn't have otherwise. Get the picture? Do you actually think VW just made this decision without thinking?