OT: What San Diego wants from the stimulus package

[Coronita]

Interesting what got cut from the stimulas bill.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/07/stimulus.cuts/index.html

Notice one thing that got cut partially. Spending on Smithsonian. Originally bill for $150million, now only $75 million.

Only 75 million???? On the Smithsonian???? WTF???? And how is this gonna help the economy???

$300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million). Again, WTF???? I guess this is for ford and gm… But again, wtf??? $300 million for new cars???

And this one’s my favorite.
“The bill retained items that also probably won’t do much for the economy, such as spending $1 billion to fix problems with the 2010 Census.”
WTF?????

That my friend is your hard paid tax dollars being well spent…

It’s ironic that this stimulas will be similar to how several americans spend and are now up the creek.

They will spend a few hundred million here a few hundred million there are absolute crap. And in the very end when the money runs out, they’ll wonder where did all the money go and what was it used for….No different that some americans that spend stuff on crap from walmart, and then months later ask what the hell happened to their savings and what benefit they got from all that junk.

Change…

[afx114]

[quote=flu]$300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million). Again, WTF???? I guess this is for ford and gm… But again, wtf??? $300 million for new cars???[/quote]

Flu, I mostly agree with your post, but I have an issue with your demonization of upgrading the federal fleet. I posted this in another thread, but I’m curious how modernizing the federal fleet of vehicles is not good for the long term stability of our country? Lets say we replace every federal vehicle with one that gets 10MPG more. How much fuel will that save the country? How much will it save over 5-10 years? How much will it save when gas is $4, $6, or $10 per gallon? Our fleet is pretty big. How much do you think we pay fueling those vehicles over 1 year? Over 5-10 years? Less or more than $300 million?

Additional side effects are less greenhouse gasses, and the saving and/or creating of jobs on the manufacturing side in order to fulfill such a large order.

If you were advising a large New York taxi company that owns thousands of 15-year old fuel in-efficient taxis, would you advise them that it’s not in their best interests to modernize their fleet with more fuel efficient cars? Seems to me that in today’s environment, that’s one of the best pieces of advice you could give that company.

Flu, can you explain why upgrading the national fleet 1) is not stimulative, 2) doesn’t help lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and 3) is not beneficial to the long term stability of the nation?

[afx114]

[quote=flu]$300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million). Again, WTF???? I guess this is for ford and gm… But again, wtf??? $300 million for new cars???[/quote]

Flu, I mostly agree with your post, but I have an issue with your demonization of upgrading the federal fleet. I posted this in another thread, but I’m curious how modernizing the federal fleet of vehicles is not good for the long term stability of our country? Lets say we replace every federal vehicle with one that gets 10MPG more. How much fuel will that save the country? How much will it save over 5-10 years? How much will it save when gas is $4, $6, or $10 per gallon? Our fleet is pretty big. How much do you think we pay fueling those vehicles over 1 year? Over 5-10 years? Less or more than $300 million?

Additional side effects are less greenhouse gasses, and the saving and/or creating of jobs on the manufacturing side in order to fulfill such a large order.

If you were advising a large New York taxi company that owns thousands of 15-year old fuel in-efficient taxis, would you advise them that it’s not in their best interests to modernize their fleet with more fuel efficient cars? Seems to me that in today’s environment, that’s one of the best pieces of advice you could give that company.

Flu, can you explain why upgrading the national fleet 1) is not stimulative, 2) doesn’t help lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and 3) is not beneficial to the long term stability of the nation?

[afx114]

[quote=flu]$300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million). Again, WTF???? I guess this is for ford and gm… But again, wtf??? $300 million for new cars???[/quote]

Flu, I mostly agree with your post, but I have an issue with your demonization of upgrading the federal fleet. I posted this in another thread, but I’m curious how modernizing the federal fleet of vehicles is not good for the long term stability of our country? Lets say we replace every federal vehicle with one that gets 10MPG more. How much fuel will that save the country? How much will it save over 5-10 years? How much will it save when gas is $4, $6, or $10 per gallon? Our fleet is pretty big. How much do you think we pay fueling those vehicles over 1 year? Over 5-10 years? Less or more than $300 million?

Additional side effects are less greenhouse gasses, and the saving and/or creating of jobs on the manufacturing side in order to fulfill such a large order.

If you were advising a large New York taxi company that owns thousands of 15-year old fuel in-efficient taxis, would you advise them that it’s not in their best interests to modernize their fleet with more fuel efficient cars? Seems to me that in today’s environment, that’s one of the best pieces of advice you could give that company.

Flu, can you explain why upgrading the national fleet 1) is not stimulative, 2) doesn’t help lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and 3) is not beneficial to the long term stability of the nation?

[afx114]

[quote=flu]$300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million). Again, WTF???? I guess this is for ford and gm… But again, wtf??? $300 million for new cars???[/quote]

Flu, I mostly agree with your post, but I have an issue with your demonization of upgrading the federal fleet. I posted this in another thread, but I’m curious how modernizing the federal fleet of vehicles is not good for the long term stability of our country? Lets say we replace every federal vehicle with one that gets 10MPG more. How much fuel will that save the country? How much will it save over 5-10 years? How much will it save when gas is $4, $6, or $10 per gallon? Our fleet is pretty big. How much do you think we pay fueling those vehicles over 1 year? Over 5-10 years? Less or more than $300 million?

Additional side effects are less greenhouse gasses, and the saving and/or creating of jobs on the manufacturing side in order to fulfill such a large order.

If you were advising a large New York taxi company that owns thousands of 15-year old fuel in-efficient taxis, would you advise them that it’s not in their best interests to modernize their fleet with more fuel efficient cars? Seems to me that in today’s environment, that’s one of the best pieces of advice you could give that company.

Flu, can you explain why upgrading the national fleet 1) is not stimulative, 2) doesn’t help lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and 3) is not beneficial to the long term stability of the nation?

[afx114]

[quote=flu]$300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million). Again, WTF???? I guess this is for ford and gm… But again, wtf??? $300 million for new cars???[/quote]

Flu, I mostly agree with your post, but I have an issue with your demonization of upgrading the federal fleet. I posted this in another thread, but I’m curious how modernizing the federal fleet of vehicles is not good for the long term stability of our country? Lets say we replace every federal vehicle with one that gets 10MPG more. How much fuel will that save the country? How much will it save over 5-10 years? How much will it save when gas is $4, $6, or $10 per gallon? Our fleet is pretty big. How much do you think we pay fueling those vehicles over 1 year? Over 5-10 years? Less or more than $300 million?

Additional side effects are less greenhouse gasses, and the saving and/or creating of jobs on the manufacturing side in order to fulfill such a large order.

If you were advising a large New York taxi company that owns thousands of 15-year old fuel in-efficient taxis, would you advise them that it’s not in their best interests to modernize their fleet with more fuel efficient cars? Seems to me that in today’s environment, that’s one of the best pieces of advice you could give that company.

Flu, can you explain why upgrading the national fleet 1) is not stimulative, 2) doesn’t help lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and 3) is not beneficial to the long term stability of the nation?

[an]

afx114, I can’t speak for flu, but modernizing the fleet is NOT the same as replacing the fleet with hybrid vehicles. The cost different between hybrid vehicles vs comparable I4 models are huge and would take at least 5 years with $4/gal gas to break even when driven at an average of 15k miles a years. If the miles are mostly highway, then it would take much much longer to recoup the difference since the highway mileage is negligible between I4 models and hybrid models. Also, we haven’t even consider the extra cost of maintenance and how long those batteries last before it need to be replaced.

[an]

afx114, I can’t speak for flu, but modernizing the fleet is NOT the same as replacing the fleet with hybrid vehicles. The cost different between hybrid vehicles vs comparable I4 models are huge and would take at least 5 years with $4/gal gas to break even when driven at an average of 15k miles a years. If the miles are mostly highway, then it would take much much longer to recoup the difference since the highway mileage is negligible between I4 models and hybrid models. Also, we haven’t even consider the extra cost of maintenance and how long those batteries last before it need to be replaced.

[an]

afx114, I can’t speak for flu, but modernizing the fleet is NOT the same as replacing the fleet with hybrid vehicles. The cost different between hybrid vehicles vs comparable I4 models are huge and would take at least 5 years with $4/gal gas to break even when driven at an average of 15k miles a years. If the miles are mostly highway, then it would take much much longer to recoup the difference since the highway mileage is negligible between I4 models and hybrid models. Also, we haven’t even consider the extra cost of maintenance and how long those batteries last before it need to be replaced.

[an]

afx114, I can’t speak for flu, but modernizing the fleet is NOT the same as replacing the fleet with hybrid vehicles. The cost different between hybrid vehicles vs comparable I4 models are huge and would take at least 5 years with $4/gal gas to break even when driven at an average of 15k miles a years. If the miles are mostly highway, then it would take much much longer to recoup the difference since the highway mileage is negligible between I4 models and hybrid models. Also, we haven’t even consider the extra cost of maintenance and how long those batteries last before it need to be replaced.

[an]

afx114, I can’t speak for flu, but modernizing the fleet is NOT the same as replacing the fleet with hybrid vehicles. The cost different between hybrid vehicles vs comparable I4 models are huge and would take at least 5 years with $4/gal gas to break even when driven at an average of 15k miles a years. If the miles are mostly highway, then it would take much much longer to recoup the difference since the highway mileage is negligible between I4 models and hybrid models. Also, we haven’t even consider the extra cost of maintenance and how long those batteries last before it need to be replaced.

[afx114]

@AN: That makes sense. But shouldn’t we also be taking the economies of scale into account here? What private company would even come close to an order the size of the federal government’s? Could $300 million be enough to kick-start the fall of prices for hybrids? Or is $300 mil not enough? What if the order was for the originally proposed $600 mil? Would that drive down prices for the rest of us?

I am not an economist, just trying to figure all of this out while sipping tea in my armchair.

[afx114]

@AN: That makes sense. But shouldn’t we also be taking the economies of scale into account here? What private company would even come close to an order the size of the federal government’s? Could $300 million be enough to kick-start the fall of prices for hybrids? Or is $300 mil not enough? What if the order was for the originally proposed $600 mil? Would that drive down prices for the rest of us?

I am not an economist, just trying to figure all of this out while sipping tea in my armchair.

[afx114]

@AN: That makes sense. But shouldn’t we also be taking the economies of scale into account here? What private company would even come close to an order the size of the federal government’s? Could $300 million be enough to kick-start the fall of prices for hybrids? Or is $300 mil not enough? What if the order was for the originally proposed $600 mil? Would that drive down prices for the rest of us?

I am not an economist, just trying to figure all of this out while sipping tea in my armchair.

[afx114]

@AN: That makes sense. But shouldn’t we also be taking the economies of scale into account here? What private company would even come close to an order the size of the federal government’s? Could $300 million be enough to kick-start the fall of prices for hybrids? Or is $300 mil not enough? What if the order was for the originally proposed $600 mil? Would that drive down prices for the rest of us?

I am not an economist, just trying to figure all of this out while sipping tea in my armchair.

[Author]

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