Raise the price of gas at least $1 per gallon...
Yup, that will work well.
Force me to buy some fuel efficient econobox? Just how the @#$%^& am I supposed to fit 5 cubic yards of mulch in the back of a chevy cruze? Can I strap a bundle of 1/2" rebar on the roof (for those who don't know, a bundle of 1/2" rebar is 20' lengths and weighs just over 2,000 lbs)? What about hauling my lawn care equipment around? Or moving my skid steer loader?
Yup, just as I suspected.... an econobox doesn't cut it, I have to stick with my "gas hog" trucks.
Whats that? Just add a fuel surcharge or stop being so greedy?
Yea, that doesn't work. Fuel surcharges have driven up the cost of a lot of goods such as food and clothing which people more or less need. But paychecks haven't gone up a bit and people are fighting over fewer jobs. So when I go bid a job and want to charge more than last year to cover MY expenses, nobody wants to hear it, they want me to work cheaper. Because somehow by being a contractor I'm "gouging" people. A lot of people want to know my hourly rate or pay me by the hour now. If I give them a number high enough to cover my expenses, they think I'm trying to rip them off. And if I try to just give an overall job cost, they want an hourly figure.....
I tell them that if they are not a licensed contractor with business insurance, they have no business asking me for an hourly rate.
We need to stand up to these idiots running the country and tell them that enough is enough. Something has to change and increasing the taxes or debt ceiling is NOT the answer.
GM should have gone bankrupt. Then they could have tossed out the old union contracts and renegotiated. Or has everyone forgotten about the thousands of union workers that instead of losing their jobs when they were replaced by equipment now report daily to a GM warehouse where they spend the day finding ways to amuse themselves WHILE GETTING PAID! They don't do a thing to build new cars. Just have fun, punch a time clock, and get paid. With benefits and vacation and all.
Even if I could afford a new car, I wouldn't want to buy one. There is nothing currently being produced in the USA here that I would like to buy. I'll stick to my older stuff, thank you very much. The stuff that you don't need a mechanical engineering degree and $9,000,000 worth of special equipment just to tell you that the car is broken and it's time to buy a new one because the specialized widget that MIGHT be bad is not available anywhere. I'll take my old iron that I can practically rebuild from the ground up for $5,000 and a decent ratchet set.
/rant (for now)