Tag Archives: Tesla

Missouri Jumps in on the Tesla Anti-Capitalism Ban

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Tesla Banning MissouriI’m ashamed to say my own home state of Missouri has just jumped onto the anti-capitalism bandwagon and in the sleaziest, most deceitful, crony-capitalistic way imaginable.

I’ve written a couple of blog posts about how state legislators are protecting those that pay for their campaigns by passing laws to prevent Tesla from selling automobiles directly to consumers. First it was Texas and then it was New Jersey. When it comes to sneaky and underhanded my beloved Missouri has them both beat.

Let me reiterate quickly for those who don’t want to read the other blogs.

Tesla Motors wants to sell cars directly to consumers. Most states have what is called a Franchise Law where automobile dealerships purchase cars from the manufacturer and then sell them to consumers. This adds a “middle-man” to the process. The middle-man, in this case the franchisers, make a lot of money mostly on service and financing for the cars but also on the sale itself.

In New Jersey, Texas, and other states the legislature is trying to pass a law making it illegal for the manufacturer of a car to sell it directly to the people. In Missouri they’ve simply changed a couple of lines of existing law and inserted the alterations into an existing bill that has nothing to do with the issue. Disgusting.

The major proponent of the change in wording is Republican Mike Kehoe of Jefferson City who has been agitating against Tesla’s business model since it was first announced. He is a former car dealer. Kehoe, like most so-called Conservative Republicans, is nothing more than a greedy lap-dog slurping up the money the auto-industry here in Missouri gives him. Not that Democrats are any better but Republicans claim to be all about capitalism. They aren’t, it’s Crony Capitalism at its finest.

Those who promote this ban talk about a fair playing field and what’s best for the consumer but they are simply the bought and paid for slaves of industry. They don’t want what is best for you; they want what is best for those who pay for their campaigns.

To give you an example of how deeply entrenched is our Plutocracy and Crony-Capitalism take a guess as to how much money State Senator Mike Kehoe raised to finance his campaign in 2010. This is not a Senator of the United States. This is a State Senator running a campaign in Jefferson City with its population of about 43,000 people.

Have you guessed yet?

Did you guess over half a million dollars? That’s right. For one State Senator from a middle to small-sized state like Missouri. You wonder why politicians kneel to the money? Money is completely entrenched and politicians are totally enslaved by it. Freedom, bah.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Broken Throne
Next Release: The Black Sphere

 

 

Tesla Banning – It’s all about Service

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tesla-store-new-jersey-banNew Jersey became the third state to ban sales of Tesla cars because they refuse to be part of the franchise system. Texas and Arizona have already instituted the ban based on the idea that in those states you are required to be a franchise in order to sell cars.

I wrote about this issue back in August and spoke about how this new model of selling cars hurts those who pay franchising fees and those who collect those fees. In short, politicians in many states have set up a system wherein anyone who wants to sell cars must pay a bribe to the state in order to have a license. Those who cannot afford the bribe or do not want to pay are not allowed to sell product to consumers.

There’s another aspect to the story. Car dealers make most of their money through service calls and financing, not sales. When people take their car to the dealer for routine maintenance and repair they pay a premium for such service. 

If the Tesla method of selling cars catches on; this lucrative form of revenue decreases dramatically. The loan portion of the industry is also severely damaged.

What upsets me most about all the caterwauling from the auto industry and franchise owners in various states is their insistence that they are banning Tesla sales to save the consumers. This is the sort of “it’s for you own good” Liberalism that drives Libertarians like me to drink.

What it really is, is another example of Crony Capitalism where those with money run to legislators and beg to be saved from a new competitor.

It could be that the franchise system is better for consumers. I doubt it, but it could be true. One thing that I know for certain is that it’s not the government’s business to decide what’s the best sales model for a car manufacturer.

We here in the United States don’t have the best cars, the best internet speeds, or the best technology because Crony Capitalism is destroying real capitalism. Are you happy with your internet provider? Your television provider? How many choices do you have? Choices are good for consumers and, in the long run, good for businesses.

In a capitalistic system a business must provide a good product at a price people want if they want to survive an assault from a vigorous new competitor.

In the United States the owner of a business simply heads to the statehouse and bribes the politicians into passing laws to destroy their competitors.

I have a word of warning for all the franchise owners who are trying to legislate Tesla out of business.

Elon Musk has a lot of money and bribery goes both ways. Maybe you should think about changing your business model. 

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Spear of the Hunt
Next Release: The Broken Throne

Tesla Banning – It's all about Service

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tesla-store-new-jersey-banNew Jersey became the third state to ban sales of Tesla cars because they refuse to be part of the franchise system. Texas and Arizona have already instituted the ban based on the idea that in those states you are required to be a franchise in order to sell cars.

I wrote about this issue back in August and spoke about how this new model of selling cars hurts those who pay franchising fees and those who collect those fees. In short, politicians in many states have set up a system wherein anyone who wants to sell cars must pay a bribe to the state in order to have a license. Those who cannot afford the bribe or do not want to pay are not allowed to sell product to consumers.

There’s another aspect to the story. Car dealers make most of their money through service calls and financing, not sales. When people take their car to the dealer for routine maintenance and repair they pay a premium for such service. 

If the Tesla method of selling cars catches on; this lucrative form of revenue decreases dramatically. The loan portion of the industry is also severely damaged.

What upsets me most about all the caterwauling from the auto industry and franchise owners in various states is their insistence that they are banning Tesla sales to save the consumers. This is the sort of “it’s for you own good” Liberalism that drives Libertarians like me to drink.

What it really is, is another example of Crony Capitalism where those with money run to legislators and beg to be saved from a new competitor.

It could be that the franchise system is better for consumers. I doubt it, but it could be true. One thing that I know for certain is that it’s not the government’s business to decide what’s the best sales model for a car manufacturer.

We here in the United States don’t have the best cars, the best internet speeds, or the best technology because Crony Capitalism is destroying real capitalism. Are you happy with your internet provider? Your television provider? How many choices do you have? Choices are good for consumers and, in the long run, good for businesses.

In a capitalistic system a business must provide a good product at a price people want if they want to survive an assault from a vigorous new competitor.

In the United States the owner of a business simply heads to the statehouse and bribes the politicians into passing laws to destroy their competitors.

I have a word of warning for all the franchise owners who are trying to legislate Tesla out of business.

Elon Musk has a lot of money and bribery goes both ways. Maybe you should think about changing your business model. 

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Spear of the Hunt
Next Release: The Broken Throne

Despicable banks, Greedy Business, Palin, and Tesla Crash

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I’ve been working on my next novel quite a bit and haven’t done a Stupid or Misleading Headline in over a week so I thought I’d just do a quick perusal of the hot news stories to see if I could find anything worthy.

Yep.

Here’s a group of four to excite your fancy if you’re a Republican, Democrat, conspiracy theorist, or just about anything else.

I’m not going to get into a deep analysis of any of the four but they are all special in their own way.

Despicable Bank Bank of America is up to shenanigans with the way they process debit statements. It is a pretty obvious and ethically questionable move to try to get more defaults but hardly the most despicable thing of all time.
Greedy Businesses First off, the economy doesn’t suck. It’s not humming along at an early to mid 90’s rate but all economic indicators show mild growth and decreasing unemployment. Secondly the country is changing. Enterprise business is now dominant where once small businesses had the greatest influence. Greed plays a role but it’s hardly the only factor in the game.
Sarah Palin I suppose it is news when my fellow University of Idaho alumnus says something that turns out to be prophetic instead of nonsense. Still, does this make her a foreign policy expert? Hardly.
Tesla Crash Elon Musk is a bit of a P. T. Barnum type and his wild claims get on my nerves but just because he makes outlandish statements doesn’t mean his entire business is going to come crashing down.

Anyway, that’s it. A quick recap of headlines designed to seduce you into making that all important click. Don’t do it!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Spear of the Hunt
Next Release: The Broken Throne

Tesla Banned – Attack on the Free Market from … Texas

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TeslaThe state of Texas has a law that allows only franchised dealers to sell automobiles. The idea is that only an authorized franchise store of Ford, or Chevy, or Toyota is allowed to sell cars.

The Texas Automobile Dealers Association convinced the legislature to ban the sale of Tesla cars because the company sells directly to buyers instead of through a licensed franchise.

I’ll let TADA president Bill Wolters explain why in his own words. If Tesla were allowed to sell cars without a franchise, “… it allows every other manufacturer to come in and do what Tesla is going to — compete with our family owned businesses.”

He goes on to say this would hurt consumers because franchise dealers compete with each other to keep prices down and they serve customers in rural communities.

So, competition is good, just not competition from anyone who isn’t from Texas? Anyone who doesn’t want to pay franchise fees? Someone who simply want to sell their product to people who want to buy their product? How dare they? Do they think they’re capitalists or something?

I’ve got news for consumers. Competition is good for everyone. This law is protectionism at the expense of consumers.

The success of Texas in banning sales of Tesla’s is spreading. Other auto dealers are gearing up the legislatures in their states to do the same thing.

I’m no giant fan of the Tesla. It’s got some issue but if the people in Texas want to buy the thing, the government should not stand in their way. Government has specific and useful functions and one of them is not pandering towards one business over another. If the Tesla is to fail, then let it fail on its own shortcomings.

I write post after post after post about this subject. How business owners bribe legislatures into passing laws to destroy competition.

What really angers me about this particular brand of crony capitalism is the nasty liberal slant. We’re doing it to help the consumers. That’s the song and dance of the liberals. Trust us, if this nasty businessman gets his way you’ll end up being the one hurt. I’m used to such nonsense from liberals but I suppose I should have grown accustomed to hearing it from republicans by now. They don’t believe in free enterprise and capitalism any more than a liberal democrat, if they ever did.

The government has a role in our nation. If the Tesla was poorly designed and exploded on contact, then the government has some duty to protect its citizens. Even then I don’t think they should be able to ban the sale completely. They can offer consumer guidelines and warning. That’s not the case here. The Tesla is apparently a very safe car although perhaps not as safe as their marketing department would like you to believe.

Texas politicians are looking at legislation that would make a narrow exception for the Tesla but the entire law is clearly designed to stifle competition in favor of local dealers.

I’ll leave it to you to figure out why the politicians decided to pass laws favoring locals.

I’ve got nothing against local businesses. It’s great when they succeed but when government gives them an unfair advantage it hurts consumers.

If Tesla sells a lot of cars then it forces those local Texas dealers to compete. Some of them might lose the competition and go out of business. Those that survive will be the  best dealers in the state. That’s the nature of the free market. Companies that provide a good product at a price point people want, survive.

Propping up a business that can’t compete or passing legislation that favors one company over another is Crony Capitalism. It’s rampant. Democrat? Republican? What’s the difference?

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Sword of Water ($2.99 for a 300+ page eBook)
Next Release: The Spear of the Hunt