The financial impact of COVID-19 is going to be devastating.

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ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
Hey... I hope that you're right! I bought into TSLA at 355 (no seriously, I wasn't kidding when I said that I was looking for a cheap entry point), so I need you to keep being my pitch man, Ponyo!

Farmers tend to be pretty conservative when it comes to big ticket purchases, so I'll imagine that they'll wait a year or two to see how the Cybertruck holds up to abuse. They'll probably sit back and let the urban cowboy wannabe hipsters in places like Memphis and Austin beta test the product for them :)
Cybertruck massive order backlog will pretty much guarantee people who haven't already ordered will have to wait 1 or 2 years after its released. I'm one of the beta tester. My Cybertruck Tri-Motor AWD order number is 40,xxx. Hopefully I'll get mine the first year.

Nice timing on $355.
 

Svnla

Lifer
Nov 10, 2003
17,999
1,396
126
You actually know several people that have owned the same car for 20 years?

I know a lot of people and not one has had a car that long. Which one of us is weird? :p

Yup. At least three of them right now. Not because they couldn't buy another one but "why fix it when it ain't broke". A few have even older vehicles but I think they are gear heads and just want to mess/play around with old vehicles for fun.
 

dasherHampton

Platinum Member
Jan 19, 2018
2,543
488
96
People REALLY think a person who depends on their truck is going to feel comfortable with a vehicle they can never service themselves? Or get serviced by their local, trusted mechanic?

I owned a Chevy Volt for a while and the damed thing failed on me. Everything would turn on but the car wouldn't move when you pressed on the accelerator. It took at least THREE MONTHS and four service visits (four tows) for Chevy to fix the issue.

Chevy kept on giving me the car back still broken. I eventually had it towed about 100 miles to a different device department. The module that was replaced was listed at $2700 on the invoice but the guy who serviced it said that it's a $5000 part.

Now, to be fair to Chevy, it was all done for free and they gave me loaners throughout the ordeal and a new plug to boot. But what a pain in the ass.
 

highland145

Lifer
Oct 12, 2009
43,243
5,686
136
People REALLY think a person who depends on their truck is going to feel comfortable with a vehicle they can never service themselves? Or get serviced by their local, trusted mechanic?

I owned a Chevy Volt for a while and the damed thing failed on me. Everything would turn on but the car wouldn't move when you pressed on the accelerator. It took at least THREE MONTHS and four service visits (four tows) for Chevy to fix the issue.

Chevy kept on giving me the car back still broken. I eventually had it towed about 100 miles to a different device department. The module that was replaced was listed at $2700 on the invoice but the guy who serviced it said that it's a $5000 part.

Now, to be fair to Chevy, it was all done for free and they gave me loaners throughout the ordeal and a new plug to boot. But what a pain in the ass.
There's a joke there somewhere.... ;)

$2700...what an ass raping. That's like 2 iphone Xs.

Sheesh.


 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
58,055
12,245
136
Took a look at 2012+ cars for $6000 or less within 100 miles of me.

80% of them were Dodge Journey or Dodge Avengers- with 150-180K miles on them. Absolute crap moneypit cars.
A few Ford Focuses with 130-180K miles on them- transmissions on these models were ticking time bombs
And several Fiat 500's- the consistently worst rated car on every list since their introduction

There was 1 base model 2012 Chevy Malibu with 160K miles (it had roll up windows!), and interesting diesel Chevy Cruze with 262K miles, and some Kias.

Cheap cars at the end of their life means you're most likely going to get 2-3 years out of it while investing a lot in repairs and worrying about reliability every time you drive it. What's the difference between paying $6000 every 3 years or $18 for something you keep 8-10 years?
Are you looking at dealership cars or something?
At any rate, I live in a world where people need to get by on cheap cars, and have a lot of experience with it, and you keep painting a false, dire picture where a $6,000 car only lasts 2-3 years. The difference is vast to people scraping by on minimum wage and paying off student loans, which encompasses a lot of people.
 

mrblotto

Golden Member
Jul 7, 2007
1,647
117
106
Tips to get through this-

If you have a mortgage: nearly all banks are offering a 90 day no questions asked furlough on your payment. It won't affect your credit history and they simply move 3 months to the rear of your loan. No proof is needed- just call, say you're affected by the COVID issue, and poof. You're done. They may send some paperwork asking for income levels, but that's just a formality.

Hope some of these tips help. We're taking care of our daughter who just started a skincare business. She was open 3 weeks and had to shut down. We're paying her car payment, office rent, and insurance until she gets back to work. The stopped mortgage payment really helps there.

Thank you SO much for this info Fritzo! While I am still employed, there's rumblings of massive layoffs coming soon. I'd sooner take the mortgage payment and save it for later if needed.

Thx again (and for your fantastic Fried Chicken recipe too)

EDIT - well this is disconcerting. From the BBT website. I filled out most of the form and was required to read the agreement before the 'accept' button would even be mashable. Glad it's set up that way!

"....Forbearance is like a pause button. It lets you suspend your monthly mortgage payments for a specific amount of time without incurring any late fees—and without being reported as delinquent to the credit bureaus. There’s also no paperwork expected of you in using this program for requests related to COVID-19. After the forbearance period, you’re expected to pay all suspended payments as a lump sum with your current month’s payment. From then on, you’d continue to pay your normal monthly payment......"

That tells me after 3 months of no mortage payments (like April, May, and June), I would be required to pay ALL 3 months PLUS the next month (July) when due. So, like $4000 :/
I dont think that really helps me :(

Y'all think the above means that as well?
 
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ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
That's only like the last 2 minutes of the interview. You need to watch and listen to the whole interview because it's epic. Chamath told the absolute truth what's going on right now and how badly the Main Street is getting screwed again while the rich are getting massive unbelievable bailout. US Treasury should be depositing like $20,000 to each US resident banking account and guaranteeing anyone infected to get 100% free medical treatment instead of this stupid BS of bailing out the zombie companies and hedge funds who were reckless and leveraged to the tilt. Let them fail. You give the bulk of the bailout money to average Americans and protect them. Let the average Joe pay their bills and spend the economy back to health. Not this let's give the working class $1,200 bullshit and give 95% of the $4-5 trillion to the rich through bailouts. Giving all the money to rich doesn't solve shit except delaying the inevitable and and burdening the working class and the future generations with massive tax bill and interest they won't be able to pay. It's absolutely sickening what's going on and how much the elites are once again privatizing profits while socializing the losses.

 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
12,028
126
www.anyf.ca
What is the environmental impact of mining rare earth minerals to build these batteries?

That's a shitty argument I hear all the time.

What is the environmental impact of mining for oil, which needs to be mined continuously for the life of the vehicle? AND it puts pollution into the air for the life of the vehicle as you need to keep burning more. The batteries only need to be mined once for a specific vehicle and the vehicle won't pollute for it's life time. Only manufacturing and disposal have impacts, which hopefully they can work on reducing, but so does every other product out there.
 

WhoBeDaPlaya

Diamond Member
Sep 15, 2000
7,414
401
126
Because he grew up on welfare in Canada and knows of the struggles of the working men. He's self-made billionaire and I've much respect for Chamath.
Yup, exactly! Calls out BS as he sees it, and doesn't mince his words.
Also this...

g8q596vtwzr41.jpg
 
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kt

Diamond Member
Apr 1, 2000
6,015
1,321
136
That's a shitty argument I hear all the time.

What is the environmental impact of mining for oil, which needs to be mined continuously for the life of the vehicle? AND it puts pollution into the air for the life of the vehicle as you need to keep burning more. The batteries only need to be mined once for a specific vehicle and the vehicle won't pollute for it's life time. Only manufacturing and disposal have impacts, which hopefully they can work on reducing, but so does every other product out there.

There's a huge flaw in your counter argument. You forget that batteries don't power the vehicles, electricity does. Fossil fuels are still used to generate over 60% of the electricity we use.

FYI, I am not pro-ICE or pro-EV. I wouldn't mind owning an EV, but it's just too damn expensive. I definitely will get one when they come down in cost.
 
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Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,883
2,121
126
Thank you SO much for this info Fritzo! While I am still employed, there's rumblings of massive layoffs coming soon. I'd sooner take the mortgage payment and save it for later if needed.

Thx again (and for your fantastic Fried Chicken recipe too)

EDIT - well this is disconcerting. From the BBT website. I filled out most of the form and was required to read the agreement before the 'accept' button would even be mashable. Glad it's set up that way!

"....Forbearance is like a pause button. It lets you suspend your monthly mortgage payments for a specific amount of time without incurring any late fees—and without being reported as delinquent to the credit bureaus. There’s also no paperwork expected of you in using this program for requests related to COVID-19. After the forbearance period, you’re expected to pay all suspended payments as a lump sum with your current month’s payment. From then on, you’d continue to pay your normal monthly payment......"

That tells me after 3 months of no mortage payments (like April, May, and June), I would be required to pay ALL 3 months PLUS the next month (July) when due. So, like $4000 :/
I dont think that really helps me :(

Y'all think the above means that as well?
In almost all cases, they simply tack 3 months to the end of your loan. Call your bank and get that clarified.
 

MtnMan

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2004
8,722
7,828
136
I live in a tourist destination in the mountains of NC, a city that has based far too much of our economy on tourism. We have over 10,000 hotel rooms in a city of 90,000 people. People keep telling the leaders that they are putting all their eggs in one basket. Perhaps now that reality will bit them in the ass.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
12,028
126
www.anyf.ca
There's a huge flaw in your counter argument. You forget that batteries don't power the vehicles, electricity does. Fossil fuels are still used to generate over 60% of the electricity we use.

FYI, I am not pro-ICE or pro-EV. I wouldn't mind owning an EV, but it's just too damn expensive. I definitely will get one when they come down in cost.

That's why we still need to move to 100% renewable electricity. Baby steps. But even with fossil fuel power plants it's still more efficient. Also depends a lot on location, here in Ontario most of our power comes from nuclear and hydro electric.

No matter what everything has some form of impact but the goal is to minimize it and continue working towards a goal of near zero impact.
 
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MtnMan

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2004
8,722
7,828
136
That's why we still need to move to 100% renewable electricity. Baby steps. But even with fossil fuel power plants it's still more efficient. Also depends a lot on location, here in Ontario most of our power comes from nuclear and hydro electric.

No matter what everything has some form of impact but the goal is to minimize it and continue working towards a goal of near zero impact.
But windmills cause cancer, and you won't be able to watch dear leader on TV if the wind isn't blowing.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,203
5,608
136
That's only like the last 2 minutes of the interview. You need to watch and listen to the whole interview because it's epic. Chamath told the absolute truth what's going on right now and how badly the Main Street is getting screwed again while the rich are getting massive unbelievable bailout. US Treasury should be depositing like $20,000 to each US resident banking account and guaranteeing anyone infected to get 100% free medical treatment instead of this stupid BS of bailing out the zombie companies and hedge funds who were reckless and leveraged to the tilt. Let them fail. You give the bulk of the bailout money to average Americans and protect them. Let the average Joe pay their bills and spend the economy back to health. Not this let's give the working class $1,200 bullshit and give 95% of the $4-5 trillion to the rich through bailouts. Giving all the money to rich doesn't solve shit except delaying the inevitable and and burdening the working class and the future generations with massive tax bill and interest they won't be able to pay. It's absolutely sickening what's going on and how much the elites are once again privatizing profits while socializing the losses.

but without the jobs that the companies provide, what'll regular people do once they burn through that handout? many will not have a job to go back to.

it's a delicate balance:

- if a ton of companies go under, we could conceivably have a ton of long-term unemployed people. then you run the risk of a 10-15 year or longer great depression 2. then what do we do, FDR-style government job hiring? universal basic income? medicare for all? half the country will fight those things to the death even if their lives depended on it passing.

- so they stop a lot of the companies from going under, but this just further enables reckless behavior

there is no easy answer to this unfortunately

and no matter what happens, half the country is going to hate it

because more and more, the US is really 2 countries in one
 
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