You'd Be A Better Driver...

if you drove tiny, possibly unsafe electric cars? My favorite part of the video below is that yes, if you're driving a car that isn't a 4000 lb SUV, you'll have to actually drive not like an asshole. A side benefit of producing lighter cars that are safe, is that maybe our roads would be safer not just from the reduced weight of the cars, but the increased safety conscience of drivers who drive defensively instead of aggressively. Now the video here is of the Golf cart style of electric vehicle. In other words, impractical for all but urban dwellers who don't have harsh winters.

New Englanders are not going to plunk down our precious money for under performing vehicles we can't drive all year long, especially when those winters could involve your typical SUV skidding across an icy street on a collision course with you. I make this complaint because of an incredibly ignorant comment I saw on Huffpost, in regards to Exxon-Mobile having posted the biggest quarterly profit any company has ever made in the history of corporate America (Link). The comment came from someone who doesn't care to get our economy off of oil. We can just go buy electric cars he says, failing to factor in that not everybody can afford to, nor is it always practical, at least not with the current electric car lineup.

With Exxon posting record profits, do ya think they're in any rush to put more oil on the market, thereby lowering the price and cutting into profits? Me thinks not.

$100 Billion Tax Cheat

The part I like is Warren Buffet telling you that yes, without even cheating, he still pays less taxes than the rest of us. Reviewing the tax code here in RI, you would find that the 2 percent of Rhode Islanders who make $200,000 or more, owe 10 percent of their income to the state, while the rest of us owe 13 percent. We have a budget deficit in this state, and rather than raise taxes on the wealthy to at least the rate the rest of us pay, our governor would rather cut social spending and so make life harder on the poor and middle class. Brilliant.

We're one of the bluest states in the Union, so it's odd that we would elect a Republican for governor. Lincoln Chafee I could see electing, but instead we got Don Carcieri. Twice this guy has been elected governor, though in his second election he only got 51 percent of the vote. Now of course we have buyer's remorse. Most voters in this state identify as independent. So it seems we are slaves to some who can't make up their mind about the best way to govern.