VIDEO: Howard Lutnick throws a stone truth at the Davos gang

President Trump's speech at the World Economic Forum -- Klaus Schwab's talking shop at Davos -- got a lot of attention. So did Canuck Prime Minister Mark Carney's frank admission that the liberal powers that be were going to create a New World Order. (Yeah, he really did say the quiet part out loud.) 

But one speech went largely unnoticed. It was made by Howard Lutnick, the US Secretary of Commerce. In just about two minutes flat, he spoke the truth to power. Thanks and a tip o' the toque to Agent 6 for sending us this.

Howie got it right! The globalism of George Soros, Klaus Schwab (and, yes, the former Canadian PM who is now the armpiece of Katy Perry) is dead... and President Donald J. Trump is the guy wot killed it!

But, but, but... what about what Marx Carnage said? Mr Lutnick today called his speech "political noise," and criticized Canada's recent deal with China. "Give me a break," Mr Lutnick said on Bloomberg TV. "They have the second best deal in the world and all I got to do is listen to this guy whine and complain." 

The US Commerce Secretary warned that Ottawa's recent deal with China could upend CUSMA/USMCA negotiations, which have already started ahead of the mandatory review this year. That deal will see China lower agricultural tariffs in exchange for Canada opening some market access for Chinese electric vehicles. Mr Lutnick said Canada is "playing with a set of rules that they haven't really thought through."

Goin' nowhere fast - taxpayers' $$$ going up in flames

Saw this one on Blazing Cat Fur. You might want to remember this before getting on any bus which self-identifies as "electric".

General Motors pulls plug on electric robotaxis

Remember "What's good for General Motors is good for America!"? How untrue that has always been. And the thing that burns my ring is that GM never admits that they've made a mistake, no matter how horribly stupid it may have been.

For example, the Monster That Ate Flint recently announced that it will stop funding the development of the Cruise self-driving taxi. The company says it will now "refocus autonomous driving development on personal vehicles." See our previous post in which George Carlin discusses language people use to make themselves sound important... or to obscure inconvenient truths.

GM attributed the change of strategy to "the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business." Nothing to do with people's aversion to electric vehicles, of course. The manufacturer's chief executive, Mary Barra, had previously predicted that the Cruise business could generate $50 billion in annual revenue by 2030. 

They earlier pulled all of their American Cruise vehicles from testing after California halted its driverless testing permit. In October 2023, one such vehicle hit a pedestrian and dragged her for more than 20 feet, leaving her seriously injured. Cruise admitted to submitting a false report on the accident to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in which they somehow omitted to include a description of the pedestrian being dragged. 

Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt left the company a few weeks later. Following GM's announcement, Mr Vogt posted on "X", "In case it was unclear before, it is clear now: GM are a bunch of dummies." 

General Motors is not without form on this sort of thing. In fact they've been promoting electric vehicles since 1912, when they tried to sell the public on this one.

Hmmm. An electric taxicab, eh. The rear axle was turned by a chain, similar to a large bicycle chain. What a novel idea it was... back then. 112 years later? Not so much.

Don't be fueled by the hype about EVs

Here's a fact of automotive history to think about before you rush out to buy a Tesla. 

Thanks and a tip of the motoring cap to Agent 6, who's driven `em all... well, maybe not the old Stanley Steamer.

A quarter of a million dollars later...

Further reading (in case you're new to WWW of missed these the first time:

"'The Bolt Adventure' - a true tale from the world of EVs" (WWW 4/11/23)

"Another EV horror story" (WWW 23/12/23), and

"Nature fights back against EVs" (WWW 25/10/23).

That's right, folks. Walt is on the anti-EV bandwagon. And that's looking simply at cost efficience and practicality. Not included is the hyuge amount of supposedly polluting hydrocarbons used in the production of electric vehicles and in the generation of the electricity stored in the batteries.

Final comment: Even Brian Griffin is smart enough not to go full electric. He drives a Prius!

Another EV horror story

In November Walt shared the less-than-positive experience of one of our assiduous readers driving a Chevy Bolt through south central Ontario. See "'The Bolt Adventure' - a true tale from the world of EVs", WWW 4/11/23. 

Now, thanks to a lead from Agent 6, we present a a horror story from the US side of the World's Longest Open Border, featuring the Ford F150 Lightning.

"Our Last Ford F-150 Lightning EV Pickup Road Trip Was a Nightmare" appeared in MotorTrend just yesterday. Ed. hasn't had time to request permission to repost the entire article, so (spoiler alert!) we'll just quote the conclusion. 

"There are undoubtedly some inherent limitations in EVs when it comes to getting places with urgency, and neither Electrify America nor Ford made things any better. The former's abhorrent reputation has chased nearly every automaker into the arms of the rival Tesla Supercharger network. The latter could've done much to mitigate Electrify America's issues with smarter software programing, but it's a year into our electric pickup's stay, and Ford hasn't yet. 

"We'll eventually get to the point where traveling with an EV is as easy as it is with a gas-powered vehicle, but trips like this are reminders that huge growing pains remain, largely with the state of the infrastructure still incapable of supporting the growing EV marketplace."

Walt will take that bet. As long as country folks like us, living in an area where working charging stations are few and far between... very far... we'll stick with our ICEs and a jerry can of gas, just in case.

Nature fights back against EVs