Weird, R1's are delayed yet again, but amazon van has no delays?

[mkhuffman]

We’ll have to agree to disagree. And either I misread your original post, or you misread mine response. My statement was in regards to the free market being allowed to operate unfettered by regulation. Your response seems to be about government actually running things vs regulating them. I tend to agree with you on many of those points.

On the regulatory aspect, though, even if I wrote a treatise here on world history and how numerous private companies have knowingly and intentionally done massive environmental damage when allowed to do so in the absence of appropriate regulation and oversight, it wouldn’t change anyone’s mind who’s already decided “govt is evil”. They’ve decided what herd they are in, and will blindly follow.

There is definitely a difference between government running a business, and government regulating a business. The problem comes when government regulates a business so much it essentially is running it. That is what we have for most power production on this continent, and it is why we have serious reliability issues. It is not going to get better when hundreds of thousands of people start charging their BEVs. IMO.

I do agree, however, that there is sometimes an economic disconnect between a business and the environmental impact they cause. So some reasonable and limited regulations to protect the environment is not necessarily bad. It becomes bad when regulations create or encourage a monopoly, and when regulations drive up the cost of doing business significantly. When my electric bill skyrockets because of government regulations, I can manage, but those with less income will be seriously hurt. That is not good. Everyone needs electricity to live a decent life.

In any case, it appears we are not so far apart, so that is good news! Now, let's go drive our Rivians over shrubs and plants! Just avoid the rabbits... ;-)

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