The Car Manufacturers' Libor Scandal
We have become used to tales of banks breaking rules, evading regulation, rigging rates and being fined eye-watering amounts of money when caught. But now their ranks have been joined by an automobile manufacturer. The German giant Volkswagen has been caught rigging the results of emission tests on diesel automobiles.
The emission tests are designed to ensure that new automobiles meet stringent anti-pollution requirements. America’s love affair with automobiles means that air quality can be a problem, particularly in cities. The Environmental Protection Agency therefore places limits on the toxic emissions of automobiles to prevent air quality deteriorating to the point where it threatens human health and the environment.
But this depends on automobile manufacturers cooperating. And Volkswagen, the largest seller of diesel automobiles in the US, decided that emissions regulations could be optional for its products.....Read on here (Forbes).
Polemic Paine came to similar conclusions (and even a similar title). And he adds a dimension that I hadn't thought of:
To be honest I don’t care too much if my car burps out more NO2 than declared in a test as long as I am street legal and the low running costs I am enjoying don’t change. But the tax man certainly does. I may decide not to buy a car if it jumps up a car tax band due to emissions but if the taxman has been defrauded out of billions due to cars being declared at a different tax band to where they actually lie then that is as good as fiddling your tax returns. The pollution issue is minor compared to what happens when you defraud a tax authority and this is where people go directly to jail."Made in Germany" lies in the gutter, according to the Telegraph:
VW's conspiracy to rig emissions exposes it as the 'Lance Armstrong' of the car industry, once again revealing corrupt reflexes in German boardrooms.Not that this is likely to be limited to German companies. The fallout could be substantial for car manufacturers in many countries. As Polemic says, now is not a good time to be a large corporation.
well, it was worse than tax fraud, as per Kevin Drum: "VW emitted about 3,000 excess tons of nitrogen oxides in Southern California alone over the past six years, which may have caused as many as a dozen or more incremental deaths."
ReplyDeleteRjs
DeleteBut if the true costs of these added value schemes cause basic health care cuts - what then ?
Look no further then Greece.
Current euro modernity is killing far more then a dozen.
Try to look at this holistically.
Austerity is simply the rationing process required to feed the consumer war economy.
Look no further then the Film" Triple echo " to understand what we are dealing with.
Olivers tank drives over good agri land while Glenda is forced to shoot rabbits with a crooked gun.
It is very rational for VW to game the system.
DeleteAs the system is absurd.
They must add value / weight while reducing emissions / fuel burn.
Impossible.
Again look back at the manufacturing history of the 2cv.
DeleteThe pre war prototypes were designed with a aluminium body.
Post war aluminium prices after the previous 6years of waste made this car out of reach for the French peasant.
The holistic costs were accepted.
It became a heavier ,more sluggish car but it was effective for its purpose.
The holistic costs were factored in.
The European value added economy / society has failed.
Very little primary and basic secondary production = failure ( without expanding colonies)
The Dorks on the street have been aware of this practise for some time......this is certainly not breaking news.
ReplyDeleteThese heavier "added value" cars certainly cannot beat the laws of physics.
In truth a vintage 1985 Toyota carrolla( popular with taxi drivers at the time) can beat or equal today's vehicles as it was simply lighter.
The bigger question is why these companies must endeavour to add value.
State laws act in concert with these consumer war companies via "green" and excessive health and safety laws so as to add capitalistic costs.
Current laws have little to do with people.
The dieselization of the fleet in Europe has been proven to be a disaster.
ReplyDeleteCertainly in the UK the refinery capacity has been jolted to the point of breaking as diesel must now be imported on a vast scale.
According to the latest DUKES energy report the biggest exporter of diesel to the UK is you guessed it ........Russia.
The rise of diesel consumption in Europe is a classic example of scarcity dynamics in motion.
People continue to travel further in search of purchasing power or to escape inflation......diesel is really no longer used much for work in Europe.
If living in a rural village / town ecosystem all that is needed is a simple petrol 2cv type car that one can fix yourself rather then bankrupting yourself and your community by spending all of your spare money on spare parts.
All and I mean nearly all of the modern worlds problems is a result of a lack of individual (not corporate ) purchasing power.
ReplyDeleteThis can only be solved via adding free equity money to peoples balances and not increasing taxes which is now a lively (and very structured) debate in Ireland.
As we now have become bitterly aware the last refuge of the capitalist is the class war.
Why not simply give away the Industrial surplus ?
No need to take anything from any person under such circumstances.
The stabilization of transport energy inputs in the UK and much of the rest of Europe post 2010 while subtracting ever further from other energy inputs and outputs points to the real problem in the West and Europe in particular.
This can be seen in a dramatic fashion in the UK of 2014 where transport inputs was the only area which has seen a rise of inputs while all others......
Energy is not used to satisfy the needs of the person as he has little to no purchasing power.
Energy must therefore be flared typically via the car consumer war economy ,lighting up the night sky and other wasteful practices.
Bankers of course do not believe this but the function of production is consumption and not production.
In practise why do people need a diesel car. ?
ReplyDeleteIn rural Ireland for example people can no longer afford to buy in the local shop as a result of the further robbing of purchasing power under the euro regime.
They must Travel the extra 20miles to the newly opened Aldi or Lidl store.
The spiritual objective of capitalists is to destroy the very idea of localism.
This is now proven beyond all doubt.
The newly opened German stores in Kenmare has destroyed all Winter trade in the well designed town center.
The destruction must continue........its more efficient you see.
The future of the car ?
ReplyDeleteThe design minimalism of the 2cv.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XUYXYBWXzKU
I'm wondering why such a huge company decided to brake the rules and do something like that? Like I'm sure that if they designed everything right and if that would even make the cars more expensive or sth like that, people would still buy it because it's a well-known and reliable brand and nothing would change for VW
ReplyDeleteYour current websites get built us need to be the top copy writer I can always be. In case you may remember to recommend us on the essayheaven you already know involving. I think this is a good start pertaining to our producing occupation.
ReplyDeleteNothing happens by chance now.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that the CFR guild navigators want to readjust the European and American refinery sector which is seriously out of balance now.
Perhaps foreign policy is a factor also
Russia is now a major exporter of Diesel.
4million tons of Russian Diesel was imported into the UK last year.
Perhaps a third ~ of total imports.
This scandal out of the blue will do nicely.
We live in a very managed top down society / economy.