Fifteen Electric Cars on a Dead Man's Chest

Monday, and we turn over a new leaf. Well, okay, a different leaf. No finance today, except just a little. At the end.

First off, Dead Man’s Chest is absolutely great, rollicking, good fun. It will not win any academy awards except, perhaps, for costuming. If that’s what you’re interested in, don’t go. If, however, you’re looking for 2.5 hours of solid good times, grab your pirate cutlass – you have one, don’t you? – and go see the movie. We saw it courtesy of Harry Rodas, the world's greatest Realtor. No fooling.

Secondly, in one of the great feats of capitalism and the power of the internet, a fellow named Kyle MacDonald has succeeded in trading one red paperclip for a house in Canada. I am not making this up.

Thirdly, there’s a new movie out (apparently people have figured out that documentaries can make money, if they’re interesting) that purports to answer the question “Who Killed The Electric Car?” and provides no new answers to the question, which is rhetorical anyway, in my opinion. Of course it was “Big Oil”. Well, them with a healthy dose of “it’s your fault, Mr. and Mrs. Evil Consumer.” Apparently my father’s inability and unwillingness to pay tens of thousands of extra dollars for a car that seated only half my family and never had enough range to drive from, say, Lehi to Logan, much less Oxnard to San Diego (traffic) has led us to the current awful situation, where practically everyone in the country owns at least one car and can afford to drive it 400 miles on a single tank whenever they want. Without having to recharge it. For 8 hours. Every night. And replace the batteries every six months. For $20,000 more dollars.

Folks, it’s pretty simple. In this country, if there’s money to be made, someone is going to make it. Yes, Big Oil is a large business and I would expect it to go around protecting itself aggressively, and some of that aggressiveness I would expect to be immoral and land some people in Hell. Sad, but not all that surprising. But the US Government, which has resources Big Oil can only dream of, has been trying to stamp out the drug trade, tax evasion, even prostitution and polygamy for much, much longer without a great deal of success. If people wanted electric cars, if they were worth the money, someone would be making them and someone would be selling them. Period. Even hybrids, sad to say, folks, are not worth anything like the money they cost. Economics killed the electric car. And at some point, economics will bring it back, or something else even better.

Fourthly, had lunch today with Charity Title, or rather with Kathy and Greg Hawkins of Charity Title, and we’re going to be doing business with them soon. They really raise the bar on how this part of the transaction ought to be handled. Thanks, guys!