Why do Rich People Win, Poor Kids Lose, in Obama’s America?

best electric cars for kids 2013 image

Bill 92691

Want a clear indication of President Barack Obamaâs priorities? Take a look at the spending decisions emerging from his Administration today. In the battle between $40,000 dollar-electric-car-buying yuppies and at-risk kids in the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, rich people won, and they have President Obama to thank for it.

The Winners:

Today, President Obama put the taxpayersâ money where his allegiances lie. The Daily Caller reports that the White House intends to increase taxpayer-funded subsidies for those who purchase new-technology vehicles, including the Chevy Volt, to $10,000 per buyer, up from $7,500.

In case you havenât been shopping for a Volt â and odds are, you havenât â the vehicle carries a hefty $41,000 price tag. So what kind of person benefits from that tax credit? General Motors says the average income of a Volt buyer is $175,000 per year. And according to Bill Visnic, senior editor for Edmunds.com, âThe Volt appeals to an affluent, progressive demographic.â In other words: rich yuppies.

The Daily Caller reports that the subsidy âwould cost taxpayers $100 million each year if it is approved by Congress, presuming only 10,000 new-technology autos are sold each year.â And if the President reaches his goal of putting 1 million of those kinds of cars on the road by 2015, the subsidy could cost $10 billion.

Why is the subsidy necessary? Itâs no big mystery. Despite the slick marketing, high-gas mileage, and environmentally friendly cachet that comes along with them, the cars just arenât selling. In January, General Motors sold 603 Volts â almost twice as many as in January 2010, but less than half of its total sales in December. And in 2011, GM missed its projected sales volume for the vehicle, shipping 7,671 of the vehicles â well short of its target of 10,000.

Automakers, of course, have a lot riding on the vehicles â but so does President Obama. His Administration has banked heavily on the vehicles being an important part of his energy policy and the ânew green economy.â That strategy, though, is failing. No matter how much the President wants consumers to buy electric cars, most consumers donât want them. But whether they like it or not, those consumers are subsidizing the buyers who do.

The Losers:

While the rich are riding in their taxpayer-subsidized electric cars, the losers in President Obamaâs America are at-risk kids languishing in under-performing schools in Washington, D.C. As part of his FY 2013 budget, President Obama eliminates funding for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which throws a school choice lifeline to children who would otherwise be left hopeless in Washingtonâs public school system.

Thanks to the program, more than 1,600 low-income children in the nationâs Capital are using vouchers this school year to attend a school that they choose. The program has been a stunning success. Heritageâs Lindsey Burke writes:

According to federally-mandated evaluations of the program, student achievement has increased, and graduation rates of voucher students have increased significantly. While graduation rates in D.C. Public Schools hover around 55 percent, students who used a voucher to attend private school had a 91 percent graduation rate.
How much does this kind of success cost? A mere $8,000 per student, compared to the estimated $18,000 spent per child by D.C. Public Schools.

To be clear: $10,000 in taxpayer funds to subsidize the purchase of an electric car versus $8,000 to give a child a choice in education. We know what the President chose. Which would you pick?

Answer
You have a lot of time on your hands, don't you.

The Daily Caller is a conservative outlet.

Americans know where the Republicans stand when it comes to supporting the wealthy in this country - they can't do enough.

As for the poor, Mitt Romney could care less!

Should I buy a scion fr-s?

Dylan

Why or why not? If not, what else should I consider buying?

Answer
I was considering a new sports car recently so I test drove the 2013 FR-S, 2013 MX-5 Club Sport, 07 350z, Mazda RX-8, 05 Evo and STI, and the 2012 Mazdaspeed 3. I'm still in the process of testing other cars. I still have the Focus ST and VW GTI set in my sights to try out.

Here is my review of the FR-S. The electric steering surprisingly has some feel to it and it is sharp. The power is more than enough for daily driving and passing and it still feels quick. At 5'11", my head hit the rear glass window and my toes had no room to move when put under the front seat. My friend who is 5'9" fit more comfortably in the back, but his hair still touched the rear window. If you drive over a bump, his head would hit. Realistically, your passengers that sit in the back should be 5'7" or less in height.

The interior was well laid out and very ergonomic. It was obviously cheap, but designed well.

Here was one of my biggest problems. The trunk space. The width and length was fine. And the back seats fold down to create a larger trunk but the issue was the height of the trunk. You can barely fit a water bottle standing up in the trunk. I'm not even sure if a heavily packed school back would fit. A gallon of milk standing up will probably not fit unless you lay the milk sideways.

The other huge problem I had with it was the clutch in the manual transmission version. The clutch is extremely light. It is as if it does not even exist when you are pushing down on it. I hate that there is no feedback in it. It takes away from the driving experience.

The other issue was the price. It is listed around $24,600. However, dealerships are selling them for much higher prices because of the demand. The Toyota dealership I went to was asking $36,000 for the FR-S I drove. They claimed to sell one of the first ones they got for $41,000 a few months back. There is no wiggle room or haggling allowed on these cars.

Being a Toyobaru, I expect it to be a very reliable car with a good resale value and low maintenance costs. Being RWD, you cannot drive it in snow and it is slippery in rain. Toyota and Subaru made it worse by putting skinny Prius tires on the FR-S, making it slippery even on dry pavement.

Overall it is a good car for a single person with no kids and no need for a large trunk.

The best car I have test driven so far was the Mazda MX-5 Club by far. Again, it is for a single person. And the trunk is just as small as the FR-S'. But it was just so much fun to drive. I had a smile on my face during the entire test drive. And that engine loves to rev high. It is very peppy.

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Title Post: Why do Rich People Win, Poor Kids Lose, in Obama’s America?
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