• Trump transition weighs plan to cancel USPS contracts to build large EV fleet
    
    Postal service plans to spend billions on EV chargers and roughly 66,000 new trucks Contract cancellation likely part of sweeping executive order on EVs

Dec 6 (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s transition team is considering canceling the U.S. Postal Service’s contracts to electrify its delivery fleet, as part of a broader suite of executive orders targeting electric vehicles, according to three sources familiar with the plans.

The move, which could be unveiled in the early days of Trump’s administration that begins on Jan. 20, is in line with Trump’s campaign promises to roll back President Joe Biden’s efforts to decarbonize U.S. transportation to fight climate change – an agenda Trump has said is unnecessary and potentially damaging to the economy.

Reuters has previously reported that Trump is planning to kill a $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric vehicle purchases, and plans to roll back Biden’s stricter fuel-efficiency standards.

The sources told Reuters that Trump’s transition team is now reviewing how it can unwind the postal service’s multibillion-dollar contracts, including with Oshkosh (OSK.N), and Ford (F.N) for tens of thousands of battery-driven delivery trucks and charging stations.

Oshkosh shares fell by roughly 5% to 105.65 per share after the Reuters report.

  • Clent@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    More EVs means lower gas prices.

    This drives up gas prices.

    Killing the tax credit drives up gas prices.

    It’s quite remarkable how economically m ignorant a large section of America is. Supply and demand is the easiest model to understand and yet these voters have been positioned to work against their own best interest at a basic economic level.

    And this is only one a hundreds of examples. Fascinating time to be alive.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Gas prices are artificially created by OPEC… Although considering Trump is buddies with Russia and others, I could see him wanting an excuse to increase demand so they can sell more.

      • Clent@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        That control only exists as long as demand increases. They need oil revenue. Less demand means they need to increase supply to maintain revenue. Increased supply means prices fall. These are incredibly basic economic principles. Every EV sold decreases their control.

        • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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          6 days ago

          I guess I just didn’t see how whatever fraction of a percent of gas used by USPS vehicles is really going to impact a global market. Prices drop, people buy bigger cars, other countries slow changes as well, one more easy well gets permanently capped.

          China’s EV market has probably been a way bigger shock to oil price than part of a percent of US gas use changing would be.

    • TrueStoryBob@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      More EVs means lower gas prices.

      This drives up gas prices.

      I know, it’s almost as though the multinational oil corporations and their shareholders who backed all three of Trump’s campaigns want higher oil and gas prices for some reason… what could that be?

      • Clent@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        That part at least makes sense.

        It’s all the voters with their massive gas guzzling vehicles that are voting against their best interest. Over and over again.

        • TrueStoryBob@lemmy.world
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          9 days ago

          The fact is that you’re politically engaged and the average voter is not.

          They’re not dumb or anything, but politics and economics are not things for which they look past their noses. Politics and economics are complex topics and that’s why Trump’s antics and tactics work so well. He stays in the headlines and gets people feeling like they’re part of a team. For a similar example, loads of folks don’t pay attention to NFL players, teams, and coaches during the off season… but once games start happening, allegiances are taken. Even if a neighboring or different franchise might have a better chance of winning (thus make you feel like a winner by proxy) you might still just cheer on the team that first caught your attention/is in your geographic area. People don’t want a sermon and they definitely don’t want to be scolded… they want to be on a winning team regardless of the consequences of that choice (leopards eating faces, etc, etc).

            • TrueStoryBob@lemmy.world
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              8 days ago

              I know it’s frustrating as hell, but lashing out at voters isn’t the answer. They’re not dumb, they’re just not engaged. The system of American politics keeps them disengaged on purpose.

              • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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                8 days ago

                “Not engaged” means “willfully ignorant”.

                The presidential election season is like 18 months long. Information is ubiquitous. Plenty of time to find just one rabbit hole to stumble into and realize your guy is a conman and a crook.

                In fact, I’d say it’s pretty much impossible that these people were “not engaged”. They chose to not engage. They had the same opportunity to educate themselves and they chose to tune it out. That’s what toddlers do. Stick fingers in their ears and proceed on with life. Only remove fingers from ear to lick wax. This is how the majority of Americans choose to live their life.

                Maybe literacy tests wouldn’t be such a bad idea now that there is compulsory education .

                • TrueStoryBob@lemmy.world
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                  7 days ago

                  Damn, literacy tests… now there’s a policy the Democrats haven’t championed since Jim Crow. I remember Rush Limbaugh going on a scree about us “needing” to bring back those in the 1990’s. Are there any other policies from one of the darkest periods of American history you would also like to go back to? Perhaps the reimplementation of poll taxes or just force marching some Native Americans into the desert?

                  • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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                    7 days ago

                    The literacy test mention was really trying to be tongue-in-cheek.

                    The problem with literacy tests was that they specifically targeted black people. Black people were largely illiterate because they were excluded from education. Nowadays everybody is required to get an education.

                    Ideally everybody would put more thought into who should be leading the free world than they do into which brand of toothpaste they prefer, but unfortunately I don’t think there’s any fair way to enforce that.

          • fluxion@lemmy.world
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            8 days ago

            They could at least spend 10 minutes googling before heading off to stand in line for hours to vote for some dipshit who opposes everything they think they are voting for

            • TrueStoryBob@lemmy.world
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              8 days ago

              As I said, they may only be voting for the “team” about which they got excited and not much else. There not dumb, the American political system has set about keeping voters as passive as is possible for the purposes of exploiting them. Trump is just the latest (and most naked) bit of exploitation.

      • limelight79@lemm.ee
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        8 days ago

        I was just thinking the other day someone needs to cut out a picture of Trump pointing for this purpose. If he actually implements all the things he’s saying, there will be MANY opportunities to slap that on prices (even if it’s only in memes online).

        • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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          8 days ago

          I don’t understand why the left doesn’t take a page out of the rights playback in this regard. We’ve seen how effective things like this and memes are at changing people’s beliefs, yet nobody is willing to try it. They’d rather have some graduate-level economics professor try to explain how things work to a bunch of people with a 4th grade reading level in order to educate them, but this is an obviously flawed approach that doesn’t work.

          • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
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            8 days ago

            I mean it doesn’t need to be a coordinated act from “the left”.

            Go print some stupid Trump stickers that say “I did that” and go stick them on everything. When gas goes up, stick them on the pumps. When electronics go up. Stick them on the boxes at best buy.

            The issue isn’t “the left” as some amorphous organization. It’s that most people who align more left aren’t that petty. The left is a much more disorganized, factions political position than the right. And that’s because the GOP has worked relentlessly to build a cohesive base.

      • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
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        7 days ago

        Passive aggressive. FTFY

        One of the main problems of the Dems is playing nice, and expecting rules to be followed.

        It’s time to fight using their weapons.

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      8 days ago

      Dumb take.

      Everybody knows the real cause of high gas prices is Joe Biden. Haven’t you seen the stickers on the pumps? It says it right there…“I did that”, with a picture of Biden’s face.