Crisis Approaching

 In the spring of 1980....I went in to buy a cheapo car on E-4 pay, and by the time, the dealer did the paperwork....I ended up with a 36 month loan.  

Around 1996, I worked with a guy who'd gone to the high side of cars, and ended up in a 60 month loan, which I sat there shaking my head.  

At the speed of depreciation...by the end of the 3rd year...the car had lost around 50-percent of value.  He was expecting the value to have low maintenance issues....all the way up to six years....which is something I could not imagine (I grew up in the 1960s/1970s and had a totally different view on 'trust' of cars).

By the 2005 era, I now encountered people who were playing the 72-month (6 year) car loan.  I thought it was ridiculous to engage in this long-strategy.

In the past year or two....I noticed chatter about 84 month car loans....with the situation involving $60,000 ultimate-loaded vehicles, and some bank thinking they could trust people to pay a 84-month loan back, and not get into repossession.

So you imagine the scenario....Bob buys a $75,000 vehicle and opts to pay over 84 months.  Three years into this....Bob loses his job and gets behind on $914 per month payment.  Bank takes possession, and what exactly do they have?

Well....at 3 years, the $75k car is probably holding a value of around $38,000, but the bank is on the hook...having a vehicle that they probably can't sell at $38k.  

Liquidity crisis coming?  Yeah....and those car unions asking for more wages?  They will face some reality in the next three years.

'Re-Boot' of Dukes of Hazard?

 Well....there was some BS I noticed this AM, where some TV people are openly discussing the idea. 

How it would work?  Unknown.

I speculated over this for a while and came to five observations:

1.  It'd have to be heavily 'woke' and involve some urbanized area (probably Baton Rouge or Nashville).  That means at least one of the eight main characters would have to be gay, trans or lesbian.  

2.  What Dukes of Hazard was famous for?  Having a half-page idea for a script and building BS text around some fake drama/comedy.  Could you put together a 22-episode season around that concept today?  I doubt it.

3.  The 'General Lee' (the car that the boys drove)....was a 1969 Dodge Charger.  Today?  I would imagine some idiot executive would try to use a Tesla Cybertruck or some other type of E-car.  Some running gag will be the two-hour charge situation where the guys all sit around.  

4.  The corrupt 'Boss Hogg'?  Likely to be portrayed as a Republican....same for the county sheriff.  

5.  At least three major characters would have to be black or Hispanic.  

Yeah, I see this as a failure, and likely never to get past the 'talking' stage of a show.  

But here's the odd thing....they are so run out of decent ideas for TV shows, and competition from Netflix so heavy....that use of old TV shows is almost mandatory.  I'm shocked that Mister Ed or Petticoat Junction haven't been re-booted yet.  

Four Things I Tend To Believe Now

 1.  I suspect in 2024, more than 300,000 American juveniles/college students...will go and read Adolph Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' and give some thought that he was 'right'....creating some wild and crazy thoughts.  Some American politicians will suggest that the book needs to be banned, to prevent nation-wide chaos.

2.  Some massive postal rate change will occur in 2024 (4-billion dollar loss projected this week).  The massive rate increase will trigger people to question how the postal system works, and lead to a five-day-a-week operation by the end of 2024.

3.  Homeless crowd will be 'chased' out of California over 2024....with accusations that they just funneled them into Oregon/Washington.

4.  On Snoop Dogg's statement yesterday that he will cease all cannabis use....he'll make good on this vow for about a month, then relapse.