Thomas Piketty presented 704 pages about how rich the world’s rich bastards are and therefore it was time for the pitchforks (see Book review: Piketty’s Capital). We have a household member who, despite being 13 years shy of being able to drive, is fond of Car and Driver magazine in hardcopy. From the June 2017 issue, in a review of the $3 million Bugatti Chiron:
Bugatti by the numbers:
…
42: number of cars owned by the average Bugatti driver
…
870: number of miles the average Veyron [previous version of the car] accumulates in a year
(This is in an inset box that is missing from the online version.)
I don’t understand why the government doesn’t call up Bugatti (and Porsche, Ferrari etc.) and demand that 20% of their cars are deemed “low income”. These cars must be sold affordably and below market value to random “low income” people. (In San Francisco low income is 105,000 dollars per year http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/12/if-you-make-105000-in-san-francisco-youre-considered-low-income.html ) If it works for housing and food why don’t we do the same with cars?
Off topic, but of interest to moderately rich bastards who are considering flying amphibious seaplanes as a hobby:
https://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Two-Killed-In-Icon-A5-Crash-228966-1.html
The Top Gear guy, barreling down a race track in a Veyron at 200+ MPH:
“Driving at this speed, the tires disintegrate in just 15 minutes. But it’s not a problem; because at this speed, the fuel tank is empty in 12 minutes.”
Bugatti and Portchester are owned by VW so technically they already make mostly affordable cars.
I had a $600 motorcycle that offered more “thrills” (scared the sh*t out of me) than any car at any price. Look up the documentary on GP motorcycle racing – youngsters on 240hp machines, sliding in their leathers at 209 mph. Valentino Rossi won this 18-race series NINE times, six at the highest level and three in lower displacement bikes. Amazingly, a fatality occurs only every two or three years. Collarbones are expendable though – somebody breaks one almost every race.