It may seem a little strange for a website named FrugalJim to write articles on expensive toys… but you’ve got to admit, this is pretty cool:
It costs $130,000 and requires only 20 hours of training. On top of that, the wings fold in, so you can tow it with your truck, it can use automotive gas (cheaper than air fuel), and it can land on water (it floats), and it gets 25 MPG with a top speed of 140 MPH. Sweet!
I will be buying a lotto ticket this weekend…
It’s official. I’m going to have to convince the Wife that her next car should be a Chevy Volt. Plug it into the wall at night (6 hours to fully charge), and drive 40 miles on pure electricity. Couple this with some solar panels on the roof, and I’m living in a geek fantasy… Even without the solar panels though, and using today’s gas prices and electricity prices, this car gets equivalent to around 175 miles per gallon (using $.02/mile and $3.50 for gas prices).
On Saturday, we actually had a hard time finding gas (3 stations in our area) due to people freaking out about gas shortages. The freaking out about possible gas shortages were what actually caused the gas shortage… Anyways, it just seems awesome to potentially not have to go to the gas station.
I haven’t seen a piece written like this before… ever.
While it was scary to read, at the same time it was very cleverly written. It could almost pass for a Bible verse, which makes it seem even more scary.
I seem to agree with almost everything in the article, but I’m unsure what role I personally played in bringing on the doom and gloom. I do drive a gas guzzler, and I did buy a house recently that probably bumped up the demand and prices around our area. Does this mean that I’m to blame as much as the government? And what else could I do to make things better?
We’ll just have to wait and see how the story ends.
During this week, the Democratic National Convention has been going on, but I haven’t watched a second of it. Well, that’s only because we don’t have cable (or a TV right now 
).
I was just pondering a thought:
Who would you rather work for?
Man A) This man grew up in a well connected and wealthy family. When it came time to go to college, his family pulled strings and got him into the college of his choice. Throughout college he was “that guy” who would party like it was his job. Graduation came and he proudly took the stage with a class rank of 894 out of 897. He went on from here and through some weird strokes of luck that made him known throughout your industry and more help from the ole’ family, he’s now in the contest to be your boss. He’s been in this industry for a very long time and is will likely not change things at the office too much.
Man B) This man grew up in a very middle class family headed by a single parent. Instead of relying on family ties, he used hard work and his smarts to work his way though college. He did so well, in fact, that he went on to earn an advanced degree from Harvard. Afterward, he worked his way up the corporate ladder relatively fast, and is now in competition to be your boss. While this guy is definitely more of an unknown than “Man A”, he does have potential to become one of those bosses that could transform the company into something greater.
Of course I would pick Man B…
Yesterday, I bought General Motors stock for $10 a share. This basically goes against all investing principles and is pure speculation. The company is losing money, revenue is trending down, and they are likely to lose the title of “Biggest” car maker in the world to Toyota.
If I’m so negative about GM, then why would I buy their stock? Well, it actually comes from one of the first investing books I ever read: “One Up on Wall Street” by Peter Lynch. In it, he describes how the car market is cyclical, and people go through bad times and don’t buy cars, but once those cars start to get old, they all come back and buy new cars around the same time. Also, Peter Lynch made a killing by investing in Chrysler during the early 80’s. During this time, the company almost went bankrupt, but with some government help and a wonderful new product they came roaring back. And of course, this product was the minivan.
Lynch said that the public was clamoring for a vehicle like this, but no one was building it. The minute he laid eyes on what they were building, he knew it would be a success, and decided to invest in the company, even though the company was doing so bad.
I have a gut feeling (hence the title of the post) that GM is on a similar path. Of course they don’t have a new minivan coming out, but they do have some good products in the pipeline. 2009 the Camaro comes out, 2010 the replacement for the Cobalt (which looks WAY better), and the biggest… the Chevy Volt in 2010.
The public is waiting for an electric car (I just spent $80 on gas yesterday) and they won’t be able to keep these things on the lot. If the company can stay afloat until mid 2010, I think they have a good shot at a comeback.
Of course this is a big bet, but hey, I’m only 26. Now is the time I should be taking on higher risk.
