First VW now Harley Davidson

[Anti Federalist]

Let me ask you, did your representative vote for this?

Did anybody?

That is rhetorical, of course, nobody voted for this.

Government just did it, by decree, by fatwa.

And does anybody give a $#@! at all?




Now Harley

http://ericpetersautos.com/2016/08/27/now-harley/

by eric • August 27, 2016

Now Harley’s being nailed to the cross.

For “cheating” Uncle’s emissions rigmarole, like VW was accused of doing (and admited to doing).

This being like “cheating” speed traps by using a radar detector.

In each case, there being no evidence of tangible harm caused to anyone. Except, of course, an aggrieved Uncle. And he’s not even real, just shorthand for the collection of apparatchiks who, collectively, comprise this entity called the government.

But if they can’t produce a victim, what’s the evidence of harm? And if there’s no evidence of harm caused, how can there be a crime?

Harley’s “crime” – despite the lack of a victim – is that it sold kits over the counter that owners could use to tune their bikes for better performance and mileage. As in the VW case, the adjustments are claimed to have – and probably did – slightly increase exhaust emissions.

Emphasis on slightly.

In the VW case, fractionally higher (less than 1 percent of the “affected” car’s total exhaust output) emissions of a compound called oxides of nitrogen (NOx) for the sake of significantly better fuel economy and performance (as well as lower vehicle cost to the buyer) resulted in a spittle-spewing concatenation of EPA outrage that will probably destroy VW eventually ($50-plus billion in estimated total liabilities tends to accomplish that, even for a company as large as VW).

In Harley’s case, it’s even more absurd.

First, we are talking about motorcycles. Most of them are used for pleasure – that is, occasionally. Probably not one out of ten of them are “daily drivers.”

Second, there are not many of them. Motorcycles are a tiny percentage of the “vehicles” on the road – about 3 percent, according to Uncle’s own data.They constitute 0.7 percent of all vehicle miles traveled (VMT).

This is all motorcycles – not just Harleys.

Isolate the Harleys – and then whittle it down to the ones modified with the jet/tuning kit that has EPA’s knickers all bunched up and it amounts to … nothing, as far as any tangible harm caused.

“This settlement immediately stops the sale of illegal aftermarket defeat devices used on public roads that threaten the air we breathe,” hyperventilates a creature named Cynthia Giles, who is head of enforcement at the EPA.

Please.

Take an Ambien, maybe.

But the $15 million fine EPA socked Harley with is very tangible. This is a bunch of money, even for a company like Harley. Which isn’t anywhere near the size of a company like VW.

Where will the money come from?

Why, from you!

If you own Harley stock, your dividends will likely be diminished. If you work for Harley, there goes your raise. Maybe your job. If want to buy a Harley, expect to pay more for it.

The money’s got to come from somewhere.

It will come from productive people and productive work to pay for unproductive make-work. To wit:

$3 million of the $15 million will be spent – that is, wasted – on “mitigating” the air pollution alleged to have been caused by Harley’s tune kits. Note once again that no actual evidence of a tangible harm caused by the installation of these kits was put forward.

It was enough to prove that the kits “affected” the modified bikes’ exhaust.

How much (how little) it “affected” air quality or people’s health being immaterial.

Also immaterial, the fact that the kits were sold with explicit caveats that they were intended for “off road use” only – i.e., for competition vehicles and so on. Granted, that’s a dodge – one that’s been used by everyone selling aftermarket parts for bikes and cars for as long as I can remember (and I can remember glorious infamies like the catalytic converter “test pipe,” which was also sold with a sticker advising that it was “not for use on public roads.”)

Still, Harley didn’t install the kits. It merely sold them.

Owners installed the kits.

But Harley is being held responsible.

This is particularly outrageous, fairness-wise.

In the VW case, the government could (and did) claim that buyers were duped; that they bought cars they believed to be in full compliance with every EPA fatwa. They – the owners – didn’t “cheat.”

VW did.

But how did Harley “cheat”?

It sold fully emissions-compliant bikes that owners subsequently modified with kits that clearly stated “for off road use only.” Of course everyone knew this “off road use only” stuff was a scam (the good kind, the kind that helps us peons occasionally end-run Uncle) but the fact remains: Harley didn’t mislead anyone or sell anyone a non-compliant bike. People bought kits and made their bikes non-compliant.

So why is Harley on the hook?

What’s scary about this is that a precedent has been set. Not just for bikes, either.

Take a look at the aftermarket parts available for cars. Many of them have the same “for off road use only” label on the side of the box.

Wink, wink.

Will the manufacturers of these parts be next in EPA’s gunsights?

I wouldn’t be surprised.

Neither should you.

[tod evans]

Here is the offensive $#@! if anybody should happen upon her burning to death I sincerely hope their bladder is empty.

[DamianTV]

Governments have weaponized fear and ignorance as a means of lying to the people to justify its own existence.

"You need us to protect you from guns" because guns are what balances power between the people and those who seek to control people.

"You need us to punish manufacturers for not meeting our standards" because "you can't survive without our standards".

More control for them, less for you.

[Anti Federalist]

Just what I pictured, another bitter harridan.

Here is the offensive $#@! if anybody should happen upon her burning to death I sincerely hope their bladder is empty.

[Dr.3D]

But how can the government survive if they don't find more ways to collect revenue? As it grows, it needs more food.

[tod evans]

Governments have weaponized fear and ignorance as a means of lying to the people to justify its own existence.

"You need us to protect you from guns" because guns are what balances power between the people and those who seek to control people.

"You need us to punish manufacturers for not meeting our standards" because "you can't survive without our standards".

More control for them, less for you.

Those damn Harley riders are scofflaws in the first place, just look at 'em for Heaven's sake...

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Banshee = Hammer
Harley = Nail

[timosman]

Just what I pictured, another bitter harridan.

Frigid?

[Anti Federalist]

Governments have weaponized fear and ignorance as a means of lying to the people to justify its own existence.

"You need us to protect you from guns" because guns are what balances power between the people and those who seek to control people.

"You need us to punish manufacturers for not meeting our standards" because "you can't survive without our standards".

More control for them, less for you.

Yup, this.

[angelatc]

The whole government is turning into a massive shakedown racket. And people cheer it on.

[CCTelander]

The whole government is turning into a massive shakedown racket. And people cheer it on.

Turning into?

[timosman]

Turning into?

The facade is wearing off.

[DamianTV]

But how can the government survive if they don't find more ways to collect revenue? As it grows, it needs more food.

You see the Trap for what it is. Governments arent technically the ones that "print money" out of thin air. When governments are tricked into relying on Central Banks, it enslaves those governments to the will of the Banks and Corporations whose will it is to enslave everything to their malicious insidious will.

When a government fails its responsibility to operate and maintain an honest money system, which frees its ordinary citizens from the clutches of the money manipulators, the government no longer represents its country, but its parasitic host. People say "USA" as if the term identifies both the citizens and its government, but really it is now "USA, Inc." and the dominant opinions and actions represent the desires of the controlling Corporations, but not either the government that is supposed to represent the collective will of the people, nor the citizens themselves.

The Central Banks will continue to allow their host countries to borrow as much money as they can print as that is exactly what enslaves those countries to the Banks and Corporations without damaging the infrastructure. As Bernanke once said, they can guarantee that they will always print the money, but will not be able to guarantee the purchasing power of that money.