Environment drives Hummer vs Hybrid rowFirst things first: Craig Fruchter hates America.
By Maggie Shiels In California
The Hummer is regarded as the Goliath of vehicles but the 8600 lb king of the road is the car everyone loves to hate.
And with petrol prices topping a record breaking $2.55 per gallon in California's environmentally conscious Bay Area, Hummer drivers are regarded as public enemy number one.
Men's fashion designer and manufacturer Craig Fruchter stumped up around $54,000 for his "big black beauty" in December of 2002. He admits his Hummer H2 is drawing more heat than usual as he clocks 11-13 miles per gallon on the freeways north of San Francisco.
"I have people flipping me off all the time but because I'm from New York, I get my ya-yas out that way and I get to flip 'em back."...
Craig Fruchter says what counts more is the government's tax credit of up to $100,000 for vehicles weighing over 6000 lbs.
"I looked at the vehicles at the time and there was about four or five that fit the bill. There was the Range Rover at $75,000 and the Mercedes at $75,000 and so at a base sticker of around $50,000 and being able to write it off mostly and use it for work I thought it (the Hummer) was a good deal."
The Hybrid tax credit isn't quite as lucrative, totaling $1,500 for this year and declining 25% a year until it's phased out.
Secondly, so does the US Congress. How else to explain that they'll let you write off up to $100,000 for a monstrosity like the Hummer, but only $1,500 for Hybrids?
In the same vein, read the Matt Taibbi article in Rolling Stone this month - all about Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) quixotic battle to get 4 ammendments passed. Needless to say, Republicans hate democracy.
2 comments:
I think the better angle here is that fashion designers drive Hummers.
Do you really want to look ... not that there's anything wrong with that.
On a more serious note, I thought the sloppy "hybrids don't pay for themeselves" bit looked very out of place, when $20K Prius' follow $50-75K SUVs. I mean, you step down to the environmentally friendly Prius, and you save all kinds of ways. I did.
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