... and Bose stamps on your cheap Chinese speakers.

Something about the wording in that phrase gives me the urge to search Instructables for a how-to...

That's what I was thinking. Sure beats some manufacturers, whose idea of a "premium" vehicle is a base model with nicer trim and a few extra parts.

We teach our children that making money is more important than being happy, ie 'that degree is useless' or 'don't go into that field, you won't get paid much.' Our economy is based on wealth (gotta have money to make money), and our media is obsessed with how great the rich have it (next on Cribs, some athlete's ridiculously huge mansion and garage worth more than the GDP of a small nation).

The schools, the media outlets, hell even the sports teams are owned by the same cabal of very, very wealthy people.

So, if there's a 'wealth envy' issue in America, it's cultural, and the rich have no one to blame but themselves.

Right, but from the same manufacturer. That's why the signs say things like "Ford-Lincoln-Mercury" not "Chevy-Dodge-Ford" on the sign.

I know that's precisely the sort of emotional response I didn't want to see. And judging from your description regarding how you think dealerships work when it comes to pushing this model or that, I'd say you don't know nearly enough about new car dealerships to make an informed judgement on the topic.

If you read the prospectus for one of those for-profit jails, it basically says just that - we need more laws so we can incarcerate more people so our shareholders can turn a quick, tidy profit.

No, no, it just means that putting Mickey Mouse or Hitler down as a write-in candidate is actually a much smarter joke than we thought it was.

Because, generally speaking, human beings aren't nearly as intelligent as we tend to consider ourselves; creatures willing to sell their entire species into slavery for the price of some petty, selfish desire, and the delusion that "maybe someday I'll be a stupid rich, avaracious fuck myself!"

Were we the pinnacle of evolution we fancy ourselves, one would think we would have overcome our instinctual urge to smash the other cavemen with rocks and take all their stuff.

Can't believe that to be the case, because that would mean the people in charge of Tesla's Marketing Department are complete morons - never has a new car salesman tried to "steer" a potential sale to their competitors.

Ever.

Well said.

I think you just did.

1) "Because politicians are greedy!" is exactly the sort of emotional response I was looking to avoid.

2) Good link; I was expecting a "Tesla == teh shit" fluff piece, but the guy actually did have some legitimate bitches about the process of buying straight from the manufacturer, and well-reasoned explanations for why a dealership model would have been impossible for Tesla in the beginning, and would still be unprofitable today.

But you're not, and with an attitude like that you never will be.

Yes, there is subtext in that statement, and yes, the subtext is that billionaires are greedy assholes.

I have 2 questions I'd like answered by someone who's not financially nor emotionally invested in the whole "Tesla vs the Gobermint" debate:

1) For what reason would a state legislature want to make it illegal for a manufacturer to own their own dealership?

2) For what reason would a manufacturer not want to franchise their dealerships?

Thanks (to the probably 2 out of 100 responses that will actually fit my criteria) in advance.

FTFY

Your opinion has been noted. I argue that human behavior in general (ie, as a species) is not confluent with the aforementioned belief, and submit pretty much every news broadcast I've seen in my lifetime as evidence.

Agent K said it best: a person is smart; "people" are dumb, panicky animals, and you know it.

The only attribute he left out was "violent"