Another tractor manufacturer out of business?

[CloverKnollFarms]

Survival should be predicated on one’s ability to survive… not on the amount of welfare they receive. One breeds strength, one perpetuates weakness

 

[RolandW]

I think most of the pro EV are missing the point. I have many vehicles most twenty years old or more, all road worthy, all diesel but for my 1979 cj7. My w126 diesel has 383,000 miles on it, I purchased a spare engine for it over a decade ago that sits unused in the barn corner shelf. Still runs like a clock, 30 + miles per gallon, admittedly third stereo as I do like more watts but a fantastic ride. I just bought a new Rav4 gas, tank is too small going to add in auxiliary gas tanks but not the hybrid. When I don't sell this thing in six or more years it will be worth six, eight, thirty thousand dollars more than the same EV used version that needs a new battery. Get it, the batteries don't last forever and will cost nearly as much to replace as a new vehicle. There will be no used market for these lawn ornaments. It costs more to recycle glass than to make new glass from raw materials same with batteries. A recycled battery will cost more and all recycling processes use and pollute water. Yes the water can be recovered but energy is consumed at every step and there is always waste produced that is usually toxic and has to be dealt with in a landfill. Don't just think short term five years think longer, harder. Lithium cells are efficient as how they are essentially "cells", compact wrapped foil divide paste electrolytes. Even the new chinese long strip batteries coming to the USA in 2025 have a big shortcoming, they are glued together, even more unserviceable. A disposable society is society that doesn't think about the future. Even if they finally realize the only answer for EVs are a five minute exchangeable, leased, refurbish able, gotcha by the nutz subscription plan the infrastructure will never be viable. There isn't enough copper, land for solar over people, food wildlife, power sources, resources, fire fighting equipment for electrical shorts, etc. The smart people already know this, that's why governments steal to push it. It's a gimmick, novelty to be left to history. A time in the past where shortsighted people wanted to feel good about themselves in the eyes if others without actually knowing the harm they were doing, aka woke. Ironically asleep in dreamland. Renewable is something that regrows, log fire places, alcohol ice (gas), fats and oils diesel, and bicycles or walk.

My rule for recycling is simple: If they won't pay me for it, it goes to the landfill.
Economics tells us that most recycling is laughably wasteful. It amounts to cult behavior.
One of my favorite headlines of all time appeared in our small local newspaper. The story was about the city's recycling center. If you read the whole story, you found that the center was costing the city something like $40,000 a year, even after they included in its receipts the hefty recycling surcharges they assessed waste haulers for every load of trash they dumped at the city's landfill. The headline? "Mayor Says Recycling Pays."

 

[arrow]

Survival should be predicated on one’s ability to survive… not on the amount of welfare they receive. One breeds strength, one perpetuates weakness

Absolutely.
They place the homeless in the wrong spots. In the city where they crap on the sidewalks and leave their needles all over the place.
They give them tents and they prop them up in city parks or sidewalks and parking lots.
If a person needs to have assistance i have no problem with that. Give them a tent heater, a good sleeping bag, a book on wood lore and a lantern. Drive them out to the wilderness and afford them a bow and a dozen arrows. Tell them good bye and have a nice day.
They either learn to survive or die in the woods.
I wonder how many would choose to continue the subsidy taking from the misplaced sentiments politicians use just to look good.
The way we do it now, we simply grow the problem.

 

[EddieWalker]

My rule for recycling is simple: If they won't pay me for it, it goes to the landfill.
Economics tells us that most recycling is laughably wasteful. It amounts to cult behavior.
One of my favorite headlines of all time appeared in our small local newspaper. The story was about the city's recycling center. If you read the whole story, you found that the center was costing the city something like $40,000 a year, even after they included in its receipts the hefty recycling surcharges they assessed waste haulers for every load of trash they dumped at the city's landfill. The headline? "Mayor Says Recycling Pays."

Hope I didn't already say this in this thread.

Back in the 90's when I lived in California, and was in the Teamsters, I got to know some of the guys that worked for the garbage company. They said that once they get back to the main warehouse, every recycle container was dumped in with all the other garbage. Then it's all hauled to the landfill.

In order to recycle, everything has to be sorted. Different types of glass, the aluminum cans would have metal cans in there, or other stuff, paper was anything from newspapers to magazines to phone books and hard cover books. Most of it wasn't recyclable, and what was, wasn't worth the time and effort to sort it out.

The city charges more for this, but it's just a scam to pretend to save the planet without actually doing anything.

 

[RolandW]

Absolutely.
They place the homeless in the wrong spots. In the city where they crap on the sidewalks and leave their needles all over the place.
They give them tents and they prop them up in city parks or sidewalks and parking lots.
If a person needs to have assistance i have no problem with that. Give them a tent heater, a good sleeping bag, a book on wood lore and a lantern. Drive them out to the wilderness and afford them a bow and a dozen arrows. Tell them good bye and have a nice day.
They either learn to survive or die in the woods.
I wonder how many would choose to continue the subsidy taking from the misplaced sentiments politicians use just to look good.
The way we do it now, we simply grow the problem.

Yes, when you subsidize something, you get more of it. It's also important to remember that there will always be charitable organizations to assist the needy. Do-gooders talk out of both sides of their mouths on this. On the one hand, they claim that Americans are generous and compassionate, therefore government aid is appropriate. On the other hand, if you point out that under those conditions there will be plenty of private charity to take care of the problem, they howl that it will never work. Which is it? If a majority does want to help, there will be plenty who will do it voluntarily. If a majority doesn't want to help, then forcing them to pay for it is undemocratic. So government charity is either unnecessary or undemocratic. Either way, it should not exist.

 

[5030]

Back in the 90's when I lived in California, and was in the Teamsters, I got to know some of the guys that worked for the garbage company. They said that once they get back to the main warehouse, every recycle container was dumped in with all the other garbage. Then it's all hauled to the landfill.

That holds true with 'every' refuse hauler I know of. The 'recycle' deal is nothing more than a 'feel good for the customer' thing and nothing more. It would not be at all profitable for a refuse collector to segregate materials as they are in business to make money not bog down their operation by selectively sorting stuff. Here, the local refuse collector provides 'special' recycle bins to residential customers to put their 'recyclable' items in but those bins get dumped into the truck along with everything else. Of course the refuse company charges for that container as well. Ain't no 'recycle' bin here, never will be.

I find the whole scenario entertaining. Having said that I do 'recycle' all the scrap my business generates. Gets recycled to the scrap yard and I get paid for it.

 

[5030]

I guess 'living under the radar' isn't all bad but I'd not want to live in a cardboard box myself. I hear they get soggy in the rain....

 

[RolandW]

That holds true with 'every' refuse hauler I know of. The 'recycle' deal is nothing more than a 'feel good for the customer' thing and nothing more. It would not be at all profitable for a refuse collector to segregate materials as they are in business to make money not bog down their operation by selectively sorting stuff. Here, the local refuse collector provides 'special' recycle bins to residential customers to put their 'recyclable' items in but those bins get dumped into the truck along with everything else. Of course the refuse company charges for that container as well. Ain't no 'recycle' bin here, never will be.

I find the whole scenario entertaining. Having said that I do 'recycle' all the scrap my business generates. Gets recycled to the scrap yard and I get paid for it.

Same here. I'm retired from the CNC machining business, and I'm planning this week to haul a load or two of steel and aluminum drops from my shop to the recycler. I'll get a few bucks for it, plus I won't have to worry that a chunk of metal might damage our (private) trash hauler's equipment. They do a great job for us and I wouldn't want to cause them headaches.

 

[5030]

I do segregate my scrap by type because aluminum brings more per pound than say common hot rolled. Same with stainless and non ferrous and brass really brings the cash to my pocket. As of late (at least around here), to bring in any scrap you must provide documentation as to who you are and your physical address as well. I think that is to discourage 'dumpster divers' and curbside scrap collectors but I don't know for sure. At one time I was going to have the local scrap yard provide me with a container until I found out what the rental fee was and that nixed that. Now, it all goes in 55 gallon drums that they empty and I bring back to the shop. The barrels are a little beat up but I don't care anyway.

I suspect the scrap business is very lucrative like the refuse business is.

 

[RolandW]

I do segregate my scrap by type because aluminum brings more per pound than say common hot rolled. Same with stainless and non ferrous and brass really brings the cash to my pocket. As of late (at least around here), to bring in any scrap you must provide documentation as to who you are and your physical address as well. I think that is to discourage 'dumpster divers' and curbside scrap collectors but I don't know for sure. At one time I was going to have the local scrap yard provide me with a container until I found out what the rental fee was and that nixed that. Now, it all goes in 55 gallon drums that they empty and I bring back to the shop. The barrels are a little beat up but I don't care anyway.

I suspect the scrap business is very lucrative like the refuse business is.

Years ago I had three or four 55-gallon drums of aluminum chips that I brought to a recycler. He climbed up on the truck and stuck a magnet into one of them. It came out with a few steel chips stuck to it, so he refused to take any of it. Hard to keep the chips 100 percent separated when you run a variety of materials in machining centers.
Any idea how much I can expect to get per pound for 12-foot bars of 360 brass? I have some 1/2 x 3 and 1/2 x 4 left from small injection molds I used to make. Also partial bars of aluminum. Mostly 6061-T6, and maybe some 2011.