Jalopnik: trade

Snakes For A Car?

Ray Wert — Wed, 02 May 2007 18:00:00 EDT

Attention Hollywood directors, file this idea in your list of movie ideas for Sammy L. The infamous snake-killer could very well be interested in this man from London, Ontario who's decided he needs "a new vehicle." But since the only thing he's got is $3500 in camera gear and — err — what appears to be a bunch of snakes. Seriously — snakes for a car. We're at a loss here ourselves. Full ad is filed for your amusement below the jump. [Hat tip to Hoser Dave!] – Ray Wert

I've decided that I need a new vehicle all together. So, I'll do a trade, either for all my camera gear, or all my camera gear all my snakes I have a total of over $3500 invested in everything. Send me your offers. Remember, I need and want to sell / trade. I need something reliable. MUST be Cert.
Digital Canon Rebel XT w/ Kit lens
Canon Battery Grip (BG-E3)
Tripod (Cheap one)
Lowepro Slingshot 100aw case
Canon Eyepiece extender (EP-EX15)
Ultima 1GB CF card
Optex OPT 155 Tripod.
Optex Deluxe Digi-Blower

1.2 Jungle Corns (Albino, 2 100% het )
1.0 Snow Corn
1.0 Charcoal het Pewter(Bloodred)
0.1 Pewter
0.2 Amel
0.2 Anery
I'll even throw in the rack and bins.

And a bunch of frozen feeders.
Everything is in Excellent condition. And 100% healthy

Looking for: Trade for Vehicle? [KiJiJi.ca]

Breaking! China Changes "Free-Trade Policies" To "Not-So-Free-Trade Policies"

Ray Wert — Wed, 31 May 2006 14:03:35 EDT

China just announced two trade policy changes which'll have some serious impacts on like — every automaker. Although China's selling the new controls as a way to "cut production overcapacity" — the controls look more like a "cut Chinese automakers a slice of production." The requirements will force international automakers seeking further expansion in the Chinese marketplace to only build new manufacturing centers if their current plants are operating at least at 80% capacity. Also, they'll have to build Chinese brands as well as their own. That's like requiring Toyota to build Dodge Calibers as well as the Yaris if they want to sell cars in the United States. Hmm — methinks the WTO should be having a problem with this. WTO? Hello? Are you listening?

Report: China taking steps to cut overcapacity in car production [Freep]

Related:
China No Like-y Grow-y No More [internal]

Trade War, What Is It Good For?

Ray Wert — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 10:46:25 EST

Well, it's good for US parts manufacturers. Although we really aren't talking about war, today the feds fired the opening shot over the bow of the manufacturing leviathan that is China. The US is upset over China slapping US manufactured auto parts with higher taxes than those paid by their domestic parts manufacturers. Interestingly enough, despite the domestic auto industry looking for movement on this for five years, this is actually only the first case where this administration has filed a manufacturing trade dispute through the WTO against China. I guess it makes sense that its taken so long. I mean come on, the auto industry...who are they? It's not like they represent more manufacturing might than any other industry in the country. Pshaw! SO not important!

U.S. filing trade case against China over auto parts [Detroit News]

The Free Trade Boys Are Clucking: Repeal the Chicken Tax?

Mike Spinelli — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:16:59 EST

One of the many, little-known particulars of the automotive industry is a trade tariff economists call The Chicken Tax. Way back in the swinging '60s, Europe aimed to protect its chicken farms from the juggernaut that was the American poultry industry by tripling the tax on US-bred lunch-fowl. In response, we gave Europe's truck builders a collective Bronx cheer in the form of a 25% import tax on foreign-built trucks. Now, our lessez-faire-wether friends in Washington want to reduce the tariff in a free-trade agreement with Thailand, one of the world's largest markets (on both the supply and demand sides) for pickups. If the agreement goes through, the thinking is, scads of low-priced pickups could spill athwart these shores, severly pressurizing Detroit's light-truck profit center. Edmunds is for it. What say you?

Should the US keep the Chicken Tax? [Blogs @ Edmunds]

Autoextremist on Trade Policy

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 18:51:08 EST

Sweet Peet D. You know, we agree with him somewhat. Other governments are more involved with growing their automotive industries than we are. And their manufacturing bases. And we don't think it's some sort of either/or case in a nation like ours where one can't do highfalutin' things like R&D and cost-benefit analyses and economies of scale and whatnot. We believe the gov't needs to step in at this juncture and allow our manufacturers the headroom to do better. At that point, the initiative is up to them.

Of course, they haven't in a lot of ways. Ford gives their new Focus platform to Mazda at a time when economy cars are coming into vogue here. GM builds an economical, rear-drive platform and puts it up against a decade-and-a-half segment-defining juggernaut instead of using it to hit the BMW 1-series where it isn't and define a segment that hasn't been visited since the Toyota Trueno/Corolla AE86 nearly twenty years ago.

Chrysler comes out with an E-Class-based, V8, rear-drive architecture that absolutely refines and redefines what it means to be an American car.

And yet. And yet despite the goodness of what we've got, and there's a lot of goodness if you actually look, when your average American driver gets into a Camry, everything falls neatly to hand, whether one's come out of a '70 Chevelle or an '83 Starlet.

We dare you to try that in say, oh, a new Impala. Plus, the bezel around the shifter doesn't come off with an errant touch of the hand, as it does in Chrysler's LX cars. Or at least both of them we've tested.

So what will this politicking stop? One, possibly an easy market for Chinese cars. Two? It might buy the manufacturers more time. But one only needs to watch a few episodes of Top Gear to see what the Euros think of American cars.

And that show has 250,00,000 viewers. So one can bitch about Clarkson being a Little-Englander all one wants, but the man's got an undeniable impact. And as car guys, we can sit back and giggle and catch the nuance in his insults, even when we disagree. Joe Schmuck? Most likely, not so much.

We recently handed Dubya a "fuck you" when he basically disowned Detroit's automakers to Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. And he deserves it.

But at this point, while a balance of trade incentives and a "level playing field" might help American automakers narrow the gap (something that they have done in myriad ways themselves), they're not ever going to be the class of the field without Sweet Peet's other mantra: "Product, product, product."

Free trade? How about fair trade? [Autoextremist]