GARBAGE AND RECYCLING!!

I for one, like so many others, do not like to take the garbage out. But, I understand the necessity to do so. It's bad to keep junk around for a multitude of reasons; one chiefly being it's not healthy.

Whenever possible, I recycle. I recycle everything I can actually: Paper, Cans, Bottles, Pets, and Cardboard. "Wait... did you just say Pets?"

So, when it comes to dealing with junk, what are we most apt to do? Throw it away. But there's a huge exception... Vehicles. There are countless numbers of used-car lots scattered around North America, and as a result, there's a huge surplus of vehicles that can be either had... or... you guessed it... RECYCLED! Even worse is the number of vehicles on the road, that shouldn't be on the road. Cars older than 10years that spew crap on each time their are started. Cars that leak their hazardous fluids. Cars that cost their idiot owners hundreds each year, because they are cheap bastards who can't be bothered to a) get rid of their junkers or b) save for a new car.

This is where Mr. Mondragon's comment makes sense. There are plenty of cars on the road that shouldn't be. Mondragon thinks that a good way to boost sales for cars is for the Government to pony up more cash for the scrap incentive. Good idea. Let's get these cars off the road by getting our government to pay people $3200 more than the current scrap incentive.

Good idea except...
1) there's no guarantee the hold outs will do it.
2) the government should not be on the hook for that stipend
3) why doesn't FORD offer this?
4) what's going to stop people who take on this offer from buying Asian/European offerings?

Clearly Mondragon is not running with all cylinder's firing.

Neither is the honourable George Smitherman.

Mr. Smitherman has called the OLG's decision to give away 22 Mercedes in the OLG's newest lottery offering, "crappy". I've got news for you... The OLG did the right thing. There isn't a single vehicle produced in Ontario by the big 3 that anyone playing a lottery would want. Besides... a measly twenty-two vehicles is NOT going to save the Auto industry in Ontario. If anything... that would've provided a few extra hours of work to our unionized friends. Not that it matters... the folks at the OLG have their own worries to mull over too.

Actually, I do have to step back here for a second. There are some fairly decent vehicles produced in Ontario that could have been put into the lottery winnings. The Acura MDX is made at the Alliston Honda plant. Sadly, that's the only decent vehicle getting pumped out by that plant. And then there's the compound in Cambridge... Toyota's. At that plant, the Lexus RX is produced. Not that it's really a luxury car, but it does have the essence of one - The Chrysler 300C could have been included in the lottery too, but only a fully loaded version, with 20'' dubs for wheels, XBOX360 in the back seat and a pooltable in the trunk. Or maybe not. A fully loaded 300C would have sufficed without that crap.

Speaking of Fully loaded... there's something that's bothered me ever since I got my car. Something the auto industry should be doing is reducing the number of available trims. Too many models out there with a handful of trims available. There's no need for multiple trims - CE, LE, SE, RS, ES, ETC., - All that's needed is just one model, your choice of colours, stereo, and transmission. Multiple engine offerings would have to go too.

I am by far no economist, but i'm sure many would agree that set price points would benefit the auto industry greatly. By this i mean, a sub-compact offering would be at a certain price range, and it would not have any overlap with the compact offering, and the compact has no overlap with the mid-sized. To a degree Hyundai/Kia has been doing this, and you know what, every day I think i see more of those on the road. But then again, that just might be because people aren't buying the shit made by Ford, Dodge and GM.