Juggling Dynamite

As auto sales slump worldwide, desperate dealers–many of whom built out large showrooms and overhead 2007 to 2017–are trying new tactics to drive sales amid a shrinking pool of customers with the resources, appetite or ability to take on more debt.

With many customers owing more on their auto loan than the vehicle is worth, trade-ins are not helping.  So, the latest trick is to encourage buyers to take out a second loan for a second car and then stop making payments on their original auto loan and ask the lender to repossess the first vehicle.

It’s called “kicking the trade”, and as the Wall Street Journal reports the impacts on credit scores, cash flow, lenders and financial stability is, of course, highly destructive.

Booking sales in one sector at the expense of everyone else is a model that must end.

Wall Street Journal reporters AnnaMaria Andriotis and Ben Eisen explain more in this audio report.

Problems often begin with consumers who buy cars they can’t afford or sign loans they don’t understand. But dealerships can compound the trouble. Some dealerships are inflating borrowers’ incomes on loan applications so they can sell them bigger or more expensive cars, according to lawsuits and interviews.

When dealerships kick the trade, they typically get a lender to approve a loan for the buyer’s new vehicle. Next, the buyer generally goes home with two vehicles and two loans. It is only then the buyer asks the original lender to repossess the original car.

The Boring Company’s boring machine has been working 40 feet underground since last November.  Last week, the team completed the innovative excavation of the first tunnel.  A breakthrough indeed.  See The Boring Company completes 1st tunnel for Las Vegas Loop Project.

Now the machine will be disassembled and returned to the starting point to begin boring a second tunnel parallel to the first. When completed, both tunnels will be about 0.8 miles long and have three stations, one at each end and one along the way.  The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority posted the below clip of the remarkable breakthrough.

Excavation is complete for the first of two tunnels that will comprise Elon Musk’s innovative underground transportation system beneath the LVCC campus. The project is scheduled to debut in January 2021. pic.twitter.com/CwpxEWDXYc

— LVCVA (@LVCVA) February 14, 2020

This map shows the first tunnel now complete and the second section next on deck.

IKEA is experimenting with onsite container farms at some of their Swedish stores to supply all of the fresh produce used in IKEA restaurants.

The farms use hydroponic technology and food waste from the store to create a nutrient solution to feed the lettuces.

See IKEA wants all restaurants to be self-sufficient in herbs and lettuce:

Since they’re grown onsite, the lettuce can be used almost straight away, meaning they’re fresher, tastier and contain more nutrients. They also grow faster, with less water and waste than conventional farming and without the use of pesticides and herbicides. A life-cycle assessment shows that when the urban farm is powered by renewable energy, the carbon footprint of the lettuce is 30% smaller than the ones we would usually use. IKEA is planning to extend urban farming so that they become self-sufficient in herbs and lettuce across all store restaurants.