Saturday, February 20, 2021

Ride the New Current: Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

 When you type “Virginia Electric Ch...” into a search engine, results for the Electric Chair come up. Electric Charging Stations, the wave of the future, are an afterthought. As far as the adaptation of green transportation solutions go, this is a sad state of affairs, but an opportunity.

DC Fast chargers (DCFC) operate on 450 volt power, which is provided to every commercial and industrial property. There is no fuel leak hazard or noxious fumes. There is no logistics chain- no fuel laden hazmat trucks. The downside is that these fast chargers cost $50000 each, currently. This is one-tenth the cost of a new petrol station, but a price that prevents rapid proliferation.

Drive Electric Virginia has set a goal of making charging stations available to 95% of residents, within 30 miles of their home. This is a barebones system. A short term goal should be saturation in suburban and urban areas, and a charging station at every freeway interchange.

Multiple car and charging station manufacturers are condensing on a standard type of charging outlet, and electric car manufacturers, even Tesla, are providing adapters to their early-adopting car owners. Say goodbye to proprietary standards in the next 5 years or so.


Saturday, February 6, 2021

The Educated Working Class

Despite the vocal assertions of mainstream media, student loan debt is not killing millennials as a whole- 2/3 do not have loans as they have paid them off, acquired scholarships or grants (such as the GI Bill for veterans), or did not attend college. Furthermore, the average balance for those with outstanding loans is a reasonable $8000. (The conservative National Review provided these stats). But there are 6% with over $100,000 in loans, and likely a larger group with high five-figure debt: we could say a solid demographic quintile have large outstanding student loans.

Among this group, many face growing balances as a result of low monthly payments and a high interest rate. Many students were taken in for surprise: there is no counseling requirement for undergrad loans. This was the cost of following your dreams into struggling fields like journalism. Existentially, it calls into question the role of higher education: to pursue a passion, or seek return on investment? Historically, attending college was a ROI proposition, with exceptions for the wealthy elite and certain upwardly-striving debutantes. Then if everyone sought the ROI method, society would suffer as a whole. Compensation for teachers, social workers and public advocates did not rise to reflect the cost of increased professionalization in these fields. Low compensation is endemic to career fields with origins in “women’s work” and advocacy.

While the college graduate still out earns the non-college grad, the wealth gap has closed. At age 35, the skilled tradesman has a higher net worth than the loan-taking college graduate
An economic realignment of the tech and COVID eras has occurred. White collar unionization at workplaces such as Google is emerging. This reflects the precarious nature of employment: contract workers without a sufficient war chest  (cash reserve) to mitigate the risks of self employment or small business entrepreneurship.
A decline in entry-level positions makes it more difficult for new graduates to deploy learned skills in a meaningful way. Such self-employment is a principal part of the skilled trades. In the trades, the “get a good job” mantra could bring a middle class income, but creating your own job was the ultimate goal. White-collar professionals must now reckon with the change.

Politically, what can be done? Portable health insurance ( through the Affordable Care Act) is a key enabler. Universal Basic Income would assist in lieu of unemployment benefits
I advocate for student debt relief through interest rate reduction, rather than cancellation of principal. This is the fairest approach considering that a majority of students do make compromises to manage the cost of education, such as attending community college as a commuter student, or pursuing part-time studying while working. 

The college grad is in a different cultural milieu than the traditional working class, but its economic standing is not too far. It is a force to reckon with, electing progressive candidates. The hippie generation recovered its economic standing during the 1980s-2000 bull market; some college educated millennials from the comfortable middle class may not.

There exists dichotomies in political theory: working class vs rich, highly educated vs not; as well as labor vs management.
Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican, has called for a multiethnic working class party. Most likely speaking of  Economically secure part of the working class, holding rare or marketable skills, who is in control of their work life.