One reader sent the following as an opinion about the possible future of the electric car. I thought it worth sharing with you and would like to know what you think.

“I was watching the BBC America news last night and they were interviewing a gentleman who has instead of inventing a new electric car, he has invented an electric drive chain system that he can adapt to your existing vehicle. So instead of buying a new electric car for around $70,000, you just convert your existing car. The cost for this is $25,000.00 and it takes 1 to 2 days.

My thoughts are, why should I go out and buy a new gas or diesel car for $25,000 to $30,000 knowing that one day, gas and diesel will became a thing of the past? I would much rather pay $25,000 to have my Honda Civic upgraded to electric. My Honda is reliable and comfortable and although the engine has done nearly 200,000 miles, the body work is in fantastic condition.

With an electric upgrade, my car could last another 30/40 years, as long as I look after the body. The new drive chain system does 150 miles per charge, so in my situation, I only need to charge it once a week.”

So, again I ask, what are your thoughts?

November saw scrap iron prices continuing to skid with prices dropping $60-$100 per ton since October. Not that anyone is shipping very much scrap – at least not in our neighborhood. The fact that it hasn’t hit bottom seems to support the theory that it will take a long time to climb back out of the hole. So, what are your predictions on the time line? How long will it take before scrap begins to move at normal rates again?

Sometimes, things happen that just make you want to speak out. This is one of those times. On Black Friday, a very unfortunate incident occured that caused the death of a temporary Walmart employee. It was unthinkable to me that people could have such low esteem for the sanctity of life that they would first, trample someone to death trying to save a few bucks and next, have to be escorted out of the store by police instead of leaving upon the insistence of store personnel due to the death of one of their own.

Now, to top it off, we, as a society relieve the perpetrators of any blame and point the finger at the store and others responsible for the advertising. I don’t blame the family – they lost a love one and in their grief, they would like someone to be held accountable since no suspects can be determined. I also believe retailers certainly need to re-evaluate their policies concerning door buster type sales. But don’t we, as a society need to re-evaluate how much we care about others around us and quit allowing ourselves to be so driven by the advertising to which we are exposed to the extent that it causes a fatality?

We need to take back the responsibility for our own actions and quit trying to find other people to blame. People who are overweight or who have overweight children due to eating too much junk food need to stop blaming advertisers and just say no, I’m not going to eat that or no, I’m not going to let my kid eat that. So where are those who pushed and shoved so much to get into the store and broke open the doors, causing the trampling? Take responsibiltiy and quit being so cowardly hiding behind anominity.

You can tell those companies that have spent the last few bull years building themselves up with a long-term strategy – they are the ones that are now continuing to move forward with business, albeit with caution. They are looking for opportunities to grow their market share and to continue with other growth strategies. They have taken the stance that simply hunkering down is what leads to losing market share in the long term and are proactive in their efforts instead.

These types of companies accomplish two things – one is, they help keep the economy from slipping further down and second, they set themselves up to be big winners once the economy gets clicking again. The point is, when the economy gives you lemons, make lemonade.