It may be even worse when you piss of the working class folks. Here in Maine they elected a very conservative man to the Governor's office as a counterbalance to 40 years of *ahem* progressive growth from the legislature. Now there are a lot of very unhappy people on both sides of the aisle.
That pattern may repeat itself on a larger scale next fall.
The thing with the inspection system is that it's a complicated situation. The basic idea of a yearly inspection is a good one. The problem is that there were more than a few lawsuits brought against the state because their inspection program wasn't comprehensive enough.
You know how it goes .... Someone that may be lacking in common sense hops into a car that really isn't fit to drive. There is a mechanical failure, they perish in the crash, and their family files a wrongful death lawsuit against the state. The family wins, the payout is in the millions, and they have to tighten up the inspection regulations to cover anything and everything that could ever possibly go wrong.
The inspection mechanics are freaked because their first violation is a fine of about two weeks take home pay. A second violation can earn them some time in prison. Now they're reluctant to put a sticker on a vehicle that's over ten years old. What they do is come up with a long list of violations and explain that it will cost far more than the car is worth to fix it.
So .... the poor schmuck that's barely making ends meet has to go take out a bank loan to buy an 8,000 dollar used car that will pass for a sticker so he can get back and forth to work every morning. Now he can't pay for the health insurance that the law requires him to buy so he ends with a debt to the IRS and they slam him with interest & penalties.
Sheesh .... what a cluster**** !
(Sorry for the rant.)
This kinda gets my goat ?
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