If only we had invented and built some sort of alternative mode of collective transportation. Maybe it could be in tunnels and ride on metallic rails. It would serve many people and make periodic stops to the same locations instead of the highway clusterf- we have today. Sad that we don’t, but a man can dream though. A man can dream.
Reported as not really being politics, and I could see it as being more !news@lemmy.world or even !business@lemmy.world
But pocket book issues like this impact politics.
“It’s the economy, stupid!” and all that.
Everything is politics.
The only way you can escape politics is to live alone on an uninhabited planet.
Even then, I’m sure someone would figure out a way to have conflicting ideas that need to be argued out. There’s a reason Tom Hanks invented Wilson (and the real-life stories such concepts are based on), we NEED other people to engage with, to debate with, to argue with, for validation and support and to negotiate with in order for our ideas to sharpen and for our minds to stay stable. Without this, we lose our minds or even die.
So not only is everything politics, we can’t live without it.
I think about this every time I see someone whinging about politics in entertainment.
Ok, except for sportsball
Politics underpins finance at every level
I feel most of the mod decisions are arbitrary, but there’s also a good reason we don’t all just post everything in an “everything” com.
Yern idiot
I didn’t report it, I’m stating it WAS reported and the reason why.
My post explains why I didn’t remove it. 😉
It’s good to have a forum to discuss the issue from a political angle. You can wedge politics into everything if you try hard enough but then for other stories, you don’t really have to try at all. This one seems like the latter.
Nothing like a great self-referential comment
Have they Tried RAISING Prices while DROPPING Wages? That might help!
Just stop importing avocados and toast
No! Only import avocados and toast.
From Argentina
Why not just finance the unaffordable cars for 10-15 years? That’ll solve the problem.
And ensure they catastrophically fail around year 6 or 7
The slow wither approach.
WHAT??? HOW WOULD THAT POSSIBLY HE----oh. I see what you did there. I ate the lemon.
maybe if dealers would actually tell you the price of the car instead of spinniing it as a monthly expense
Yes, but how can that poor salesman possibly get you into the most expensive car for the longest terms that way? They’ve got a commission to max out!
There is a dealership local to me that pays their sales staff annual salaries with benefits rather than working on commission. It’s the only place anybody in my family will buy a car now.
America had a public rail system already…
We nationalized rail during WW1, and then after giving it back they all went broke in the 60s
So then Amtrak was created (there’s a push to privatize it right now) and when that was going to put private rail out of business, Jimmy Carter de-regulated rail so private companies could cut corners and not be replaced nationwide by Amtrak
We’ll never get nationalized rail on a good scale with neoliberals, they’ll never fix any problem where money is involved, because they’ll take the offered money to change their minds.
Uh oh
In August, the share of subprime auto loans where borrowers had missed payments for 60 days or more was 6.43pc, according to Fitch Ratings. Bar a 6.45pc reading in January, this was the highest level recorded since Fitch’s data began in 1993 (back then, the rate was just 0.12pc) and far above the financial crisis peak of 5.04pc.
Woah
I’ll tell you what though, I’m glad I have a paid off car.
About to buy one, but old and easy to fix. And cash lol.
How do I Michael Bury the auto loans? 👀
Are the millennials killing car ownership!?
Boomers told me millennials kill everything. Which by its own nature means millennials killed killing everything.
But that means they also killed killing killing everything
Not long ago I could buy a used van for 5000. Now I had to pay like 13k for a used one after our typical accident caused by another person had an insurance that wouldn’t pay up.
That’s such a shit business going around telling people they’re covered but then in the end not actually covering anything. I get it cars depreciate… Well great, why doesn’t my insurance premium deprecate? I would gladly maintain the same level of payment if it means my car will be replaced. Similarly, if they won’t actually replace my car, they should just tell me…you’re going to need $5000 to make up the difference if you get into accident.
Buying a new vehicle hasn’t made sense for about 30 years now.
I’ve been driving for about 30 years and in all that time, I’ve never owned a new vehicle. I kept buying used vehicles for about $2,000 - $3,000 per vehicle. The oldest one I’ve ever had is a 2004 Volvo station wagon and I still maintain it and it’s still running as one of my main vehicles. My other main vehicle is a 2010 GMC Truck which I also maintain. They don’t look new, they show a bit of rust around the edges, but they are still very good vehicles that will last several more years.
Once they break down enough … I’ll buy another used vehicle. In all, over the past 30 years, I’ve spent about $30,000 on multiple vehicles (I think I’ve gone through 8 or 9 in that time).
It has never made sense to me to buy a brand new $40,000 car that will only be used for about five years before you buy the next one.
I’d really like to know where you are buying 15 year old GMC trucks for $2000-$3000 that presumably run and aren’t beat to shit.
I bought it when it was ten years old and from a friend of a friend who was selling it privately. The only real way to grab a good vehicle is if you know of someone who had a vehicle from new. It’s just constant searching and luck that one is able to find vehicles like this. The guy I bought it from had it from new and took care of it and by the time I got it, it had minimal rust. He knew the truck’s life was limited which is why he wanted to get rid of it. As soon as I took hold of it, the rust started growing on the damned thing and I’ve been fighting to keep it going and away from any further rust as possible. The engine and transmission are good and will last a very long time, its just the rest of the truck, especially everything from the wheel wells down (minus the engine and transmission) that will fall apart first.
Speak for yourself.
I have purchased multiple new cars over the last 25 years, and, while they’re more expensive than a used car (although that difference is shinking all the time), I also run them for years because I can keep up with maintenance. My last new car was bought 14 years ago and is pretty much still new condition. I still even have the plastic film over the climate control screen.
I don’t care about depreciation or resale values.
EDIT: Punctuation.
I still even have the plastic film over the climate control screen.
This is how we know this guy is a bot, alien, psychopath or monster.
HOW THE FUCK HAVENT YOU PULLED THAT OFF?!?!?!?!?!?
Ha! 112k miles and still sticking. At this point, it’s like a streak milestone so I’m just seeing how long it goes and curious what the dealership reaction will be if I ever trade it in. Thus far no one in the service department has ever commented on it.
Would you peel it before you sell it if you ever sell it?
Like you could show it to them and peel it off…
Ooh. That’s a good question. Or do I leave it so they can put it as a feature on the car’s listing? :D
Demand an extra $3k for pristine screen with the oldest most satisfying peel off you would ever experience. Feel the 200k miles as you slowly pull it off, or let it grow to 300k for even more vintage plastic value!
I can say this proudly because I live in northern Ontario which basically salts our vehicles for about six months of the year. We might as well live on an ocean coast, we have so much salt on our highways. I do my own undercoating every year (it’s a real pain) and I put it on thick and in every nook and cranny. The work that I do just delays the rust, it doesn’t prevent it because there is just too much salt up here. Mix into that ice and snow and all that stuff just cakes on, falls off, takes away the coating, exposed metal, more salt and repeat all winter long. I’m lucky if I can hold onto a vehicle longer than ten years up here.
I’m in Minnesota and we use salt also, although in recent years it’s been a lot more brine and pre-treatments before it snows rather than just dumping rock salt out like they used to, which has helped. Used to see rust in wheel wells and such all the time, but it’s much more rare these days.
You could have bought yourself a 1 year old used car and saved yourself thousands for the same outcome
Maybe. Or I could be driving a one year old lease repo that the dealer pinky promises is good as new. I’d rather actually buy new and get the warranties and protections that come with it. Thankfully thus far, I have been in the financial position to be able to do so. I’m beyond the point in my life where I want to be driving the $600 K-car to save cash. Everyone has something that they think spending the extra money is worth it, for me, it’s having a nice car that lasts.
Plus, without people like me buying new stuff, you wouldn’t have those one year old cars to buy in the first place.
That’s what I did, less than half the price for a car with 10k on the odometer
I’ve never seen people more mad that a stranger paid a few thousand extra amortized over 14 years.
Yeah, my current car is an almost 20 year old Mercedes c class, bought it a couple of years ago for 3k. Some of those cars that used to be at the upper end of the price range are pretty affordable when they get older. Mine had a good dealership service history, it’s given me very little trouble, and it’s great to have a nice car. I can’t imagine wanting to buy anything new, even if I could afford to.
My 2003 E-Class remains the best car I’ve ever owned, except for one annoying fault that kept coming back with reman parts and new part availability was shit - the steering rack. I do fully believe I just had bad luck with the reman units personally, but it made me sell the car. It had almost 400k km on it at the time and still drove beautifully. Of course I replaced some ball joints and two lower control arms and a few other things… But that’s natural.
Once living in your car became a viable housing alternative, they had to take that away, too.
Wait until they figure out we need food to live.
They already have. Why do you think grocery prices have been a major political talking point? Since most people don’t have enough money to buy property where they can grow/raise their own food, and many municipalities explicitly ban the raising of animals to “protect” the agriculture industry, most people are stuck. Your only option is the monopolistic grocery chains.
Do you know what Henry Ford himself did?
Increased the wages so his own workers would buy his cars…
And gave them more time off to use them. He wasn’t any humanitarian paragon, just a good capitalist.
A capitalist with a longer time horizon than next quarter
Right, a capitalist. What we have now is something else, something demented, rotten. The wealthy are aware of that, maybe not that they caused it, but they pay smart people to manage their money and it must be obvious that a myopic business strategy is preferable to a long term one. Workers aren’t assets anymore. Ford might have been a shithead, but he understood the vitality of low turnover to a successful long term company. My grandfathers brother worked for Sikorsky his entire life, started turning a single bolt and retired from the executive suite. But his generation was among the last to be that lucky. There is a barrier between labor and management, it used to be a college degree, now it seems to be a PhD or a Masters. Which is just a different representation of money because education is wildly overpriced. There are obviously exceptions, but it’s rare to find large companies that still promote from within, especially from the floor to a desk.
Not sure we should celebrate that man, but the idea
Fake News. All my homies can’t wait to go sixty goddamn thousand dollars in debt to by a house-sized . . I wanna say . . truck?
Me though, been pulling extra shifts - got my eye on that $90,000 volvo EV. Mmmm! You basically can’t afford NOT to buy it!
If I had the money lying around I’d totally buy a midlife crisis car. A v8, automatic coupe style with a real healthy rumble to it. I drive less than 3k miles/year, and barely travel far enough to make the lowest end of the fuel efficiency range. You know the kind of car that says “yeah this car is for fun, and that dude is probably not alright”.
But I have class so at minimum I’m looking at burning $60k on like a used Lexus RC F.
Like come the fuck on you know? Even if I ponied up “half” that cost, the 5 year loan runs $700/mo. $700. Who the absolute fuck has a monthly extra $700 just sitting there right now AND that mystery $30k I mentioned.
Are people just not able to math?
No, they are not. That’s why a significant number of students fail math classes. The number of children who cannot even perform basic 7th-grade math is shockingly high. Then, they discover that they will pass even if they fail, so they relax and blame the teachers when their parents see their grades.
The average American car payment right now is like $670 per month. Its truly absurd. Its no surprise that people are drowning when you look at what theyre paying to have this or that.
Even more shocking is the amount of people buying their next car while still underwater on the first one. A large number of people are rolling $10k of prior vehicle debt into the purchase of a vehicle, driving up their monthly even further
You have gotta be shitting me.
I thought I was being unreasonable for playing around with the idea should I figure out a way to save up the $30k for a midlife crisis car.
And here people are already paying that premium while in debt with another vehicle. So they roll over the debt. Now, I’m not exactly sure why the people bought a new rolling death machine, but it sounds a lot like a significant lack of reason.
He’s not. I bought a Subaru with an 820 credit score and still couldn’t get less than like a 6% APR through my own shopping and dealer even looking. This was a year ago. My payments are in the 500 range though.
Thankfully my other car is paid off and we’re in a position to afford the Subaru without issue. It’s become my wife’s daily while I drive the paid off Hyundai.
My wife and I are saving for a “down payment” for our next vehicle. I’ve got about $10k saved but I really need at least $20k down to make the payment manageable. I should be buying outright with $20, but here we are.
Trump is bankrupting Americans and America so they can install a technocratic dictatorship
Sure. An eroded economy. Stagnant wages for many long with decreasing buying power. Price hikes thanks to tariffs, increasing insurance costs, rising subscription costs, etc. Cars bought at inflated prices and high interest for extended payment schedules during the covid price gouging, and just generally way too expensive these days anyway, are all draining bank accounts far more quickly than ever.
Bet any repos don’t go back on lots for resale, they’ll park them in the desert somewhere just to prop up scarcity and new car prices.
Can’t we have affordable repairable cars AND reliable public transport? That would sure be nice.
Many places in America at least are just too spread out. But we dont need a super mega duper feed f teenthousand to drive around. Shit like the Slate would be amazing if it could exist (I realize bezos funded it. Still doesn’t keep it from being a bad idea).
Thats why I will argue old cars were undeniably better. You could actually repair them and they weren’t rolling spyware with a subscription.
1990 to about 2014 is the perfect spot for cars. Before that is archaic for most people (i prefer 80s cars myself) and newer than that its just a corpo bot on wheels.
Might I suggest Open Source Repairable Electric Cars, Trains, Trams, Bikes, Bike-Cars, Walking Bikes, Boats, and VTOL’s those would be awesome to get open source alternatives for
Slate EV is open. But watch, no one will buy them.
Good luck finding parts from the 80s though besides pickup trucks since I still lots of those from that era on the road still
Oh there’s a lot of parts for American 80s cars around. And their crude enough you can fab most things to work fine or just get aftermarket if you need to.
Just bring lots of money for gas.
Also, Obama trashed most pre 2000s cars, so Detroit bailouts would work.
Yeah that whole thing really pissed me off. Tons and tons of great old cars destroyed. Further helping the rich and fucking over the poor.
US admin is catering to corporations who only want to suck in everyone’s money.
The new corporate objective is to have everyone die penniless, with no inheritance for their children.
Except for the wealthy, of course. They know how to handle money responsibly, by investing it properly, and not blowing every last penny on fleeting pleasures like food, housing, and transportation.
When someone says family comes first, they often mean their family over yours.
