The quoted post is based on this original X post from Unusual Whales:
The US auto industry is absolutely to blame for pushing gigantic gas guzzlers on people. But the people who buy those monstrosities and get hugely into debt to do it are very much to blame too.
I think its the EPA for not regulating truck emissions as stringently as they do for normal cars.
DOT is in charge of CAFE regulations. The original law specified standards that were for "passenger vehicles" and "automobiles which are not passenger automobiles".
DOT interpreted that as trucks, which made sense back then. Unfortunately, every manufacturer just declared their cars to be trucks (invention of the SUV) and the DOT let them.
Then they made it worse by scaling fuel economy to vehicle size, so manufactures just made cars have a larger footprint to be allowed to have worse fuel economy.
It's also the auto industry for regulatory-capture of the EPA. It's an ouroboros of corruption with plenty of blame to go around.
What I'm reading there is that there's going to be a 2008-style Crash (this time on auto debt instead of realestate) alongside a 2000-style Crash (this time on Generative AI instead of a Net bubble).
Mind you, it will be centered in the US and other countries will mainly feel side effects.
2008-style Crash (this time on auto debt instead of realestate)
The 2008 crash was also an auto debt crash. That's why you had Cash-For-Clunkers rolled out in 2009 followed by Obama and Romney arguing over an automotive bailout in the 2012 election.
Combine that with a crash of the USD itself. Also commercial and industrial real estate never got the same protections as home loans post-2008 so there's a shit ton of 2008 style shenanigans concerning offices and industrial plots ready to also blow up.
There's no more road to kick our can down. We must face the can. The can is our reckoning.
Listen, I agree in practice.
But I would not quote "Unusual Whales" for economic advise. This is an AI account that posts "hot tips" for attention.
The deliquency rate for auto loans has been in headlines since at least March. This is a big show slow ship and it's bait to assume some AI account is going to tell you the day it goes down.
I have owned a car for 30 years, and never got close to $50,000. I once made the poor decision to buy a brand new $19,000 VW in 2009, never again. Only suckers buy new cars.
How much have you spent on maintenance, repairs, fuel, insurance, fees, taxes etc for your cars in those 30 years?
Only suckers buy new cars.
well you need them to or you'd not be able to buy used. Having no choice though ? that's what sucks.
brand new $19,000 VW in 2009
Passat? My dad made the same mistake. German engineering lmao.
Meanwhile the 2006 toyota I inherited from him still runs fine, though the paint and the plastics are sad.
Toyota supremacy.
I say this as a German.
Maybe 10 years ago, these days I hear Hondas are more reliable
To the extent that we need cars (since our infrastructure would take years to change even if there was the political will to do it) we need to start copying the Cubans and learn to keep old cars on the road longer. Bonus: they don't spy on you like new cars do.
I've spent only 9,000 so far on purchasing cars in my life. You do not need to spend 50k. I find the cheapest, most gas efficient beaten down used cars I can and ride them until I can't anymore.
People really fall into wanting a "nice" car, but if you treat it as a tool to take you from point A to point B and not a status symbol then you can actually find half affordable cars.
I'd love not to have a car, but public transit is nonexistent in my area. If I attempted to bike I would either get ran over or some asshole in a lifted truck would roll coal on me for fun
On purchasing, sure, but how much have you spent on maintenance?
(And also, roughly how old are you? Having spent only $9k in your life if you're 20 is a very different claim than if you're 50.)
A lot of people choose a car even when it is just worse.
My bike ride to work is 8km and takes 20-25 mins. Yet I know people who live and work near me who drive the same route which takes almost twice as long mostly sat in traffic. They spend more on their car than I do on my mortgage and that is before maintenance, insurance, oh and fuel too because despite choosing such an expensive car and never driving over 10km, oh yeah gotta go for ICE.
Suppose at least with such short distances driven that fuel lasts a while. Doesn't stop them moaning about it though. I should start responding with the cost of Cornish pasties to power my bike.
I would if i could. I hate driving, but I would get killed if i biked to work. Hell, I'd possibly die just trying to get to the nearest grocery store. I need a bike lane.
This was kinda the reason I went back to cycling to work when I lived in London (I had lived in The Netherlands before and there it was pretty normal to do so) - it turns out that it was faster to just cycle through half of Zones 1 and 2 than to walk to an catch the tube (at least London actually has a subway, by car it would've been even worse because of traffic, not to mention parking).
This was back when cycling facilities there were a bit of a joke and there were but a few people doing the same as I did.
Further, even though I was doing it in a big city (so air polution was a consideration), my health actually improved from it (more so when I discovered a site with a polution map of London and switched to a route that minimized time in big avenues with lots of traffic and polution).
These threads are always full of people saying, "why don't you just..." The problem is you are suggesting coping methods for a plethora of problems, in a vacuum individually. You're failing to put all of the problems of cars, trucks, and their requisite infrastructure together as the awful, smothering whole that it is.
"We destroyed?" - it was car industry, no? I remember there was something about car industry buying public transport just to shut them down late.r
I've taught car maintenance and repair to single soldiers for almost two decades. The issue with the Internet's default to buy used is unless you can repair it yourself or have someone that can work on your car cheaply it might not be the best call.
Hell, even being able to diagnose problems a bit can help avoid being scammed by places recommending unnecessary repairs or maintenance.
Oh and as someone who worked as the guy who told you all the stuff that needed to be done at a shady dealership, they will definitely recommend whatever they can. And then its $180 and hour for labor and its .5 hours of labor to change an air filter. I couldn't cut it in that world...
Sounds like a lot of people were convinced to borrow way more than they could afford for a status symbol no one should care about. Financial literacy should be taught in middle school.
And now the local wants to have to commuting tax.. Y'all better dig up the pavement and put those trolleys back in service. If I'm going to have to take transit it better be free of traffic
Ban cars from ~~populated~~ areas.
Or ban cars from Gaia.
All Cars Are Bad 🦔
Ban cars from populated areas? That is anti-freedom! This fantastic game lets you explore they joys and freedoms of car ownership: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3031880/Car_Park_Capital/
Does this mean we'll finally get some decent cheaper used cars on the market? (Just kidding, we all know the answer.)
Feels pretty good living in one of the few parts of the US where you don't need a car. Just walk or take transit.
Moving to such a place isn't practical for everyone, sadly.
A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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