- cross-posted to:
- urbanism@hexbear.net
- personalfinance@lemmy.ml
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- urbanism@hexbear.net
- personalfinance@lemmy.ml
- news@lemmy.world
But as things stand, cars are still really expensive for many Americans. Just 10 percent of new car listings are currently priced below $30,000, according to CoPilot. Things are not much better in the used car market, where only 28 percent of listings are currently priced below $20,000.
According to an October report by Market Watch, Americans needed an annual income of at least $100,000 to afford a car, at least if they’re following standard budgeting advice, which says you shouldn’t spend more than 10 percent of your monthly income on car-related expenses.
That means that more than 60 percent of American households currently cannot afford to buy a new car, based on Census data. For individuals, the numbers are even worse, with 82 percent of people below the $100,000 line.
$100k to afford a car! Wtf.
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I spend more than 10% of my monthly income just on fucking gasoline
You guys said you wanted to reduce emissions from transportation! Look, we’re problem solving!And yet, you must own one lest you be considered a pariah most places
Hate this shit
And to be fair that’s not just a weird social stigma that’s only developed because of classism, it’s a social stigma that developed because you need a car to get anywhere
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Sure there’s walkable cities but whoa mama rent is expensive…but this totally doesn’t say anything about how popular walkability is, and that if Americans could live in walkable areas they would…no way.
Fr. I’ve had a car for several years now, but I still get angry over how often I was given shit or denied [low-paying] jobs because I would bike or bus to the place a couple miles away. Part of what keeps me angry is probably knowing people with disabilities denied work or how friends of mine have gotten fucked by our shitty bus system, which is still one of the better ones in the US, mind you.
America is hands down the shittiest place on earth to live. First they squeezed everybody out to 2+ hour commutes with unsustainable urban rents; then they raised the price of the cars to make those mandatory commutes; now they’re raising the rents on the suburban and exurban shitholes people got forced into. Nowhere to live, no way to get around.
America is hands down the shittiest place on earth to live.
Lacks a little perspective
I live in Colombia. I’d rather be the poorest person in Colombia than working a regular job in the States, at least here I could go to a doctor
Will this lead to more transit investment or will it lead to a tax credit that can be used on a low-interest 30-year car loan for entrepreneurs of color in opportunity zones?
There actually is more transit investment in the US than there’s been in a long time but it’s about 5% of what it should be. The other 95% is tax credits.
More transit investment for less transit results. The consultants are getting paid but nothing is getting built.
There’s a lot that can be said about the Biden adm. but one good thing is there is actually a push to expand passenger rail, which no other adm. has done in a very long time.
Its not enough, but it’s better than it has been in the past.
Obama pushed for the same and fucking nothing got built. I s2g if you mention CAHSR…
Sure, but this is more than just pushing for it. It’s actual money being invested. That isn’t to say it’ll actually get anything done, but it is a small step in the right direction. There’s plenty of things to complain about, but the few good things should be celebrated as well.
Obama also got tons of money appropriated for rail. Here’s a sympathetic write-up from 2014: https://time.com/3100248/high-speed-rail-barack-obama/
Headline projects were CAHSR, Florida HSR, and Wisconsin HSR. Republican governors sent the money back in Wisconsin and Florida, and that got sent to CAHSR and Acela, mostly.
Some lowlights from projects mentioned in the article:
- “it’s bringing trains to the Illinois towns of Geneseo and Moline for the first time since 1978” - still no train despite at least $400m in federal funding
- “By 2017, the program will reduce trip times from Chicago to St. Louis by nearly an hour through upgrades that will increase top speeds from 79 to 110 miles per hour” - $1.66bn in federal dollars later travel times are now half an hour shorter as of last year
- “Chicago to Detroit will get a similar boost” - 80 miles of Amtrak-owned track were improved from 79mph to 110. It’s saved about 20 minutes after over a decade.
The money got spent, but not efficiently and not on anything new. The Obama admin’s obsession with spreading the money everywhere out of some awful instinct that it would get them Republican buy-in just resulted in terrible kneecapped projects. Hell, even some of the money that went to states that wanted it (California) mostly got wasted. CAHSR is terribly designed, terribly managed, terribly constructed, and terribly expensive. It has also probably done significant damage to the American political will for HSR.
Watch all of that funding go nowhere as the projects overrun like crazy and get cancelled.
Protectionist policies barring Chinese cars from being imported has to be the main factor
I think it’s just more of the rot. Americans couldn’t ever really afford cars to the extent that they were used, no society can. And I don’t mean this on a moral ground or whatever, just economically it is a terrible, terrible system to uphold and only ever functioned due to absolutely gargantuan subsidies at every point
But, you know, that works for a while if your average consumer gets a nice treat, but it’s simply unsustainable
That and the ballooning of SUVs and elimination of small cars.
And making every car “smart.” My app fails or my key fab battery gets to cold and I can’t start my car. It’s so fucking stupid, but I had to lease a new car instead of buying a used one because it’s a smaller down payment and I was technically unemployed, but needed a car for the job I was starting.
I hate America
