“Eat the rich” is honestly where we’re headed. And I don’t mean literally eat I mean TAKE THEIR WEALTH.

Until billionaires are made illegal, and “real estate investment” (i.e. predatory price gouging on homes/apartments) is made illegal, everything is gonna continue getting more fucked. It’s too little too late though, greed has destroyed our planet. We’ve got front row seats to the downturn of human civilization.

I’m stocking up on canned food, and I’ve never been the doomsday prepper type. Honestly I think we’re about to enter a protracted global depression that makes ‘08 look like a speedbump.

My Accord is old enough to vote and I'll be driving it until it dies. Or until I do.

Don't forget they also made college unaffordable and made sure you can't get rid of student loans in bankruptcy. Charming place this is.

• a house.

But at least the billionaires are thriving.

If the loud ones (e.g. Elon) are any indication, I don't really think this is true either.

I have a friend in America who has to take 2-3 jobs just to be able to afford rent and basic living. It's shocking that things have gotten to that point

We’re careening towards the tipping point where the commute to my area to work will make it not worth it.

Jobs around here pay $16-18/hr and I have a couple coworkers who drive 1hr20m each way for that $16

Meanwhile rent anywhere near here is $1600/mo

It’s already almost unjustifiable for people to commute to this area to work, and you can’t live around here on the wages these places offer, so everyone is desperately hiring.

These retail companies are going to fold like a house of fucking cards. And honestly they fucking deserve it. These big chains enjoyed decades of insane profits without raising wages at all, now they have to raise wages for people to even exist and they’re still raising prices on goods to offset their new wage expenditures.

God forbid these corporate subhumans sacrifice 1% of their profits each year so that the entire economy doesn’t collapse.

My first ever apartment that I paid for all by myself cost 550 in bum fuck Georgia 15 years ago I’m pretty sure it’s still the nicest and largest apt I’ve ever had. I can only imagine what it costs now when this glorified hallway I live in now is 1850

I paid $550 in rent for a 550sqft apartment in a nice neighborhood in a midsize southern city just 6 years ago. Heard from a friend that's still there that new signups for the same place cost $1100 now.

It wasnt even as bad at that point.

Until reporters found the absolute dumbest people they could find for interviews and successfully spun the entire narrative as OWS being a bunch of looneys.

I bought a new car earlier this year. I got a Toyota. I intend on being its only owner (I will drive it until it is totaled). With the reliability I expect to get out of the car, that means I could be driving it for 15-20 years if I treat it right. Since I figure I’m going to be owning it that long 1) I wanted to get a specific configuration that I like 2) I was okay with spending a little bit extra (when you consider the intended lifetime of the car) to get it brand new.

Since I don’t ever plan on reselling it, I don’t care about the value of the car decreasing after I buy it personally.

That is accounting value and not real life resale value. If you could buy a car with 500 miles for 20% of the price, no one would buy new cars

Unless your get certified pre owned with a full warranty, the warranty on a new car is quite valued in my eyes.

I've had two different bought new cars with their original warranties that have both needed major work done just before or right after the warranty expired (just after was handled anyways).

But that was also when new car prices were much more reasonable.

I've been looking to replace my car this year. The used cars I'm looking at (2-3 years old) are almost as expensive as the new cars. Maybe I will save $5000-7000 on it. So why buy a used car with dubious history?

Buying used is just a better deal all around. The amount of 2 year old sub 20k mile cars available is huge and that's such a small amount of their life. Most anything can last to about 150k miles these days. You can get even more out of them, but bigger maintenance costs are going to be more likely.

I bought a car that was 6 years old three years ago because it was 30% of the price of a brand new car end first major service is due. If it's too much I'll just sell it and buy another used car and have a decent trade for it. My father taught me this method from his father before him, and the only time I deviated from it the car was recalled due to dieselgate.

The only benefit I can think of is being able to get something with all the features (and none of the pointless add-ons) that you want. Unfortunately 99% of dealers will want you to buy from the lot, which negates that pretty effectively.

They all also come with touchscreen infotainment systems and track everything you do. I’ll sell you a 2023 Subaru Legacy. I’m looking to buy something pre-2010.

Just throwing it out there: There's only one new car sold in the US below 20k. The Mitsubishi Mirage.

I bought my car for 5k 12 years ago. As long as the wheels go round, I don't need a new one. It's so much wasted money on unnecessary consumption.

Yes, this rubbed me the wrong way. The average person can't afford a "reasonable" 2 door Wrangler Rubicon.

Miss me with that shit.

Reasonable would have been a Mazda 3 Hatchback for half the price, and 30% better fuel mileage. Don't like Mazda for some reason? Fine, how about Corolla, Civic HB, Impreza, Elantra, Golf, Forte? Shit, need a mid size? For a bit more you've got the Camry, Accord , Sonata, K5.

Problem is you need the vehicle for your needs. Some people like to camp. Some like to cruise the city. Some have kids and need something that can qualify to install X amount of seats. It's quite crazy some of these things... car seat limitations and trailer towing capacities can really drive up the costs.

Not even $30k. I just got a pre-owned SUV for under $20k.

Genuinely who the fuck is spending that much on a car? My wife and I make over $200k combined and we feel that buying a new Honda civic seems overly frivolous at like $23k. She has a 2006 Toyota because it still works fine.

And I’m truly not saying this to come off poorly, I just can’t believe that the average new car is $48k, that’s just insane. If I feel like it would set us relatively-lucky high-earners back to buy a new civic, who are these average people?

30% of housing and utilities? Fuuuuuuck

Ya loans are the way most people do these things. Or they love out of their vehicles. It's crazy. Meanwhile I'm driving a vehicle from year 2000 that I've owned outright since 2009. Most I spent on a major repair was 6k. I'd be blown away if my total cost of ownership, including maintenance was over 25k. Unless you're making 160k a year with no dependents I don't know how these people do it.

We're not in the streets because a new sucker is born every day.

Wow, and I thought my car insurance of €170 was expensive this year!

Just spent $1.6K to put one last year of life, maybe two on my existing beater, because it's better than trying to replace it right now.

When I was growing up in the US south we had a lot of retirees from up north who'd brag about how everyone where they were from knew how to drive in the snow and ice and we were pansies for not wanting to. I spent a few years working up north and those mofos have cars that look like they've been through a demolition derby coming out of every winter. They don't know how to drive on it but they try anyway.

Except on that 43k you have tax and license and all the other bs fees...so you make your 8k down payment and end up financing the whole 43k and your payment is 800+/mo

Ask me how I know...

Yeah, fixing the financial reasons would be a nice bonus, but the root cause is the absolute failure that was/is/will continue to be the suburban experiment

fuck cars

All I want to buy is a ticket for a new train

Look at Mr. Moneybags over here getting an e- bike.

Because covid destroyed the car supply chain and made new cars basically the same price as used

In some cases, used is actually more expensive because it's available that day, whereas ordering a vehicle still takes 6+ weeks

Warranty. Safety features. Advanced tech.

Why don't these people just make more money!?

Trucks and suvs are very commonly written off by buyers as "business expenses." Think of Dudebro over there claiming his Ram for his lawn or handyman business or "hobby farm"because it can pull a trailer and tools... That's one large reason why they are so ridiculously expensive.

A 2 minute search at my local Chevy dealer's website shows several new 2024 Silverados in stock at $47K.

Yes, that's a lot. Yes, those are base models.

But it's not the $87K you randomly found. Not to be argumentative, but you can't cherry pick a top of the line truck and wonder why something that just "hauls stuff" is $87K.

You can make a solid argument about unaffordable cars without resorting to those tactics.

My Subaru will likely outlast me anyhow.

Rename New York to New Amsterdam

Again?

Oh silly. They said the poors couldn't afford them not that they would prevent them from buying them anyway and getting royally screwed. Auto loans are seriously SO predatory