5 ms·

It’s bizarre to see people in nice, high end cars, to queue up for free food.

by moltar 7y ago

rwmj 7y ago
Why? It's quite likely they don't own the cars outright. People were encouraged to take our car loans and have repayments to make, and the US has constructed its cities in such a way that cars are essential.
- esotericn 7y ago
  Yes, this is bizarre.
- megablast 7y ago
  Because it is stupid. If you can't afford it, do not lease or rent it. That way you have less money. And you can live without a car, it is about structuring your life better.
  - rwmj 7y ago
    I agree with you, but ... Vast majority of people don't have enough money or free time that they can "restructure" their life around not having a car, which would involve a house move at least. At the same time they are bombarded by advertising for easy car loans, and feel they have to compete against friends and neighbours with possessions which they cannot afford. They take the easy (and apparently state-sanctioned) way out.
  - tams 7y ago
    > And you can live without a car, it is about structuring your life better. While that's certainly holds true for some metro areas, it's certainly not a rule for sprawling US cities built for cars. Opting out of car ownership limits your employment options, social mobility, and so on.
  - pm_me_ur_fullz 7y ago
    "How dare people have dignity and transportation and communication." Most people do not have the money to purchase a car outright, even the cheap several thousand dollar ones. Therefore they rent or lease, and hope this specific scenario never happens. and get this: they clean them too.
  - fwn 7y ago
    In many regions, especially suburban or rural regions, _a_ car is a necessity, yes. That doesn't mean it has to be an expensive car though. Many Americans make awful decisions around their cars. We had this thread five months ago: Borrowers Are Going Underwater on Car Loans (wsj.com) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21505748
  - paganel 7y ago
    > Because it is stupid. If you can't afford it, do not lease or rent it A lot of people were being made fun of for not taking 0% loans in order to purchase cars: "it's free money!", they were told, "you'd be stupid not to take free money". It turns out those 0% loans had other hidden costs that many people were not aware of (like the costs of you not being able to service debt once your revenues go to zero).
  - rXoX 7y ago
    You clearly haven't got the first clue about how Americans live. In 90% of America, you need a car. It's not debatable. This is a country that has spent the last 70 years spreading out on cheap land. Any place outside densely populated, carefully planned coastal areas doesn't have the density to make transit either affordable or reliable. Look at the city centres of places like St Louis or Atlanta; they're essentially glossy towers surrounded by highways - NOBODY lives where they work. Nobody. And they can't because American planners have ever heard the term 'mixed use' when it comes to zoning. It's a disgusting hellhole of urban planning; just a stinking, rotten cesspool of stupid.
  - save_ferris 7y ago
    > If you can’t afford it, do not lease or rent it. I agree with you, but the problem is that the bankers aren’t telling this to people and have become over-reliant on subprime consumer debt like this. Uber launched a lease-to-buy program for their drivers so they could nicer cars on the road and then didn’t uphold their promise to attract more riders to Uber Black. Consumers are getting preyed upon so hard in the US and we act like it’s just business and poor people are dumb for a reason. > And you can live without a car, it is about structuring your life better. This is such an invalid statement for most Americans, and it’s deeply condescending to boot. There’s simply no viable alternative to car ownership for most Americans, period. If you have (or had) a job that required any sort of commute and you don’t live in a handful of cities with first class public transit (which are pretty much all in the northeast), you could spend up to 2-3 hours commuting each way every day using public transit. That’s just a non-starter for most. Even tech cities like Austin and SF have poor transit options compared to Europe.
save_ferris 7y ago
I see one old Mercedes in the first photo below the headline and one Camaro in the very bottom photos. The rest look like Ford/GM/Chevy/Toyota, standard automaker labels for the most part. I know I've probably missed a few, but there are very few luxury vehicles in these photos. Where are all of the high-end cars in these pics? Most look like standard makes and models to me.

It’s bizarre to see people in nice, high end cars, to queue up for free food.

by moltar 7y ago

It’s bizarre to see people in nice, high end cars, to queue up for free food.

rwmj 7y ago

Why? It's quite likely they don't own the cars outright. People were encouraged to take our car loans and have repayments to make, and the US has constructed its cities in such a way that cars are essential.

esotericn 7y ago
Yes, this is bizarre.
megablast 7y ago
Because it is stupid. If you can't afford it, do not lease or rent it. That way you have less money. And you can live without a car, it is about structuring your life better.
- rwmj 7y ago
  I agree with you, but ... Vast majority of people don't have enough money or free time that they can "restructure" their life around not having a car, which would involve a house move at least. At the same time they are bombarded by advertising for easy car loans, and feel they have to compete against friends and neighbours with possessions which they cannot afford. They take the easy (and apparently state-sanctioned) way out.
- tams 7y ago
  > And you can live without a car, it is about structuring your life better. While that's certainly holds true for some metro areas, it's certainly not a rule for sprawling US cities built for cars. Opting out of car ownership limits your employment options, social mobility, and so on.
- pm_me_ur_fullz 7y ago
  "How dare people have dignity and transportation and communication." Most people do not have the money to purchase a car outright, even the cheap several thousand dollar ones. Therefore they rent or lease, and hope this specific scenario never happens. and get this: they clean them too.
- fwn 7y ago
  In many regions, especially suburban or rural regions, _a_ car is a necessity, yes. That doesn't mean it has to be an expensive car though. Many Americans make awful decisions around their cars. We had this thread five months ago: Borrowers Are Going Underwater on Car Loans (wsj.com) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21505748
- paganel 7y ago
  > Because it is stupid. If you can't afford it, do not lease or rent it A lot of people were being made fun of for not taking 0% loans in order to purchase cars: "it's free money!", they were told, "you'd be stupid not to take free money". It turns out those 0% loans had other hidden costs that many people were not aware of (like the costs of you not being able to service debt once your revenues go to zero).
- rXoX 7y ago
  You clearly haven't got the first clue about how Americans live. In 90% of America, you need a car. It's not debatable. This is a country that has spent the last 70 years spreading out on cheap land. Any place outside densely populated, carefully planned coastal areas doesn't have the density to make transit either affordable or reliable. Look at the city centres of places like St Louis or Atlanta; they're essentially glossy towers surrounded by highways - NOBODY lives where they work. Nobody. And they can't because American planners have ever heard the term 'mixed use' when it comes to zoning. It's a disgusting hellhole of urban planning; just a stinking, rotten cesspool of stupid.
- save_ferris 7y ago
  > If you can’t afford it, do not lease or rent it. I agree with you, but the problem is that the bankers aren’t telling this to people and have become over-reliant on subprime consumer debt like this. Uber launched a lease-to-buy program for their drivers so they could nicer cars on the road and then didn’t uphold their promise to attract more riders to Uber Black. Consumers are getting preyed upon so hard in the US and we act like it’s just business and poor people are dumb for a reason. > And you can live without a car, it is about structuring your life better. This is such an invalid statement for most Americans, and it’s deeply condescending to boot. There’s simply no viable alternative to car ownership for most Americans, period. If you have (or had) a job that required any sort of commute and you don’t live in a handful of cities with first class public transit (which are pretty much all in the northeast), you could spend up to 2-3 hours commuting each way every day using public transit. That’s just a non-starter for most. Even tech cities like Austin and SF have poor transit options compared to Europe.

save_ferris 7y ago

I see one old Mercedes in the first photo below the headline and one Camaro in the very bottom photos. The rest look like Ford/GM/Chevy/Toyota, standard automaker labels for the most part. I know I've probably missed a few, but there are very few luxury vehicles in these photos. Where are all of the high-end cars in these pics? Most look like standard makes and models to me.