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No one needs a new car. There is a huge used car market with a lot of accessible financing. Isn’t there a trope of the millionaire driving a 15yo sedan? Not h

by wyre 4y ago

No one needs a new car. There is a huge used car market with a lot of accessible financing. Isn’t there a trope of the millionaire driving a 15yo sedan? Not having access to reliable transportation is not the significant factor w.r.t social mobility you are making it out to be.

Aloha 4y ago
it used to be you could find a 20 year old, serviceable used car for sub 2500 dollars, now get something serviceable and running, it's closer to double that. Even when you adjust for inflation, the price for a cheap used car is 30-40% higher than it was a decade ago.
xpe 4y ago
wyre, how would you characterize the effects of reliable transportation towards social mobility? It seems you only discuss the rich frugal segment. What about the rest? Middle class folks in the suburbs? Poor urban people who drive to work? Etc... I'm asking in this way because saying "... you are making it out to be" is based on some comparison between your assessment and your perception of another person's writing. That has several layers of indirection. So I would prefer to just ask you directly.
- wyre 4y ago
  I’ve been car free my entire adult life, I’ve also been broke my entire adult life too. I’ve been fortunate enough to live in places with good cycling infrastructure and public transit; I know that isn’t the case in most places. That said, I wouldn’t attribute my lack of social mobility to my decision to not own a car/lack of money to own a car. Automobile financing can absolutely be predatory to low income workers and to a degree it might prohibit some mobility when a large portion of income goes to maintaining a vehicle just to maintain an income. Maybe there should be regulation on predatory financing? Someone making $20k a year is going to be poor regardless if they own a car or not. Economic mobility comes from having marketable skills that provide value to others and the ability to acquire those skills. A college education is not particularly accessible to low-income folks that need to also work to pay rent and food.
  - xpe 4y ago
    Thanks for sharing your experience. The overall dynamic is much broader of course. Have you studied statistics? Conducted an analysis? Read a statistical study? Designed an experiment? This (statistical analysis) is where I'd like to take the conversation, but I wanted to pause and see if that would be mutually interesting. I'm been "done" with non-systematic understandings for a long time. Typical opinion / "analysis" (as seen even in decent newspapers) is good practice for trotting out arguments, but it rarely synthesizes information broadly and convincingly.

by wyre 4y ago

Aloha 4y ago

it used to be you could find a 20 year old, serviceable used car for sub 2500 dollars, now get something serviceable and running, it's closer to double that. Even when you adjust for inflation, the price for a cheap used car is 30-40% higher than it was a decade ago.

xpe 4y ago

wyre, how would you characterize the effects of reliable transportation towards social mobility? It seems you only discuss the rich frugal segment. What about the rest? Middle class folks in the suburbs? Poor urban people who drive to work? Etc... I'm asking in this way because saying "... you are making it out to be" is based on some comparison between your assessment and your perception of another person's writing. That has several layers of indirection. So I would prefer to just ask you directly.

wyre 4y ago
I’ve been car free my entire adult life, I’ve also been broke my entire adult life too. I’ve been fortunate enough to live in places with good cycling infrastructure and public transit; I know that isn’t the case in most places. That said, I wouldn’t attribute my lack of social mobility to my decision to not own a car/lack of money to own a car. Automobile financing can absolutely be predatory to low income workers and to a degree it might prohibit some mobility when a large portion of income goes to maintaining a vehicle just to maintain an income. Maybe there should be regulation on predatory financing? Someone making $20k a year is going to be poor regardless if they own a car or not. Economic mobility comes from having marketable skills that provide value to others and the ability to acquire those skills. A college education is not particularly accessible to low-income folks that need to also work to pay rent and food.
- xpe 4y ago
  Thanks for sharing your experience. The overall dynamic is much broader of course. Have you studied statistics? Conducted an analysis? Read a statistical study? Designed an experiment? This (statistical analysis) is where I'd like to take the conversation, but I wanted to pause and see if that would be mutually interesting. I'm been "done" with non-systematic understandings for a long time. Typical opinion / "analysis" (as seen even in decent newspapers) is good practice for trotting out arguments, but it rarely synthesizes information broadly and convincingly.