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Is the Entire Economy Gentrifying?
- xhkkffbf 4y agoYup. You can see it everywhere. Everything is fancier and nicer than it used to be. Just check out a 20 year old car to see how basic they used to be. I got in a new pickup truck yesterday and there were two switches for each heated seat. The back and the bottom could be controlled separately. This is much too fancy for my tastes, but that's how the economy is evolving.
- dingusdew 4y agoAnd here I just want an electric car with manual roll-up windows.
- bick_nyers 4y agoWe skipped the analog part of electric cars and went straight to digital. As pretty as the touchscreens are, I want buttons and knobs.
- parineum 4y agoEvery car has a screen now because California mandated back up cameras in new cars. It's bad business not to turn that thing into a touch screen and move controls to it.
- bick_nyers 4y agoIs the addition of a touch element to an LCD really that much cheaper than plastic buttons and knobs?
- ghaff 4y agoThe thing is that if you're going to put a video screen of any size (not sure what the actual backup camera requirements are), you're going to use it as a navigation system--probably with Apple Play or Google Play--which is probably going to be a non-negotiable requirement for a lot of people at that point so it's going to be a touch screen anyway. And that means a lot of buttons are going to just be additional cost at that point. I agree manufacturers don't have to dispense with most buttons because they can. My Honda Passport actually strikes a pretty good balance. It would also be nice to have better voice control but that's been a hard problem with voice assistants generally.
- parineum 4y agoThis was exactly my point. I didn't mean to sound like I was happy with it but the lack of buttons is directly related to the presence of touch screens which is a result of the requirement to have the back up camera. I don't think the CA regulators would take back that requirement but you can definitely file this under "unintended consequences". In my last vehicle, I definitely chose one that had more buttons/dials than some of my other choices and it was a surprisingly high priority.
- ghaff 4y agoI'm not sure that the rules don't still allow the backup camera to display on the rearview mirror. (Don't see anything definitive on this.) In any case, most consumers really want an in-dash nav display (and other infotainment) at this point. But the backup camera requirement may have nudged things along a bit.
- parineum 4y ago> But the backup camera requirement may have nudged things along a bit. It _definitely_ had a major effect on the low end vehicles. It raised the floor more than it changed the ceiling.
- bick_nyers 4y agoThe navigation system on some cars are so atrocious. Impressively slow and inputting addresses can be a huge pain. I feel like a Raspberry Pi would have an order of magnitude better performance on many cars I have seen. I haven't bought a car recently so I don't know what the landscape looks like, but I would think that even offering the possibility of a customization to have a more analog dashboard would be profitable. Even if you stick it behind a $1k upcharge I think you would see a surprising number of people opt for it. Doesn't need to replace the digital touchscreen in all cases necessarily, just be a secondary control mechanism. Of course I'm sure we would run into situations where the analog buttons are an interface to the digital control system, so if the digital part is slow, some people might try to navigate using analog buttons too quickly. The digital interface hides that detail by design, if the menu isn't yet loaded, neither are the buttons you can click.
- wildrhythms 4y agoI think most people are OK with a backup camera as it's a purely visual aid (an output), but putting actual controls of any sort (an input) on a touch screen in a vehicle is a terrible idea.
- FooBarBizBazz 4y agoThey need backup cameras because they have lost all the glass so they can pass the crash tests against the other 2,000-lb landwhales who also can't see them.
- FooBarBizBazz 4y agoMy number "2,000 lbs" was way off. That's the weight of a Fiat Panda. For another data point, the Hummer H2 is 6,000 lbs. Maybe I was thinking of kilogram figures? Anyway, you get my point.
- dingusdew 4y ago[dead]
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- svnt 4y agoFor the first time in history you could have 800 VDC automatic windows and you’re just abandoning the opportunity?
- dingusdew 4y ago[dead]
- FooBarBizBazz 4y agoMaybe not literally -- I'd take power windows and AC, that's it -- but I agree with your point. Really, what dumbfuck decided that, because they're both "electronics", an electric car needs to be an iPad on wheels? Or that this concept is linked in some way with ADAS systems? I listen to VW execs talking about how "EVs are software". Are they? Says who? It's a fucking battery, a motor, a big-ass Buck/boost converter, and, in Tesla's case -- this element of complexity is legitimately good -- a heat pump. To exaggerate only slightly, I see no reason why any low-voltage ICs more complicated than an LM555 should be needed. Chip shortage? We need high-performance MOSFETS, yeah, but the controller could come from a technology node circa 1979. And then the insides are all "luxury". Everything comes with leather seats (which crack) and fancy interiors. No!! There is nothing wrong with the inside of a Camry. Give me that. I thought Tesla started with a Lotus. Talk about bare-bones. What the hell happened?
- amelius 4y agoConvenience is the root of all evil. It's why this planet is on the "highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator".
- RestlessMind 4y agoI reached the same conclusion ("climate hell") with a slightly different thought process in this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35026113 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35026113 Luxury and convenience need energy. Most of the energy still comes from carbon. Ergo...
- VLM 4y agoNot just immediate sales, but a long term revenue stream. Toyota will make $0 off selling me replacement heated seat switches because I don't have them. Their only hope of a revenue stream is to carefully engineer the valve cover gasket to start leaking at 50K miles or similar.
- ghaff 4y agoOh please. Go back a few decades and that car at 50K miles was probably ready for the junkyard, especially in areas with snow and salt. Arguing that modern cars are engineered to be unreliable is simply contrary to reality.
- everdrive 4y agoThe pendulum is swinging back a bit, and old cars would generally make it to 100k, and some old models had no problem far exceeding that. Modern cars are all currently wrestling with carbon buildup on their valves due to gasoline direct injection, which is really not great for long term reliability. I have a friend who's relatively recently-made Hyundai (2015-2016?) barely crawled to 100k. The complexity of modern cars hasn't made them terrible from a reliability standpoint, however we are definitely seeing some backsliding on progress.
- ghaff 4y agoI do have to say that I had to buy a new vehicle last summer to replace a 13-year old one and the sheer number of sensors, motors, and other features--at least some of which seem rather gratuitous--gave me some pause. And this was a very middle-of-the-road Honda. Certainly a lot of modern vehicles are very reliable although I wonder if they could be even more reliable if, e.g. the side mirrors didn't tilt down every time you backed up.
- UncleEntity 4y agoDo you think these cars get crushed or are bought by someone who drives them until they are really dead? I hate to be that guy but the whole automotive market has been like that for as long as there has been an automotive market. One person’s unreliable old car they bought new is someone else’s daily driver that they get their cousin to keep on the road for beers.
- bannedbybros 4y ago[dead]
- znpy 4y agoThe basic car is basically dying. Most new cars are either SUVs or mini-SUVs, with a lot of green washing, and we’re all forgetting about sustainability and carbon footprint…
- gruez 4y agoYou really think that 20 years ago people were driving sedans because they were trying to be environmentally friendly? It's far more likely that they never cared about it in the first place.
- EliRivers 4y agoI'm not going to be thrilled when I have to pay monthly for those switches to do anything, though.
- svnt 4y agohttps://archive.is/zwzUQ https://archive.is/zwzUQ
- SamoyedFurFluff 4y agoI’m paywalled but my initial confusion is what is gentrifying goods and services? Gentrification as to described neighborhoods describes a phenomenon where wealthy people pool ins a geographic area, causing businesses to cater to them and thereby drive poorer people out not just due to property values and rent increased but also due to lack of lower income services like cash 4 check and laundromats. Does this mean there are less store brand grocery items or something?
- parineum 4y agoThey're using gentrification as an analogy of pricing poor people out of things only.
- pluc 4y agoThat's a fun title to put behind a paywall
- pjc50 4y agoInflation + Inequality => consumerism must sell fewer, more expensive products to a shrinking number of increasingly wealthy people. (for the time being, if you want cheap products, buy them directly from China or through one of a gazillion middlmen; the rest of the world cannot yet afford this kind of gentrification)
- hkt 4y agoIt is worth noting that while that's true, inflation as officially measured tends not to include things like housing costs - in the UK over the last 30 years or so we've seen wages flatline while house prices and rents rose. In "real" inflation, people have been losing purchasing power for almost the entire period from the last financial crisis to now. CPIH addresses this in a limited way, but in general inflation is also different for each wage bracket - and highest for those who have least in the first place, even while official figures are "on target".
- jefftk 4y ago> inflation as officially measured tends not to include things like housing costs Really? In the US the standard CPI-U basket is 1/3 housing: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t01.htm https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t01.htm It's the single largest component.
- hkt 4y agoTIL, that's an intriguing difference. Like I say, CPIH adjusts for this somewhat. It is a problem here because our 2% inflation target doesn't include housing. It also doesn't include the stock market etc, so we push inflation into these areas. Maybe I'm being too British in saying this, but it is a rare occasion when I see the US being more sensible than the UK. This is definitely one of those moments.
- nine_zeros 4y agoThere are two ways to increase GDP. 1. Increase production and sell goods to the masses at low prices. Leads to a higher quality of life for the society. 2. Decrease production and sell goods only the wealthy at high prices. Leads to class warfare.
- avtolik 4y agoA personal rant. 15 years ago middle of the road mountain bike could be bought for around 200 euros. Now similar class mtb is more like 600+ euros. Bicycle tires cost about the same as my car tires. This is turning into a rich-man hobby.
- rubyn00bie 4y agoUh no. That was not the case even 15 years ago, they were still expensive. Yes prices have definitely gone up, but at no point in the last 20 years has a middle of the road mountain bike costed $200.
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- jefftk 4y agoCan you still get a mountain bike for €262 (inflation updated) that's about as good as one that would have cost €200 in 2008, but people's expectations are higher? Or is the same bike that would have sold for €200 now selling for €600+?
- NorthOf33rd 4y agoThat may have been true 20 or 25 years ago but the technology gap technologically between a “cheap” bike and the highest end bike you could buy was much much smaller than it is today. Same with tires. You can still buy a 200 euro bike. It’ll be better than the 200 euro bike from before. You just don’t want it.
- ghaff 4y agoThe decent but mid-tier at best mountain bike I bought 20 some years ago doesn't even have suspension. I'm not even sure you could buy a steel frame mountain bike without suspension (which otherwise had ~mid-range components) today--though I rarely ride these days and am far from an expert. But to the parent point, I still probably paid more than $200 for it.
- 4y ago
- mistrial9 4y agosimple trade, making products and selling products, by ordinary people, with their own money .. is endangered in California and elsewhere due to suffocating and inexorable taxes, permits and raw material flows. Moronic street gangs are stealing millions of dollars worth of high quality, low price, commodity goods that no regular person could make.. due to the overflowing amounts of them in circulation.. yet to make a simple product in a cottage way, or to sell a common product to your close neighbor, is not economically viable. Service business had survived: travel tourism, food and beverage, sports... but those sectors have been crushed by lockdowns and new social practices. It may never return to what was common recently. Large-scale circumstances where ordinary people who are "good enough" workers and responsible, unable to do basic commerce themselves, will economically strangle massive numbers of citizens over time. Humans are predatory and exist in large numbers. Healthy people will fight back rather than starve economically. $0.02 USA
- mo_42 4y agoSidenote: WD-40 is not a lubricant. IMHO you should not buy this stuff at all. Rather buy specific lubricants/solvers for the use case.
- tomrod 4y agoInteresting. It's also ridiculously useful in most of the cases people use it for. Perhaps the WD-40 folks should release a new version of their all purpose lubricant. They could call it something memorable, like WD-40, so everyone knows to use it in the same way everyone uses WD-40. They could even use the same packaging.
- chpatrick 4y agoIt's (kind of) great for loosening something that's stuck but then it evaporates so it's not suitable for long term lubrication.
- hotpotamus 4y agoI'd add the requirement that it be food safe if it's truly going to be all-purpose.
- FpUser 4y ago>"IMHO you should not buy this stuff at all." Yes you should. Just not a replacement for special purpose lubricants. Nobody is asking to use WD40 as bearing grease, it has its own unique uses.
- SAI_Peregrinus 4y agoWD-40 is a penetrating oil. It's pretty decent at that[1] and not badly priced. It's a pretty "middle of the road" product at its intended purpose: displacing water and rust to loosen stuck fasteners (and other items). [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUEob2oAKVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUEob2oAKVs
- rayiner 4y agoThis is consistent with the upper middle class growing at the expense of the rest of the middle class: https://www.brookings.edu/research/squeezing-the-middle-class https://www.brookings.edu/research/squeezing-the-middle-clas.... This is partly the result of the shift to knowledge work, and partly the result of Reagan-era tax cuts to the upper middle class that have never been challenged by either party. I’m convinced that the most significant and tangible aspect of income inequality in practice is not between the middle class and super rich, but between the middle class and the ordinary rich (I.e. Biden’s protected class of people making up to $400,000). I live near Annapolis, which has always had plenty of old money yacht club types. But you could still buy a 3BR family home for under $300,000 even in 2015. Historically it’s been a place where military officers and GS-scale workers, farmers, and established tradespeople could own a nice house, a used boat, etc. It was only in the last few years, as more and more knowledge workers started moving outward from the DC area, that housing has increasingly become unaffordable. Similarly in Eugene Oregon where my wife grew up, housing prices have skyrocketed. Non-college educated but stably established folks in her family are having trouble finding affordable housing. The only billionaire there, Phil Knight, has been there forever. It’s all the yuppies from California that are the cause of the problem. I think that’s the real story behind the growing frustration over “income inequality.” America has always had rich people. But Americans don’t really care what people do in the Hampton or in Beverly Hills do or buy. But the premiumization of the economy hits people at home.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoAt least some of this phenomenon is due to dual higher income earning couples pairing together at rates much higher than before, which obviously follows from the fact that more women are earning more money than ever before.
- winkeltripel 4y ago> It’s all the yuppies from California that are the cause of the problem Yuppies may be a piece of the puzzle, but the massive surge in institional home ownership is surely the larger factor (the NIMBY obstruction of home construction is surely a factor too). Which means that it is indeed the billionaires fault, since it is their money backing it.
- lucidguppy 4y agoI wonder when companies will just become outright hostile to their customers and dispense with the corpora-bullshit.
- pixelfarmer 4y agoThat is in full swing already, if you haven't noticed.
- avereveard 4y agoIt appears so. Plane travel is back to being expensive. Major event tickets are all scalped for wealthy people. Any hobby that requires space is unsustainable for city dweller as living space is at a severe premium. Cars except the smallest are priced at what a small apartment went five years age Some gadgetry is still priced for consumers, but it appears that next half generation won't afford a Playstation, won't eat out, and will be generally miserable.
- RestlessMind 4y ago> plane travel.. space ... cars ... But that is literally what a lot of us want, no? No one says it directly but when people talk about taxing carbon to fight climate change, this is exactly the consequence they are advocating for. You want to reduce carbon footprint? Make flying so expensive that only rich could afford it. You want to advocate for public transit and reduce cars in the cities? Only way to do so is make parking and gas expensive along with congestion tax and only rich could afford it. Need hobbies requiring space? But big houses have bigger carbon footprint so either go for shared spaces or find hobbies which need less space. But don't think about having a spare room in your house. When you connect all the dots, fight for climate change is essentially about reducing carbon footprint by making everything (planes, personal cars, single family houses, ...) affordable only to the rich.
- amelius 4y agoNo, there is a different way: by allowing every citizen $N flights per year, etc. This is also how food is distributed in wartime, in many occasions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ration_stamp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ration_stamp
- RestlessMind 4y agoWho decide $N? And what if the needs are not uniformly distributed? Do people get to trade their credits in secondary markets?