Transportation is the second largest expense for most Americans after housing. For low-income people, as much as 30% of their after-tax income goes to just getting around.
And that's with subsidized petrol. Imagine. What's incredible is that nobody seems to want it to change.
If you want to know why the U.S. is a wealthy country that feels so poor, a big part of the reason is the amount of money everyone has to spend on cars. Along with healthcare, it's just another one of those ways in which we individualize a problem that would best be solved at the societal level.
Wait … ❌ Bad for economy ❌ Bad for climate ❌ Bad for health That seems like three strikes. Why is it so popular and defended so thoroughly by its victims?
More than that! I do a lot of work for ex-homeless and near-homeless folks. Cars at that level aren't just expensive to operate, they're POSs and drain people through constant repairs and unreliability. The Bottle Rockets had it right. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw8w...
Y'all are not helping me. My car is 9 yrs old and i live rural so there's no getting around having one. The prices are crazy!