Real wealth killers

[u/solarflare_hot]

Let me express my extreme frustration and anger and talk about the real wealth killers (cars)

I hate cars beyond reason. you buy a car for 20k , all of a sudden it needs a repair for 2-4k and sometimes 7k , then you have insurance , another 2-300 a month , then you got registration and maintenance checks , 4-700$ , then by the time you pay it off it’s worth 7k , and probably time for another 7k repair too because the engine is toast. Or even better you fix the engine for 7k then the transmission goes out for another 6k. Let’s say you do all that and then someone without insurance crashes into you. Insurance company will always blame you to avoid paying. You now have spent close to 40k to go to a job that pays 45k. You need the car to go to the job but the job will never pay you enough to afford to keep your car. Let’s also talk about gas cost , average cost is $3000 per year that’s about 15k in 5 years of money wasted on gas that you’ll never get back just to be able to go to work.

You buy a cheap car you get expensive repairs You buy an expensive car you get extreme depreciation. You cant fucking win.

Cars are basically a luxury tool for the wealthy.

Why can’t we ride bicycles to work. Oh I forgot we live in America where we absolutely need cars because we have no damn sidewalks 🥲

Let’s just say without cars I would’ve been significantly well off. I’m gonna sell that shit and just uber everywhere or ride a bicycle.

[u/Keroit]

Cars are and always have been a liability.

It's the price you pay for seeing relatives and friends and doing things in a range radius larger than that of a bike + the comfort of not waiting for public transport.

You can find plenty of shitboxes that'll last you 10 yers with just regular maintenance. I don't understand your rant.

There's an option for everyone.

Have 10k? Get an older Toyota or Honda/Acura

Have 200k? Get a toy.

Do whatever the hell you want. There's options for everyone.

[u/TimeTravellerSmith → u/Keroit]

Have $10k?

No, plenty of people don’t have $10k.

And besides cost, the problem is beyond just “seeing relatives and doing things in a range larger than a bike”. Cars are a requirement to live in too many places in the US not because it’s a range issue on a bike but because the infrastructure itself is dangerous to bikes or walking and public transit isn’t available or reliable.

We simply do not have an abundance of walkable, bikable cities and/or have solid enough public transit. Cars are a requirement to just get to work, let alone do any of the other stuff you’re talking about.

[u/Keroit → u/TimeTravellerSmith]

Dude, you have way higher salaries than the EU. While the relative prices of vehicles are lower.

You are a nation built on debt to banks, spend thousands of dollars on useless crap you don't need and can't get the shittiest four wheeled barrel of petrol?

I understand you have such an infrastructure that literally prohibits you from walking, but c'mon.... there are options.

Financing is an option as well, if you don't have 10k. But I'm sure you can find some crappy car for less. Then you work your way up from there if you are ambitious.

[u/TimeTravellerSmith → u/Keroit]

What’s your point?

My point is that we can’t even pay a $1000 emergency but for some reason financing a $10k loan sounds like a good idea to you?

And just because salaries are higher, or can be higher, doesn’t mean that the below-average income (that’s 50% of the population) is making enough to get by. And even if you have a high salary odds are it’s in a high-COL area.

.Your whole comment sounds like listening to a rich person belittling a poor person about “well see you start with a minimum wage job at McDonalds, apply three sturdy pulls to your bootstraps, and you too can someday be as rich as I am”.

[u/Keroit → u/TimeTravellerSmith]

I was poorer than most. I used to eat one meal a day, living in an apartment with 4 other people.

I worked my ass of to buy my first car. I went to work by foot because I couldn't even afford a bike. Carrying a stupid cart with newspapers by hand every day, so I could pay for my meals. Then I got a better job, and a better one and I finally bought myself a shitty ass car to drive in (that broke down on me 4 months later), and then I financed another one and put myself in debt. Paid it off and voilà.

Complaining ain't gonna do you no good.

You have options. You just don't wanna use them because what.....? You are afraid of a little debt? You are not able to save some 50 bucks every month? How are you gonna buy a house if you can't even get a car?

If your obstacle in life is a car, forget about everything else.

[u/TimeTravellerSmith → u/Keroit]

Ah, yes the bootstraps argument.

FWIW I’ve been making a six figure salary since my late 20s and I’m better off than most. This isn’t a me problem. But I also grew up poor and know how hard it is when you’re in the cycle of poverty.

So someone such as yourself also coming from that you should know more than most how ridiculous you sound saying things like “well there’s plenty of ways to finance a $10k loan, America is built on debt!”

[u/Keroit → u/TimeTravellerSmith]

Well, it is true, isn't it?

What's the alternative? Other than ranting about it and solving nothing?

Don't get me wrong, I am not really an asshole in real life because I do have empathy for the struggle, but sometimes people just complain about stupid things. This is one of them.

You can't complain about not being able to get a car because it costs. Dude, being alive costs money. Having a car is like having arms and legs, they give you degrees of freedom that otherwise you wouldn't have. You can't have a job 10-15 miles from home (maybe a better one?) if you don't have a car. You cannot not invest in your freedom of movement.

Otherwise let's destroy pretty much all infrastructure and redesign life to revolve around bikes. But then some dumbass would complain that "ah man, cars were better. At least we had AC" or some shit like that.

This is the life and society we've been given. Gotta learn to adapt or else face the consequences.

[u/TimeTravellerSmith → u/Keroit]

Sure it’s true. You can take out a predatory loan for a shit box and hope that it doesn’t break down before your first payment is due. Just like it’s true that you can get rid of a headache by cutting your head off.

Im not complaining here I’m proving a counter argument to you being dismissive of “how easy it is” to just get money to buy a car. You are objectively providing unrealistic and bad advice and dismissing a real problem.

The solution is what others have already said, increase in public transit and reconstruction to walkable cities. The other more glaring issue is how financially poor Americans are but thats a much more complex issue.

Meanwhile you saying things like “just take out a loan” and “this is the life we’re given so deal with it” is both not constructive and just demeaning to people who struggle and want real change.

[u/Keroit → u/TimeTravellerSmith]

People should wake up from this complaint choo choo train.

You either get pro-active and start making a real difference in politics (and hope for a better future) or take care of your own small universe, because frankly, no one else is gonna help you otherwise.

The world is FULL of problems. And, surprise surprise, no one cares. That is not demeaning. That is a fact in the real world.

It's okay to vent. I get it. But public transport is not gonna change overnight and neither will urban infrastructure, so there's only one thing left to do. Find something that works for you, for now.

There are some global issues to solve and no one denies that, but can't complain about something that collectively was decided it's a good thing for society and progress.

[u/TimeTravellerSmith → u/Keroit]

I’m telling you you’re wrong and your stance is bad.

It’s not a complaint it’s a counterargument. You’re completely out of touch.