• Bluegrass_Buddhist [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Tinfoil hat time: the lack of a decent high-speed rail system in the US (the slow, expensive shitheap that is Amtrak doesn't count) isn't just a result of negligence or political domination by the auto and energy industries. It's a deliberate tactic to keep low-wage workers in one spot and ensure they have no feasible way to move someplace that would be objectively better for them to live in.

    • TreadOnMe [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      No, they want people to move, as they keep telling the business managers when they cause these recessions. They just don't know where they want them to move to. They basically throw their hands up in the air and say 'we'll let the market decide' and then when that doesn't work they say, oh woops, and restart the economy again, because you know, this is the most efficient conceivable system.

    • RNAi [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yet cars and gas are cheap

        • DinosaurThussy [they/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          Not anymore, at least. You used to be able to get a junker on the road for under $500. Now the subprime car loans are so rampant that even a shitty sedan is like $6k

        • A_Serbian_Milf [they/them]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Cars a couple years ago were the cheapest they have ever been in history. There was a point in like 2018 where a brand new base level sedan only cost like $12,000 after rebates. Cars and consumer electronics are the 2 items that have consistently dropped in inflation-adjusted price over the past decades (likely due to Chinese and other offshore manufacturing). Compare that to education, housing or healthcare - all of which have increased exponentially.

        • AvgMarighellaEnjoyer [he/him,any]
          ·
          2 years ago

          they are extremely cheap compared to what they cost abroad. buying a car in the US is cheaper than buying a car in Brazil, accounting for the exchange rate and all. if you make a comparison based on monthly earnings it's much, much cheaper.

      • Bluegrass_Buddhist [none/use name]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Neither of those things are true for most people making under $40k in the US. Even a shitbox $500 used car is still like a full week-and-half pay for a lot of people, and that's not counting insurance, upkeep, etc.

        Where I grew up, most families shared a car, or at most two, for that very reason

        • RNAi [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          Kjj, where I grew up a lot of families don't have a car, or don't have a car with less than 10-15 years cuz those shits are a money sink.

    • UlyssesT
      ·
      edit-2
      16 days ago

      deleted by creator