I hope it works out for them. The truth about cars anymore is that nobody can afford the damn things, and they especially can't afford cars and city rent at the same time. That's supposed to be a one or the other deal. Either you live in the city and rely on its amenities instead of a car, or you live out in the sticks for cheap, relying on that expensive car. Instead, we have everyone in the city stuck under the twin boot of the car and the landlord, the worst of both worlds.

The figure I've heard is that it costs you about $9k yearly to operate a car, which probably sounds high until you sit down and account for every dollar, for every tank of gas, every dollar spent on insurance, maintenance, and the number starts to sound sensible. Depreciation is the number that the accountants check that you don't check. According to AAA you are losing $300ish a month in depreciation, that is, the car you paid 15k for is worth $300 less every single month. If you watched a stock investment drop like that, you'd sell and never touch the investment again.

People who are bad with money will act like depreciation doesn't count. That's why they're bad with money. $300 a month, sneaking out the window, and that's not the payment, or the gas, or the insurance. This isn't for driving some high-end luxury model, this $9k is for driving a used Toyota. That's what it really, actually costs.

Can you cheap out a bit? Yeah, but not really. Maybe you can knock 8k down to 5k, but that's it. Right now we're generally stuck with the car while wages have not kept pace with a luxury that costs you more money a year than essential workers earn in 5 months. It does not make sense, and once you see that number, you'll understand why you struggle. The car is keeping most of us poor, no matter how you feel about it. The irony is people sleeping in the car once they lose their housing, but the car was probably why they lost it. Even the well-off can't scoff at $9k a year just gone every single year. I don't know what the hell was going on when cars became the norm. They don't make a lot of financial sense now.

Zillow says median rent in Cleveland is $1100, which is $13,200 a year. Plus the 9k a car costs you, $22,200 between the two of them. You haven't bought a single grocery yet, nor paid a bill aside from rent. What's full-time at Walmart or something, $24k a year? That shit does not work.

One of the two has to go, and it obviously won't be that damn rent. It has to be the car. What's a new one cost, $45,000 for a fucking Corolla now? Why should I have to spend a college degree (a cheap one but still) on getting from my house to my jobby job that pays bullshit? Fuck that. Even half that is far too much.

So here's hoping they don't fuck around about it, here's hoping that they get fucking serious about a car-free future because I don't think the average person actually has a choice in the matter.