no biscuit for car 2

NO BISCUIT FOR CAR 2

Owning a car is normal right now.  If you don’t own a car you are looked upon with suspicion ( IF you are the older generation.  The newer one, not owning a car has become more normal as everyone has given up shelter and transportation for college.  Dumbasses ).  But having a car was only normal since the end of World War II ( just as college for the masses was only normal since then-but beating out car ownership for obsolescence real fast ).  It is about to get Not Normal.  Already headed there, in fact.

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I have started investigating alternate TV streaming services.  Netflix is so broke, as soon as the stock market takes a big squishy I wonder if the company will survive.  Sony Crackle and Tobi are two pretty good ones that give you free shows with very minimal commercials.  Another great one is Vudu.  The point being, I’m starting to catch some advertising that I had avoided the last few years.  Cars are being offered at lease prices about like I seem to recall ten years ago.  But auto’s are up 50%.  Companies are leasing below price.  How long can that last?

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If you are wondering, your tax dollars bailing out Detroit did exactly Hump All.  A few executives probably got some extra hookers and blow, for which they thank you.  But overall the industry seems to be at least three or four times worse than a decade ago.  As the industry shrinks along with demand, you are going to find your options shrinking with it.  Prices will continue to rise and quality shrink.  For the simple reason that like most industries, auto’s borrowed a butt ton of money the last Great Recession and they can’t pay it back with LESS sales.

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All those little colleges cutting back, merging or closing?  Decreasing demand ( from their own greed sodomizing their monopoly ).  Retail is the same.  Housing is the same.  Auto’s are the same.  Taking decreasing quality into account, you are probably paying three times for a car than prior to the last economic contraction.  But unemployment is soaring along with bankruptcies ( as if the true rate of 30% wasn’t high enough to begin with ).  The true cost of owning an auto will go up with the squeeze on purchasing power. 

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One of the reasons used cars are going for so much money is that the older ones lasted much longer.  You are paying only $5k less than a new one, the older model having 40k miles on it, because new cars are seeing transmissions fail much quicker, as well as other failures.  Some cars are barely squeezing out 100k miles.  If the old ones lasted 150k before the transmission went, you are getting a car capable of twice the life before any major repair is necessary.  Your cost per mile is on track to go up, exponentially.  All I’m saying is, the paradigm is ending.

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Clearly, car ownership is headed towards that of a college degree.  Only the well off can afford them.  No longer will it be an item for the masses.  Eventually, you might have to say good-bye to your car.  And yes, I get it.  You are old, you have several cars that are not, and you’ll die before Mass Motoring does, if the fuel supply lasts.  I’m just identifying the trend.  How much it affects you is an open question.  As hours and pay decline, and auto costs increase, the trend is less car ownership.  Just as the trend is gas prices spiking.

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I do NOT bring this up because of the current gas prices.  These are nothing compared to the 1970’s.  You car pukes are so spoiled, a twenty percent increase in gas shoves your waded panties clear up to your colon.  California gas is already $4 in some markets, so you know they will be on their way to $5 easy.  Whatever you were paying in 2008/9, get ready for that again.  Just saying, as a public service announcement.  Long term, you’ll look back fondly on these prices.  I can guarantee you a jelly filled donut.

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Long-er term, no gas.  Obviously.  But then we get into the whole “when do you transition to a post-oil lifestyle, and what modern practice do you still treat yourself with” question.  I completely gave up on the auto six or so years ago, and that was even then a luxury.  Now, I won’t even accept that use.  I’m over cars, they are far too much money, worry and stress.  But let us say that you are a stubborn bastard and hold out to the end.  What do you have to look forward to?  As I said yesterday, cars will be weaponized against you.

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They always have been, but it was just the ocean to your fish.  It was so normal you didn’t notice.  I’m not even talking about the corralling of the workers into cities.  That predates the auto by a few centuries.  But what about the amount of control that auto started having over you, beginning no later than the early 70’s with OPEC?  Your life started revolving around the car and the price of its fuel.  It started controlling your household budget.  Really, it became the equivalent of another mortgage payment.  But that is just economic control.

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That was paying the mafia don his cut.  Soon, as a strategic necessity, long distance travel is going to be controlled.  All fine and dandy, as you don’t go on vacations anymore, but what about getting to your junk land or BOL.  Will you be allowed to move?  Or will it require a Gasoline Rationing Board’s approval?  Will food be controlled, as another type of fuel rationing?  Will owning a car, if you live X miles within a distribution center, be considered a luxury?  Will you be penalized if you continue to own it?

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I’ll wager, given the above, in that circumstance your car will be worth close to zero, and Dog Forbid you still owe money on it.  Sure, you’ll be given a free monthly bus pass, but public transportation will be full of dangers from criminals, both private and public ( like drunk driving roadblocks today, random shake-downs ).  You do NOT want to be reliant on public transportation.  Nor do you want your private auto to suddenly be a worthless investment.  Are you sure you don’t want to opt out NOW, while you still have control?  Think this is all far fetched?

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How else do we cope with a diminishing fuel supply?  Continued tomorrow.

( .Y. )

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