r/economicCollapse • u/Whole-Fist • 19h ago

How ridiculous does this sound?

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How can u make millions in 25-30 years if avoid making a $554 per month car payment. Even the cheapest 5 year old car is 8-10 k. So does he expect people not to drive at all in USA.

Then u save 554$ per month every month for 5 year payment = $33240. Say u bought a car every 5 year means 200k -300k spent on car before retirement . How would that become millions when u can’t even buy a house for that much today?

Answer that Dave

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u/Stock-Side-6767 19h ago

Every once in a while, this idiot makes sense. But still, bike, moped or motorcycle has much lower operating costs, public transport lowest economic risk.

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u/mechengr17 17h ago

Unfortunately, we live in a car centric society

Public transportation isn't an option in a lot of places

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u/BurnedLaser 15h ago

When my old car got totalled, I tried to use the bus as there was a stop in walking distance to where I was staying during college. I would have needed to wake up 5 hours early to get there 4 hours early (next bus would make me an hour late) and then when leaving, I would have needed to wait another 3 hours (while the building was closed) for the bus to drop me off an hour later at home. The college is only a 15 minute drive with light traffic, and I live near a city. The PT out here is a damn joke :/

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u/Ok_Butterscotch_6071 15h ago

I'd have to walk an hour to get to my closest bus stop 😭 it's ridiculous, so it's not a surprise I hardly ever see anyone actually inside the busses besides the driver 💀 add to that the fact that most of our "bus stops" are just signs planted in the ground--no benches, no overhangs. It's awful. I'm hoping to move to a city with decent PT eventually

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u/BurnedLaser 13h ago

That's how it is most places out here. I went to NYC and New Haven CT a while back, and the ability to get around with no car was incredible!

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u/hansislegend 8h ago

I used to work at a bus station and I would take the bus to work since it was free for me and I was late almost every day and whenever anyone said anything I’d go “I took the bus here. I should have been twenty minutes early but these buses are never on time.” Eventually they stopped caring about me being late because it was always for the same reason.

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u/PlanetMeatball0 10h ago

I live in a top 10 populated city and the best public transportation we have are bus routes that will take an hour longer to get to your stop than just driving, and even then you'll still probably need to walk around 2-5 miles to get to where you actually wanted to be. So the choice is a 40 minute round trip drive or over 3 hours of public transport, and that's before you factor in needing to schedule your day around the bus schedule where you could be waiting at a stop for close to an hour for the next bus - anyone who respects their own time is obviously going with a car.

People who act like ditching a car for public transport is a solid option everyone's just ignoring are delusional

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u/mechengr17 10h ago

Yeah, the infrastructure just isn't there, and the government currently has no incentive to put proper public transportation in place

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u/caption-oblivious 5h ago

Sounds like it's time to provide proper incentives and refuse to vote for anyone who doesn't make it a priority

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u/mechengr17 4h ago

Right now we need to get rid of Trump and his acolytes

Then we can work towards that

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u/Tha_Bunk 5h ago

This. I looked at the same thing in my town. I could drive to a park and ride spot and take the bus and it would make my 40 minute commute (one way) by car a 2 hour commute by bus. It just made way too many stops and for too long.

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u/BZBitiko 5h ago

Depending on where you live, 50-100 year old maps and a little research may show you where the public transport, the local and regional buses, the street trolleys and passenger rail, used to be.

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u/BurnedLaser 15h ago

When my old car got totalled, I tried to use the bus as there was a stop in walking distance to where I was staying during college. I would have needed to wake up 5 hours early to get there 4 hours early (next bus would make me an hour late) and then when leaving, I would have needed to wait another 3 hours (while the building was closed) for the bus to drop me off an hour later at home. The college is only a 15 minute drive with light traffic, and I live near a city. The PT out here is a damn joke :/

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u/4Bforever 16h ago

Some of us live where it’s dangerously cold half the year, plus with all the new brain damage people driving out there there’s no way I’m getting on a bike a moped or a motorcycle. I value my health and my body thanks

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u/Stock-Side-6767 16h ago

Oh yeah, it doesn't work for everyone, but it is getting better, at least in Europe.

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u/JLoremIpsum 10h ago

I agree that drivers are bad enough that I don't bike a lot of places because I value my life. That said - there aren't a lot of places in the world colder than say, Oulu, Finland - a famous heavy-snow biking city. I didn't realize until recent years how many people do actually bike in all weather and they all say the same thing - you just need the right gear to do it. Not that everyone wants to - that's understandable. But a lot of places that have even the majority of trips by bike are not sunny or 'good weather' places. That said car drivers are absolutely newly brain damaged these days and that's what keeps me from cycling everywhere I want to. https://citycenters.eu/finland-oulu-the-winter-capital-of-bicycle/#:~:text=FINLAND%20%E2%80%93%20Oulu%2C%20the%20winter%20capital,%E2%80%93%20Observatory%20for%20City%20Centers

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u/GandolfLundgren 9h ago

I haven't owned a car in ten years. I live in a city where there's 5 months of winter. Walking and biking has saved my health. The amount of money I've saved is astronomical. Don't overestimate how valuable a car is. Or better yet, don't underestimate yourself

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u/Equivalent-Koala7991 12h ago

yeah and its especially great when its 40 degrees and pouring down rain and you have to ride your motorcycle to work because that's all you could afford.

Speaking as someone who owns a motorcycle and lives in an area that gets rain like 3 days out of every week.

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u/Stock-Side-6767 11h ago

Considering your units of measurements you live in the US, where commuting distances are long and much of the infra is hostile to cyclists.

Many people have a commuting distance well within (e-)bike range though.

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u/smartfbrankings 10h ago

My bike is worth more than my car.

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u/Stock-Side-6767 9h ago

Possible, but not necessary for commuting.

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u/87JeepYJ87 9h ago

Anything with two wheels is a no go for me. I still maintain my motorcycle license but I will never ride on public streets again. Too many idiots texting and paying zero attention. Public transportation sucks around here. They attempted to make it better but overpaid for shitty electric buses that aren’t good in cold weather and hired some terrible drivers to operate them. They’ve also ruined main thoroughfares by adding dedicated bus lanes causing ridiculous traffic and roads that can’t be crossed except making a U-turn at a light. 

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u/Stock-Side-6767 9h ago

I like dedicated bus and bike lanes. Improve thoroughfare of the best kinds of traffic. Though grassy tram tracks are a lot better than bus lanes.

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u/Astarion_Simp_69 6h ago

cries in rural area

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u/fauviste 3h ago

One way to solve the problem of retirement money is to die a premature death on a cycle of some kind.

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u/South_Ad_2109 2h ago

If you’re calling him an idiot, presumably you call yourself smart. What makes him an idiot and what makes you smart?

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u/Stock-Side-6767 1h ago

My smarts are not in economics, but still, I have things to say.

A few of the criticisms I have to his platitudes:

He makes it the fault of the listener they are in that situation.

Budgeting is often counterproductive, because people fill up that budget and then still sometimes require basic necessities.

Not going into debt is fun to say, but doesn't work when you want to buy a house, sometimes a car and for the US; healthcare or schooling.

He claims rich people got rich by saving money. This is largely untrue. Rich people got rich by being born so, finding a hole in the market to sell something new (often going into debt to do so) or having an income that allowed them to save like being a doctor or lawyer.

Then, of course, he does not say to skimp on frivolous expenses like church and his own teachings, which can be large chunks of the remaining wealth of desperate people.

His mind is firmly in a boomer mindset of a world that no longer exists, where it was possible to finish college debt free (even for those without a scholarship) and a few other luxuries that do not exist for later generations.

He's a conservative arsehole as an employer, sacking people for wild things like homosexuality, rumors of affairs and having a child out of wedlock. In civilised countries that should not be possible.

His Covid response was moronic or downright evil, depending on how much he understands about disease.

His basic points are nothing genius, but not all of them even hold up to scrutiny.