Howie, I've been thinking about your car search -- and what I think you've found is the market system playing out a perfect storm. Al Gore's off winning a Nobel Prize for his spunk on Global Warming, the nuts on Wall Street are paying too much for oil, we've had a credit crisis that has driven down the value of the dollar, housing, stocks and just about everything we held onto as any type of security and we stupid Americans are basking in our own apathy crying about the prices of things. There's a reason they make $35,000 motorcycles and $75,000 hybrids -- people are buying them. People aren't buying 10 MPG Expeditions these days, so they're getting cleared out at whatever price they will bring to make room for the new line up of higher dollar less cost to produce junk. If people would only stop and do the math on how much fuel they could buy for the extra they're spending (and will never recover) they'd stop buying them.
There are no answers. Government sure isn't going to help and I sure as hell don't want them to try. The market will correct itself if we spend smart -- the dollar is our voice.
Huge sums of money have been pizzed away over the years by folks who didn't think beyond the next weekend, and I'm quite certain this time will be no different. I still remember all those people back in the 70's who traded in nearly new full size cars, at less than 50 cents on the dollar, for a tiny Japanese car at several thousand over MSRP, all because of a fuel scare. The best part was that the fuel situation quickly changed, and many of those same folks who couldn't stand those tiny underpowered cars wound up losing their shirts again trading back the other way. As a certain impresario once noted, there's a sucker born every minute.
For those of you who for one reason or another must have a full size car or truck, this is a good time to buck the trend and look for some real bargains.
I still remember all the teeth gnashing and crying every time we've had a blip in fuel costs or availability over the past three decades. In my lifetime I've seen gas go from $0.19 per gallon to the current $4.05, with lots of ups and downs in between. After all the dire predictions of the 70's and 80's, I look at the excesses of the last 15 years (Hummers, 8 passenger SUV's, etc.) and just shake my head. The vast majority of those vehicles can be seen cruising the roads with only one person inside. And I see many folks with these vehicles who don't even have kids to justify the extra room, they just drive them because they're "cool". The American public doesn't get it, and never will get it.
I find it difficult to feel sorry for people who keep shooting themselves in the foot. And I have no sympathy at all for those who expect someone else (the auto companies, the government, the tooth fairy) to magically produce solutions overnight. If the consumers had demanded more fuel efficient alternatives instead of more bloat over the past several decades, manufacturers would have responded. So far every attempt by manufacturer's or government to force the issue has failed because the consumer wouldn't buy the product. Instead, the public demanded more size and more power. In a free market, you tend to get what the consumer votes for with his $$$. My advice to those who want an answer to our energy woes is similar to the advice I offer to those wanting decent quality and value from H-D: vote with your pocketbook. Don't buy another Harley until they take the customer seriously, and stop buying 10 mpg behemoths to ride up and down the freeway.
Jerry
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Topic: How Much More Scamming Will We Take? (Read 5075 times)