I don’t think the capital class is going to walk themselves back from owning everything. I think we will see more and more enthusiasm for labor among voters. Unions weren’t even a discussion 10 years ago now teachers are striking. At least that’s what I hope. Pendulum should swing the other way. It’ll take 20 years.

I don’t mean to harp on the point. It’s just like people are arguing constantly about what is for dinner - while the house is burning down. Everything, taxes, consumption, housing, upward mobility, education, health, all ties back to a backward perspective on labor and the economy.

Lol. Welcome to ‘analytics’. But it’s a 7 percentage POINT drop. Closer to a 14% change, which is pretty catatastrophic. All I’m saying is that it’s the more relevant metric. Interest rates aren’t nearly as important as the ‘real’ cost of automobiles rising and ‘real’ wages proportionally dropping. I’m not surprised…

‘Hey, we’ve fought like hell to make sure we keep costs low by making sure we pay everyone less and less compared to our profits, because we are focused by maximizing shareholder value. Now people can’t afford our product and sales are going down, I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY!’

That’s assuming you have the cash.

Problem is though, that the E46 really is a lot more fun to drive than the newer M3s. Having driven both, just saying. Car makers are confusing capability with enjoyment. You know this. It’s a crazy line to walk, on the one hand, cars are getting faster and safer. On the other hand, faster and safer often translates…

I also love his take that the new 3 series is more valuable “Hey, the last 3 series had sort of cheap materials because we used it to cut costs, but THIS ONE IS BETTER”

Did you drive the NA version in 2015? How does the turbo compare? 

My biggest takeaway is that when I saw that movie when I was a kid I thought Sally Field was old, and looking at that screenshot now I feel like she looks young and quite appealing.

Miami housing is expensive for what it is. Most people in the “middle class” still have nice houses, but they’re either A. Relatively small, or B. Far from everything. Mine is in between, not as small as the 1200 sq ft places in Coral Gables, but still within the main highways of Miami.

Yes, but you see what you’re typing right? That basically pulling between 100-120k barely gives you a middle class lifestyle on the east coast. That’s fifth quintile of household earners, and I think only the top half of that. 150k + is 5%. That’s not the picture of a healthy economy.

What beater? and what are you repairing?

Understood. And for people with that kind of wealth, that’s great. Great for them, and great for the economy.

Well, I think you hit on the best reason in your second paragraph. I think finance should be a high school course, and mandatory.

In my case, credit was cheaper than cash, I usually get under 3% for loans, while my cash earns at least 6%. For me personally, I buy cars that are either at the bottom of their depreciation, or pretty close to it. The first car I bought on credit was worth 16k when I bought it, and I sold it for 13k 5 years later…

Or, you know, we could pay better wages. It’s not like there’s less money, even adjusted for ppp or inflation, the GDP is growing. Corporations and shareholders are just holding more cash. That’s another way to keeping the economy going.

I’m somewhere in the middle. I paid good money for my “fun” car a while back. Life is short, and I want to enjoy it. But I made sacrifices and I daily a car I paid like 5k for, and I do all my own wrenching.

Hey, houses where I live are selling for over $500k, (1500 sq ft) cars cost over $30k. My wife and I are in the top 5% of earners for Miami Dade county and our total car debt is like... 25k. My fun car is paid off long since, and the only reason I have it is because I daily a 20 year old truck. My wife has a 2015 GTI…

Is there any site that has the data and methodology behind these numbers? Everyone has seen games where conservative late game strategy only gives the opposing team more possessions and a comeback win (I’m looking at you Atlanta).