Please check your math, and assume the Following:
Rent, Food, Utilities, Insurance, Taxes.

$17.20*40=$688...WITHOUT TAXES TAKEN OUT...*4 weeks=$2752/month - before taxes.

“Second, the specific number is not really the point. The point is just that million dollar homes are surprisingly affordable for the upper middle class after accounting for various factors like previous home equity.”

“Instead, 5 years ago they bought a 300,000 house and just sold it for 900,000.”

Thank you. This is almost exactly the response I was going to type.  Between housing and car, you’re broke.

I can’t tell if this is satire. But, some problems with your math there I think. By my math, that’s $2,750 or so a month, before taxes. So probably a take home of something like $2,200 a month, maybe less. Assuming you live with your parents, sure. You could afford this car. What's the average studio apartment there?…

I’d be surprised if he and any of the other geriatric politicians have their bowels under control, much less anything else.  There were certainly rumors that the previous one didn’t.

How much for taxes? How much for rent? How much for utilities? How much for groceries? How much for health insurance? How much for gasoline? How much.... you get my drift? How much of that $3000/month is left now?

And the previous guy is on trial for rape.

“You know those things where people are always going off about squeezing the middle class to help fund the lower income people. Well right here is the results.”

Millionaires and billionaires are literally the people driving up the cost of the Camry.

I would argue that a new car has its place. The key is to not see it as an investment, but as a sunk cost.

I can’t think of any car I’d want to drive in the $20k range. What even is there? A Versa? Kill me.

The middle class was squeezed to make the rich, richer.

The rich got richer. Not the poor

I’d argue that just because you can afford to buy a new car, doesn’t mean you should.

Cheap new cars were replaced with expensive cars and mortgage-style financing.

Eventually supply will catch back up, and incentives will return because there’s a limited number of people willing to pay $48k for a Sante Fe. The current path of limited supply, higher demand constantly driving up transaction prices is unsustainable in the long term.

The thing is, it is entirely possible that they won’t.

Yes, but, if you read the article, automakers have killed lots of lower priced models. It’s not just a question of auto makers pushing higher trims, they have straight up gotten rid of their lower priced models