Whenever I hear anyone making dubious claims about struggling (like "we make over 100k credits and barely making ends meet"), I always ask, what car do you drive?

It's amazing how quickly people's expectations change. Once they get in that new car it's the new normal. They'll get just as angry and frustrated in it as any other, but it's now an essential with an insanely high cost.

It's also full of hidden costs. People can usually tell you how much they're spending on rent, but what about how much they spend on the car? You need to add up any interest, depreciation, insurance, tax, fuel, regular maintenance, repairs, consumables, tolls, cleaning, and that's not even counting your priceless time spent driving.

Car people will just gobble up a random 1k credit repair bill when their gearbox randomly gives out then forget all about it in a few months and never once question if this thing is worth it.

Low interest rates from the 2000s really shifted the American middle class from buying used it off lease into new.

Normal rates are doing to shock consumer consumotion, really soon.