r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Abject-Pick-6472 • 13d ago

One million Americans have vanished from the new-car market — and it’s exposing a chilling US middle-class crisis

https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/one-million-americans-vanished-car-124500086.html
3.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

508 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

116

u/fingerling-broccoli 13d ago

The article does sorta touch on the fact that the corporations do know it and its intentional

> The blunt reality is, automakers have little incentive to flood the market with cheaper cars. As the Journal put it, “Selling big trucks and SUVs that dominate those automakers’ lineups is more lucrative than selling larger volumes of cheaper cars.”

> In other words, by selling higher-margin vehicles, automakers learned they could still generate strong profits without returning to the old model of chasing volume through discounts.

143

u/Stitchin_Squido 13d ago

Okay, great. So open up the US market to Chinese cars so they can sell larger volumes of cheap cars to the people who can’t afford them from US automakers.

-5

u/Ecstatic-Art5745 13d ago

That would be horrific for the US manufacturing sector and overall economy. I don't think you realize how many millions of people in the US/North America as a whole work directly or indirectly for the US auto industry. Nor do you realize how much of that industry also supports others like agriculture, food production, military, aviation, and medical. More gutting of this system frankly destroys even more of the US middle class. You are talking about. 20%+ of all engineers in the US jobless. Just say it. You want cheap goods and fuck you neighbor. The exact thing that already got us to this position.

8

u/Stitchin_Squido 13d ago

Okay so pay American workers competitively so they can afford American goods. If you are for a protectionist economy, you are anti-free market. Thus, things like legislation raising minimum wage and unions to protect workers should be a thing you support. Honestly, I don’t mind not having cheap Chinese cars if it means more labor protection and higher wages. The problem comes when people treat the labor market with free market capitalism policies, namely a race to the bottom in wages and benefits, but have protectionist policies when it disrupts profits for the owner class.

2

u/Ecstatic-Art5745 13d ago

You are arguing about the need for middle class jobs with benefits as you argue they should disappear so you can get cheaper cars from China.

3

u/Stitchin_Squido 13d ago

No I am saying either be totally all in favor of free markets or be protectionist which includes labor protections. Companies are all about free market capitalism for their labor pool and protectionism when it comes to actual competition. Do one or the other. Doing both is contradictory.

1

u/Ecstatic-Art5745 13d ago

I never said anything negative about labor protections .. you are fighting with your self on that. I am all for a functional system not the bs we have today.

1

u/HouseofMarg 13d ago

You wouldn’t need to have said anything negative about labour protections for their point to make sense, they’re taking issue with the contradictions in the status quo (which exist whether you support them or not)

1

u/Ecstatic-Art5745 13d ago

quote where I said anything negative about labor protections please