this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
407 points (94.9% liked)

News

23644 readers
2794 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Must be nice to be rich enough to have a car.

Luckily the stores I can walk to are pretty affordable.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

My car is 20 years old, runs great, gets 30mpg, and easy to repair. It costs about $40/month in gas, $800/year in insurance and I purchased it used for $11500. Unexpected expenses usually run $500 every 4 years or so.

It opened doors to better employment, bridged the gap to my distant friends, supports my recreational activities, saved my life with a medical emergency.

Without it, I couldnt see my friends, family, or nieces/nephews. I couldnt see the milky way without light pollution. I'd have to accept what I'm offered rather than find what I need. I have to autonomy to pick a direction and explore; to find nature, peace or get away from civilization.

I'm not rich, but my life is richer with what I can do with a car.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

It costs about $40/month in gas, $800/year in insurance and I purchased it used for $11500.

Must be nice to be able to afford to pay $11500 for a car. More than half of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I generally agree with you, but I think you missed the mark here. People who manage to buy a used car that they may need to get by are not the issue here. I hate cars and car dependant cities, but also have a lease on a used one that I can barely afford because the town I'm in right now is 100% carbrained. When I lived in the city, I was proud not to own a car. I also currently don't have the money for it in my budget, so my quality of life has taken a significant hit by this necessary purchase (though it would be much worse without it). I live paycheck-to-paycheck right now too.

[–] AlDente 1 points 1 year ago

Ok, same thing but I paid $3000. My car is 26 years old and running great.

[–] Meowoem -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're being so disingenuous, making it sound like car ownership is out the reach of half of Americans is the most absurd thing I've heard in a long time.

For most people a car is a vital expense to allow them to live, work and shop at far less expense so becomes a net saving. If you're working minimum wage then you can afford a car, this is born out by the fact that cars are totally ubiquitous.

Bad and unfaithful arguments just hurt the cause

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I spend $2500 a month for rent and take home maybe $800 more then that.

Many people can not afford cars, check your privilege.

[–] Meowoem -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You earn more than me, my car cost 2k. Over 90% of American households have at least one car, there's a lot wrong with cars back lack of access to them is not one of the issues

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

How much is your rent?

$800 a month for every other expense in a month means I’m skipping meals more often then not so there’s something wrong with your math.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Well, I live where there is terrible public transportation so everybody and their grandma has to drive everywhere and can tell you that's a whole different ball game. Sure, maybe it's cheap to drive where you are but here insurance is at least $300 per month per car, because since everyone is driving there are more accidents. So you may be getting subsidized by all the people who aren't driving, basically.

Our downtown though has moved in the opposite direction, it was dead when I was in highschool, remember walking around there in the weekends looking at all the old empty buildings that used to be retail, we would explore it like it was historical ruins. But over time it's come back and now many people living there & working there, restaurants and bars and little groceries, different from what it was, malls killed downtown retail then internet killed most of the the malls.