rofl at car prices or everything prices.

[Zeze]

How is the entire population supposed to endure the rampant price increases in grocery prices, cars, everything but wages? We spent half a grand in groceries, and it bought nothing special.

I bought a mid-size SUV 2013 Hyundai Tucon mid-trim with 550 miles on it with $16.5K cash in 2015. You hear me? It's just 8 years ago not 20.

Now all compact/mid size non-luxury SUVs start at $30K - hyundai, toyota, honda, etc.
Now all larger mid size non-luxury SUVs are easily $40-60K.

Dude my wages haven't gone up 40% in those 8 years. A Honda Pilot mid-level trim is $52K msrp before additional inflation cost.
You're looking at $1,000/mo just on car payment + insurance lol.



I'm grateful to be doing white collar jobs, how does this even work for firemen, teachers, police officers, non-IT office jobs, etc?

 

[dullard]

Inflation is real and has been high, especially on food and vehicles.

That said, you should probably reset your expectations a bit. You got a great deal on a low-mileage multiple-year old car in 2015. You won't get that type of deal again. But you shouldn't expect that either. You should base expectations on a more realistic value: the 2013 Hyndai Tucon MSRP was in the lower to mid $20k price. Don't base your comparison on a one-off great deal. Reset your expectations before you turn into a bitter old man.

Similarly, going around thinking the mid-level Pilot is $52k will get you completely wrong. You are really looking at $42k MSRP for the EX-L line.


If your wages haven't gone up much, try looking for a new job. Lots of people have gotten serious raises recently. The median income AFTER INFLATION is still up from 2015. Inflation is painful and real. But only a portion of most people's income goes to the big inflation problems (especially cars). If cars go up 40% (your number) then your salary does not need to also go up 40% to break even.

 

[Brainonska511]

A lot of Americans also like to overbuy vehicles because decades of auto advertising has convinced them that they need and want expensive large vehicle.

Anyway, despite inflation, which is coming back down, it has never been a better time to find a new job with employers clamoring for people thanks to historically low unemployment.

 

[Zeze]

Inflation is real and has been high, especially on food and vehicles.

That said, you should probably reset your expectations a bit. You got a great deal on a low-mileage multiple-year old car in 2015. You won't get that type of deal again. But you shouldn't expect that either. You should base expectations on a more realistic value: the 2013 Hyndai Tucon MSRP was in the lower to mid $20k price. Don't base your comparison on a one-off great deal. Reset your expectations before you turn into a bitter old man.

Similarly, going around thinking the mid-level Pilot is $52k will get you completely wrong. You are really looking at $42k MSRP for the EX-L line.
View attachment 86238

If your wages haven't gone up much, try looking for a new job. Lots of people have gotten serious raises recently. The median income AFTER INFLATION is still up from 2015. Inflation is painful and real. But only a portion of most people's income goes to the big inflation problems (especially cars). If cars go up 40% (your number) then your salary does not need to also go up 40% to break even.

I got a promotion few years ago. It made near zero difference since inflation ate it all up.

The prices you included are starting prices. AWD is like $2K. With taxes and bs fees, EX-L will be just under $50K and Touring would be over $50K.

 

[dullard]

I got a promotion few years ago. It made near zero difference since inflation ate it all up.

The prices you included are starting prices. AWD is like $2K. With taxes and bs fees, EX-L will be just under $50K and Touring would be over $50K.

A 40% increase sounds like a lot, but it isn't. To get a 40% salary increase in 8 years would take 8 years of 4.3% raises. That is because 1.043 ^ 8 = 1.4. Raises of 4.3% is barely above what many people get in typical cost of living increases. If you got not only 8 years of standard raises AND a promotion and still didn't get an average of 4.3% raise, you are doing something seriously wrong.

You mentioned MSRP, I linked MSRP. Now you want to add in AWD and add taxes and add fees. That is a major goalpost shift.

 

[Ken g6]

You're comparing used vs. new. I see a bunch of used 2021 SUVs in my area for under $20k. Granted, many are domestic and/or high-mileage, but there are deals to be found.

I saw a TV commercial recently with a brand new SUV starting at ~$28k. But I don't remember the make or model.

 

[Brainonska511]

I got a promotion few years ago. It made near zero difference since inflation ate it all up.

The prices you included are starting prices. AWD is like $2K. With taxes and bs fees, EX-L will be just under $50K and Touring would be over $50K.

Maybe it's time to find a new job. That's what I did when my last job provided a paltry COL/merit increase that didn't keep up with my housing costs.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Inflation really has gotten insane. Been a problem for decades, but it's starting to catch up with a lot more people now days and the last few years have been worse. I make good money yet pretty much live pay to pay since my bills have gone up drastically in the past 10 or so years. Some have doubled in the last few years alone such as natural gas.

And yeah cars... it's completely absurd. You can almost buy a house in some areas for the price they're asking for cars now. I doubt I will ever buy a new car in my life time. Even if I saved up I just couldn't justify paying that kind of money for something that won't last relatively long.

Having to find a new job shouldn't be the answer either. Not everyone can be an engineer or manager or CEO or other high end job. Moving jobs (if going to another company) also means starting over from scratch. Seniority, vacation time, pension etc.

In my case I work at the highest pay tier in the company so if I wanted to make more I'd have to go in management and I have zero interest in that. Although going as a field tech you can rack up quite a lot of OT, but you're also working all the time and rarely getting a full night of sleep.

 

[Stiff Clamp]

You're comparing used vs. new. I see a bunch of used 2021 SUVs in my area for under $20k. Granted, many are domestic and/or high-mileage, but there are deals to be found.

I saw a TV commercial recently with a brand new SUV starting at ~$28k. But I don't remember the make or model.

Mitsubishi Outlander?

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Inflation will grow worse, just wait for the Unions to get their raises. UPS set the tone and now we have the UAW asking for 40% pay increase and 32hr work-weeks.

The Fed & Govt unions also have their hands out and will be rewarded nicely.

 

[Brainonska511]

Inflation will grow worse, just wait for the Unions to get their raises. UPS set the tone and now we have the UAW asking for 40% pay increase and 32hr work-weeks.

The Fed & Govt unions also have their hands out and will be rewarded nicely.

Yeah, fuck those greedy people for getting what they deserve from highly profitable corporations after being squeezed since the Great Recession. /s

 

[IronWing]

Labor has been squeezed since Reagan. Class warfare is raging and the rich are kicking ass.

 

[brianmanahan]

yeah, i want something new to drive, but will probably be sticking with my 10-year-old compact car for another 10 years.

and instead of getting a 2500 sq ft house on 5 acres for 250$k at %2 mortgage that i wanted a few years ago, i'll probably be getting something half that size with .25 acres this year for 250$k at %8 interest.

ah well. i'll never live the life i could have, but living small will at least save future money in upkeep/utilities/insurance/taxes.

and i still hold out hope that when all the boomers are in the nursing home 20 years from now, i might've saved enough to upgrade to a nice house for retirement.

 

[Exterous]

Car prices are getting a little better but it might still be good to wait if you can. I'm in the market for a new one 'soon' but I'll give it some time and see if prices come down or if this is the new normal for a bit. Granted I have a Camry with under 100k so even though it's a 2013 I probably have some time

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Inflation will grow worse, just wait for the Unions to get their raises. UPS set the tone and now we have the UAW asking for 40% pay increase and 32hr work-weeks.

The Fed & Govt unions also have their hands out and will be rewarded nicely.

What a load of crap, to believe this you'd have to believe capitalists don't already sell at the highest possible price they think they can get away with. UAW hasn't gotten jack for years from the car companies and yet prices shot up because the companies can get away with it since owning a car is pretty much necessary for the right to work in America for the vast majority of the population since American transportation infrastructure is so dogshit.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Labor has been squeezed since Reagan. Class warfare is raging and the rich are kicking ass.

It's the stable equilibrium of capitalism. It was like this for the entire nation's history until FDR and then quickly backslid to the norm again with Reagan. Canada, UK, etc will eventually end up right back there too.

 

[pmv]

Inflation is preposterous now.

Seems to me it's been a multi-stage process to impoverish everyone and redistribute wealth to those at the top.

First they destroy the unions and deregulate and privatise everything (under Thatcher), then they impose 'austerity' and cut all state spending and freeze wages (under Cameron and Osborne), then we get massive inflation as corporations raise all their prices (under Sunak). Not forgetting "quantitative easing" after the financial crisis, which inflated the value of the assets mostly owned by the very people who caused that crisis.
The rich have been fighting the class war quite ruthlessly, even as they tell the rest of us that no such conflict exists.

 

[Kaido]

You're comparing used vs. new. I see a bunch of used 2021 SUVs in my area for under $20k. Granted, many are domestic and/or high-mileage, but there are deals to be found.

I saw a TV commercial recently with a brand new SUV starting at ~$28k. But I don't remember the make or model.

Cash for Clunkers killed the > $10k market. My original $12k Kia Soul from like ten or so years ago now has a $20,000 base price:

 

[Kaido]

A 40% increase sounds like a lot, but it isn't. To get a 40% salary increase in 8 years would take 8 years of 4.3% raises. That is because 1.043 ^ 8 = 1.4. Raises of 4.3% is barely above what many people get in typical cost of living increases. If you got not only 8 years of standard raises AND a promotion and still didn't get an average of 4.3% raise, you are doing something seriously wrong.

As a person with math dyslexia, how does that workflow operate in your head? Are you able to visualize the flowchart to get from a percentage & break that down over time? I have MASSIVE trouble following the logic of math operations & conversions lol.

 

[Zeze]

Inflation will grow worse, just wait for the Unions to get their raises. UPS set the tone and now we have the UAW asking for 40% pay increase and 32hr work-weeks.

The Fed & Govt unions also have their hands out and will be rewarded nicely.

Don't point at unions. It's PLAINLY obvious any BS excuse corps come up with are just that - BS. They're posting RECORD profits themselves while simultaneously complaining rising costs. How does that even work?

F the ultra rich. They don't care about you and laugh at you while we fight over the crumbs.

 

[Kaido]

Don't point at unions. It's PLAINLY obvious any BS excuse corps come up with are just that - BS. They're posting RECORD profits themselves while simultaneously complaining rising costs. How does that even work?

Auto workers still have room to expand their strike against car makers. But they also face risks

Even after escalating its strike against Detroit automakers, the United Auto Workers union still has plenty of leverage in its effort to force the companies to agree to significant increases in pay and benefits.

apnews.com

“What has hurt the consumers in the long run is the fact the companies have raised prices on vehicles 35% in the last four years,” he shot back. “It’s not because of our wages. Our wages went up 6%, the CEO pay went up 40%. “

...

Similarly, Jodi Tinson, a Stellantis spokeswoman, said, “We have a contingency plan in place to ensure we are fulfilling our commitments to our dealers and our customers.” She declined to provide additional details.

In negotiating with the companies, the union is pointing to the carmakers’ huge recent profits and high CEO pay as it seeks wage increases of about 36% over four years. The companies have offered a little over half that amount.

Automakers' 'record profits' should be shared, Biden says

President Biden is sending negotiators to Detroit

ny1.com

Profits at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis almost doubled between 2013 and 2022, totaling $250 billion, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

This interview is amazing lol:

I mean, for $29 million, I could probably learn to dance too!

 

[Kaido]

Don't point at unions. It's PLAINLY obvious any BS excuse corps come up with are just that - BS. They're posting RECORD profits themselves while simultaneously complaining rising costs. How does that even work?

It's the same thing with all industries right now. Disney's CEO Bob Iger says Actors & Writers guilds are not 'being realistic':

"There's a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic"

"So they're not being realistic? Why not?"

"...I can't answer that question"

Annual pay: $27 million dollars

Net worth: $690 million dollars

Many actors & writers aren't making livable wages:

'Breaking Bad' star Aaron Paul, 'Orange Is the New Black' cast member Kimiko Glenn, and more actors are revealing how little money they make as the SAG-AFTRA strike rolls on

Numerous actors are speaking out from the picket lines about how little they were paid upfront and in residuals as the SAG-AFTRA strike continues.

www.insider.com

'Suits' Writer Shows How Much He Got Paid in Residuals from Netflix Last Quarter

Spoiler alert: You cannot buy a good suit with it.

collider.com

"We don't make $900/day. $900 per day of shooting. That happened about twice every two weeks. So take away taxes, commissions – that nets you about $450 for that one day of shooting," Glenn wrote. "And assuming you work four days a month – we're talking $1800 for a months work, and you live in New York City. That doesn't make rent."

 

[IronWing]

Auto prices have also risen because feature creep is off the charts. Entry level cars have features that used to only be found on luxury cars. All those sensors, motors, speakers, and fanny warmers don’t come cheap.

Plus engines and transmissions on even the econobox cars are superior to anything we’ve seen in decades past.

 

[Brainonska511]

Cash for Clunkers killed the > $10k market. My original $12k Kia Soul from like ten or so years ago now has a $20,000 base price:

View attachment 86298

And what's in the base model now vs what you got ~10+ years ago? Inflation alone would account for a ~$4-5k increase.

 

[Brainonska511]

It's the stable equilibrium of capitalism. It was like this for the entire nation's history until FDR and then quickly backslid to the norm again with Reagan. Canada, UK, etc will eventually end up right back there too.

LOL at you if you think that we've ever had some "stable equilibrium" of capitalism here.