There's an "echo bubble" from the housing market, which reflects an equally reckless pattern of consumption by Americans and a reckless lack of policies by the government over the last number of years.
For some time, I've felt that personal SUV use is an ethical and even patriotic issue.
I personally think, given the geo-political situation, it's downright un-American to drive those things without a compelling personal reason.
Hey, I like appropriating right-wing memes for our use! It's fun. :)
I've been a seriously angry driver for some time over the huge collection of sport-utility vehicles on our nation's roads. Well now, finally, people are starting to get a clue.
Here is a telling quote:
Jorge Fernandez strolls across the used-car parking lot littered with dozens upon dozens of sport utility vehicles the size of small tugboats.
With gas at $4 a gallon, many have sat there since last summer.
"The cars are literally just sitting, and it doesn't matter how much you sell them for," Fernandez says of the SUVs and trucks nobody wants anymore.
"It's amazing. I've never seen it this bad -- ever."
Fernandez, a wholesale auto dealer who has been in the business for more than 20 years, says SUV owners are hit especially hard. The really large ones with V-8 engines that can get as little as 12 miles per gallon in the city -- like the Cadillac Escalade, Ford Expedition and Chevy Suburban -- are dropping in value by the thousands.
You cannot imagine my glee. I have to say it: we've been whistling past the graveyard for a long time. Far too many of us have taken the use of these vehicles as a triviality. I have felt for at least the last ten years that SUVs are a uniquely socially contemptuous style of vehicle, and that many folks driving these horrible gas-guzzlers really did not seem to care about how their actions, individually or en masse, affected those around them and the strategic position of this country. These grotesquely overinflated vehicles cannot safely fit into the normal lanes of traffic or parking spaces; pollute excessively; have not had significant power-train efficiency improvements in years, due to Clinton and Bush Administration stalling; and are now, finally, the equivalent of a foreclosed McMansion in the Florida real estate market:
I used to be a car snob, and I used to be too vain to drive anything that doesn't shine," said Marci Solomon, an electrician who has a 100-mile commute to and from work. "But now it's about, do I want to eat, or do I want to make it to work? I want to do both."
But some auto experts caution owners against trading in their SUVs and trucks to save money at the pump because it may not be the wisest financial decision.
Owners might owe $20,000 or more when the vehicle is now worth $12,000. It's similar to an upside-down mortgage, and it may not make sense to try a trade-in.
"What they might be doing is spending thousands of dollars to save hundreds," says Jack Nerad, the executive director of Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com.
So the recklessness is compounded. Will SUV owners choose to walk away from their vehicles?
Sadly, this societal, financial, governmental and corporate recklessness is going to KILL Detroit:
For the first four months of this year, truck and SUV sales are down a collective 24.8 percent. SUV sales plummeted 32.8 percent while pickups dipped 19.9 percent, he says.
And:
Ford announced Thursday it was shifting production away from its longtime hallmark of pickups and SUVs in favor of smaller cars.
In making the decision, Ford said it believes gas prices will remain in the range of $3.75 to $4.25 a gallon through the end of 2009.
"We saw a real change in the industry demand in pickups and SUVs in the first two weeks of May," Ford chief executive Alan Mulally said Thursday. "It seems to us we reached a tipping point."
Brown of Automotive News said he wouldn't be surprised if General Motors and other automakers follow suit.
I feel that anyone continuing to drive one of these horrible vehicles is basically selling their country out to the oil-producing countries of the Middle East.
There. I've said it. I still feel that way.
The thing that's really devastating to me is that a lot of honorable American workers are going to lose their jobs because of this, because they were lied to by their government and their corporate top kicks. Many of us saw this coming years ago. Detroit automakers (and to some extent the Japanese, though they've been far better about new automobile technologies) are now about to pay the price for their lamentable lack of foresight.
Frankly, I wonder if the unions could have stepped up sooner too. Ford is about to close five SUV plants! Did the unions advocate for change in the form of better planning and foresight to see what was inevitably going to happen? Not being an auto-worker, I honestly don't know. Perhaps a commenter can enlighten me.
And finally, now that the oil-price cat is well and thoroughly out of the bag, with oil hitting $132/bbl this week, folks who deliberately chose to drive these vehicles are making all of us feel a little more pain due to their shortsighted, selfish decisions. Sorry, the big-family excuse isn't enough anymore. I'm all for big families, and in cases like this I can understand it. But folks who drove these vehicles out of simple choice (and I've seen thousands of single-driver hulks in my day) need some serious education. Many are finally getting it where it finally hurts them - in their wallet.
You won't catch my heart bleeding for people in this position.
I'm a proud owner of a 1996 Honda 3-door that gets 42 mpg. I'm suddenly also noticing that fewer SUVs are starting to show up on Bay Area freeways.
That SUVs are suddenly less fashionable than Jackie Mason is perhaps the only bright spot to me in this terrible bout of inflation we are just beginning to embark upon.
***UPDATE*** And finally: remember when Bush pushed through that SUV tax break as part of his tax legislation? THAT one just encouraged both Americans and the auto companies to continue to engage in reckless behavior. Yet another area where the Bush administration has committed policy blunders.
And don't even get me STARTED about the fact that these are inherently unsafe vehicles for both driver, passengers and surrounding vehicles!
The situation as it now stands amounts to a national emergency. SUVs deserve to go away. NOW.
By the way, please rec this so we have something to talk about besides Hillary! :)