America says it has got poorer. That's rich

[garbon]

1980 census - mean commute times were 21.7 minutes, with 11.6% of workers having commute times of 45 minutes or over.
Now it over 25 minutes with 14.6% at 45 minutes or over.

Haven't we also seen increases in car ownership since 1980?

[garbon]

My '07 Civic is certainly better than an '82 Accord.

A sophisticated affluent and fashionable urbanite driving a 7 year old car?
QED

Well, of course. I live in NYC, so I really shouldn't be driving any car.

Also, I liked that when I just took my car in for service, the dealership called me while I was waiting in lounge to tell me they want to buy my car and have me buy a new one.

[Ideologue]

My '07 Civic is certainly better than an '82 Accord.

A sophisticated affluent and fashionable urbanite driving a 7 year old car?
QED

And my car's 14 years old.  Even in SC, that's fucked up.

[The Minsky Moment]

Don't show it to Siege.

[Iormlund]

... cars are both more powerful (80 percent more horsepower on average) ...

Warning: completely unrelated to the topic at hand.

I love when people put forward random statistical facts they don't understand to prove something. Cars are more powerful, yes. That's because they are a lot heavier as well.

Reminds me of the highway price per km comparison between Germany and Spain (or Italy, or Greece), used to imply massive corruption. The data looks really bad if you don't know that, unlike Germany, Spain is criss-crossed by mountain ranges, which makes building highways much, much more expensive.

[DGuller]

I am not entirely sold about the quality advantage.  My first car was an 82 Honda Accord.  Good gas mileage, never needed service beyond an oil change.  Today's Accords have better safety features, but other than that ?

Not having it break nearly as often?  And safety features are pretty valuable, if you put a dollar figure on your life and do the calculations.  If you value your life at, say, $10 million, then the cost of the risk of dying in a car accident today is about 10 cents per mile.  If you drive 20,000 miles a year, that's $2000 a year.  I can't find the statistics for 1982, but I think a conservative assumption is that the death rate per 100 million miles was triple of that.  So improvement in safety alone makes you $4,000 per year richer.

Incidentally, these kinds of calculations is why I find the logic of giving young drivers cheap old cars to drive, because they'll probably crash then anyway, silly and short-sighted.

[DGuller]

I love when people put forward random statistical facts they don't understand to prove something. Cars are more powerful, yes. That's because they are a lot heavier as well.

They are, but nevertheless, today's mid-range Honda is going to smoke a fancy BMW from 1980.

[MadImmortalMan]

What if you value your life at about $17.50?

[Ideologue]

I value my life around -$120,000.

But as the saying goes, the bank has a problem.

[mongers]

I value my life around -$120,000.

But as the saying goes, the bank has a problem.

Genuine greener fields.

You should emigrate.

[Ideologue]

And be ostracized by barristers and solicitors for my superior education?  No thanks.

[mongers]

And be ostracized by barristers and solicitors for my superior education?  No thanks.

No, not here, but anywhere else, why not try Brazil*, Angola, Denmark, Italy, Uganda or Vietnam. 





*hint non of these places have a strategic bomber force and are better for the lack of.

[Ideologue]

WRONG.  Why do you say such things?

[mongers]

WRONG.  Why do you say such things?

[Eddie Teach]

I think you could be happy in Uganda.