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Why are used cars so expensive right now?

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Re: Why are used cars so expensive right now?

#91

Post by voisin »

swarnie_ wrote: post #90
j79 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone have suggestions to prepare for this scenario?

If you live in a modern western country? Nothing. The asparagus season might be a few weeks shorter, you may pay 3-5% more but ultimately no one is going to starve. The best thing to do is prepare for slightly higher outgoings. If you are in Sub-Saharan Africa continue doing what you're already doing, get on a dinghy and point it at Europe.

98% of the land that makes up the wheat crop in the US is currently in severe drought. I’ve seen farmers showing land that normally would have wheat 4’ high being 8” high. If wheat fails to this degree, we have a bigger issue on our hands than paying 3-5% more for asparagus.

Re: Why are used cars so expensive right now?

#92

Post by smorgusofborg »

j79 wrote: post #89
voisin wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wait to see what happens to food this year after the current crop failures due to global warming hit the supply chain.

Anyone have suggestions to prepare for this scenario?

Even if brown rice prices were to double, making GABA rice gets the nutrition profile of proper vegetable from a staple.

I wouldn't store the brown rice meant for GABA longer than six months or replace more than half my vegetable intake with it (i.e. one probably shouldn't replace dark leafy greens and/or the broccoli family,) but that is still something like a compensation for 45% inflation in fresh vegetables.

Re: Why are used cars so expensive right now?

#94

Post by lapsed_pacifist »

andrepd wrote: post #83
lapsed_pacifist wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zoning which prohibits or heavily restricts multi-unit housing in cities, and material shortages and high prices for steel and lumber which impacts new single family homes.

That's a minor factor. It does not explain how this situation happens all over the world, even where there is no overzealous zoning or high prices of materials. The issue is cheap credit and the lack of an LVT that would avoid all the economical and ethical issues with land ownership.

I don't know how your can say that an LVT avoids all economic and ethical issues with land ownership, that seems like a personal moral opinion. Especially since there's very few instances of an LVT on the wild. I'm sympathetic to Georgism, but you're making a very powerful and unsubstantiated claim.

Re: Why are used cars so expensive right now?

#95

Post by JuliusPullo »

I would pay a premium for NOT having all the extra electronics --a computer that controls the computer of the computer, a large TV on the dash, a car that only the dealership can fix because they are the only ones who have the equipment to read the codes, everything by wire...I prefer a car that lets me stranded in the road for something I can usually figure out and repair myself, instead of a car that just stops running and has to be towed directly to the dealership for service.

Re: Why are used cars so expensive right now?

#96

Post by andrewmcwatters »

JuliusPullo wrote: post #95

I would pay a premium for NOT having all the extra electronics --a computer that controls the computer of the computer, a large TV on the dash, a car that only the dealership can fix because they are the only ones who have the equipment to read the codes, everything by wire...I prefer a car that lets me stranded in the road for something I can usually figure out and repair myself, instead of a car that just stops run…

I agree, but also hold an extreme view on the other end. If you’re going to put tech in a car, I want that crap to be Tesla-levels of tech. Not this half-assed 6” “infotainment” crap.

Find a way to slap a straight up automotive grade 23” 144hz touchscreen in there. Or at least do what Tesla did and say screw it and use one that isn’t. Really push the envelope or don’t bother at all.

I expect more from BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen but they produce absolute garbage. Audi owner here.

Re: Why are used cars so expensive right now?

#97

Post by BizarroLand »

oceanplexian wrote: post #88
France_is_bacon wrote: post #77

Cash is being pumped into our economy, therefore, people want to buy more stuff, because now they can "afford it." So now with more competition for goods and services, prices go up because there is more money than there are goods and services. I work with businesses in the trades (auto repair, plumbers, HVAC, insulation, etc) and they are all at full throttle, and cannot handle any more work. So those companies are g…

Zimbabwe? Probably not, but I think something similar to Argentina (it is not unusual to see credit card offers with 100%+ interest). We won’t see 1,000x inflation but strojg inflation could be in the cards, especially if we keep expanding the money supply. Eventually something has to give.

I'm not an economics expert but I'm guessing we're teetering on the edge of stagflation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagflation

Unlike the 70's it's not a single thing that had had upsets but multiple things in countless pipelines, increasing the cost and difficulty of getting workers, materials, and transportation.

I'm guessing logistics are all screwy in dozens of areas and prices are rising as fast as they can while capitalistic opportunists are trying to "get theirs" in the melee.

Re: Why are used cars so expensive right now?

#98

Post by treeman79 »

voisin wrote: post #91
swarnie_ wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you live in a modern western country? Nothing. The asparagus season might be a few weeks shorter, you may pay 3-5% more but ultimately no one is going to starve. The best thing to do is prepare for slightly higher outgoings. If you are in Sub-Saharan Africa continue doing what you're already doing, get on a dinghy and point it at Europe.

98% of the land that makes up the wheat crop in the US is currently in severe drought. I’ve seen farmers showing land that normally would have wheat 4’ high being 8” high. If wheat fails to this degree, we have a bigger issue on our hands than paying 3-5% more for asparagus.

Been hearing this for decades. Being in an extreme drought for 35+, maybe it’s time to rethink what is normal and what is extreme

Re: Why are used cars so expensive right now?

#100

Post by throw123123123 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #46
throw123123123 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not quite correct. In high inflation credit markets disappear. 80%+ of housing is bought on mortgages. If 80% of housing demand disappears you get a 2008.

The 2008 global financial crisis was due to a compete failure of risk management in originating mortgages and packaging them as mortgage backed securities. In short, the industry was scraping the barrel and shoveling shit to investors. “If they can fog a mirror, fund the loan” was a phrase common at Countrywide. Lending standards are comparatively tight now, no NINJA loans [1]. The credit market will tighten, but hou…

Your debt gets inflated away gradually while your asset crashes today. If housing went down 30%, virtually all debt in housing sold in the last few years would be underwater, which tends to increase delinquency ("they can take the house back"), which then makes the bank eat that loss and having toxic assets.

The core issue is that debt is always risky.

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