>Which doesn't stop people from buying nice cars. Don't get me wrong, the whole recent model car thing is a barrier, you need credit; but have you seen how easy it is to get a car loan lately?
I think we have a different definition of poor. I'm not talking about someone who make $40k a year and lives paycheck to paycheck because they spend above their means. I'm talking about people making $15k a year (or less) at near minimum wage job. The kind of people who work in fast food.
>Also, a 2005 model year car is... not a high bar
For a person working 30 hours a week at a fast food restaurant that's a very high bar. And you're forgetting that Uber inspects the car as well, so the clunky beaters that nearly everyone drove when I worked retail during college aren't going to pass inspection.
>Remember, in most parts of America, you need a reliable car for that job at Burger King, too.
Most people working at Burger King don't have reliable cars. If they live outside of a mass transit area, they rely on friends and family when they have breakdowns. If you've ever managed retail employees (I was a geek squad supervisor in college), you'll know just how frequently workers rely on other people to drop them off, or how often they call out because their car broke down.
> And once you factor in maintenance and gas, a 2000 model year really isn't all that much cheaper than a 2005
That's true. But this is a common problem that poor people face. They don't have the money up front, so they take the cheaper up front option even though it's more expensive over the long term.
>I'm comparing it to foodservice; and compared to burger king, from what I hear, it does pay pretty well.
Definitely, but for the average burger king worker buying a car to work for Uber isn't a realistic goal. They don't have the cash and they don't have the credit to get a loan.
My point is, that there is no point comparing Uber to burger king because there is a very small intersection between people who are forced to work at burger king and people who can afford to work for Uber.
>My point is just that it's pretty nice compared to a lower-class job.
Yes,but it has barriers to entry that keeps it from being an option for the working poor, so again there is no point in your comparison.
>40% of working-aged Americans, from what I read, have college degrees
If we're talking about the same statistic, the 40% number was pretty inflated because it considered 2 year and professional degrees.
Also only 2.1% of people with a bachelor's degree are classified as working poor (under the poverty level and working) while over 21% of people with no college degree are classified as working poor.
Since a college degree decreases your chance of being working poor by 10 times, I'd say it's a a good discriminator.