Personally I have 5 miles to the closest grocery store and 11 miles to work.
Its not crazy long, but long enough to need a car because there are no busses or trains and cycling or scooters isn’t always safe in the weather that we get here.
My confusion though is, why cars over there use so much more gas when, as you say, people need them. I’d assume that smaller more economical cars would be more popular in a country where distances are long
Further more, I think that the issue about not affording food, comes down to wages and not gas prices
Further more, I think that the issue about not affording food, comes down to wages and not gas prices
This is a great point, it kind of ends up being both in the USA right now, especially the price of gas keeps increasing while many peoples’ wages have remained pretty stagnant.
USA min wage, 2000: $7.25/hour. Average gas cost for the year was around: $1.40/gallon
USA min wage, 2026: $7.25/hour. Average gas cost today: $4.36
Sure, lots of people make more than minimum wage, but lots of people make less, too (if they get tipped).
My confusion though is, why cars over there use so much more gas when, as you say, people need them. I’d assume that smaller more economical cars would be more popular in a country where distances are long
I am also confused about this one 😂 despite living here my whole life. I have a subcompact hatchback of a type that’s pretty common in Europe/Asia and kinda rare in the USA. People are often shocked by how small it is. My ex-gf’s mom (from a rural area/“big truck country”) was like straight up offended by how small my car was. Every time I travel in Europe I’m like “omg, everyone here has cars like mine, this is so nice” People don’t even understand the fringe benefits beyond fuel efficiency. My car is easy for others to see around, so traffic flows better around me. I can park it anywhere, because there’s almost always a place that the huge American cars gave up on trying to fit into. I even get discounts on ferries because my car is so small!
I think most Americans just don’t understand how much fun small cars can be, they want more room to haul more stuff and people (even though most of us already have too much stuff & not enough friends, boom roasted)
Yeah that’s basically the type of car I’m talking about. Mine is a Toyota Yaris but yeah. When I was in Italy I drove my friend’s Chevy Matiz and I was like. This is made by an American company, but they don’t sell it in the USA! It’s bonkers
Nobody can afford economic cars, vehicle arms race, and light truck legislation.
The vehicle arms race is the increasingly large vehicles. SUVs are considered light trucks and light trucks have legislation which allows for them to be less fuel efficient. This encourages less efficient vehicles to roam the street and makes riding bikes and motorcycles much less safe which further encourages the arms race.
Additionally many of our roads have a speed limit at something like 35-40mph which makes it so things like microcars can’t feasibly be street legal, even ignoring the glaring issue of being in a microcar next to an SUV.
My advice is make sure that your own country never laxes laws to allow for larger vehicles, you give auto manufacturers and inch they’ll take a mile and put you into this self perpetuating cycle.
Microcars aren’t able to travel above 25mph for the most part because of safety regulations. So what we do have here are a bunch of LSV rated microcars which can’t be used on many streets.
As for that tax it wouldn’t do much here, more likely to just lock them into poverty.
I’d personally love to own electric car but I don’t have 40k to blow. Mivro cars which are more affordable aren’t available here as LSVs as far as I can tell. I can’t even afford to buy an electric trike. And this is speaking from my position which is definitely better than most other people.
I think something that’s lost in the weeds is how truly poor US citizens are, as it would turn out having over 50% of the wealth in the hands of the wealthy makes for a rich impoverished nation.
Take for instance gas, sure it’s cheap comparatively, it’s also subsidized by our taxes so we’re paying for gas whether we like it or not.
Personally I have 5 miles to the closest grocery store and 11 miles to work.
Its not crazy long, but long enough to need a car because there are no busses or trains and cycling or scooters isn’t always safe in the weather that we get here.
My confusion though is, why cars over there use so much more gas when, as you say, people need them. I’d assume that smaller more economical cars would be more popular in a country where distances are long
Further more, I think that the issue about not affording food, comes down to wages and not gas prices
This is a great point, it kind of ends up being both in the USA right now, especially the price of gas keeps increasing while many peoples’ wages have remained pretty stagnant.
USA min wage, 2000: $7.25/hour. Average gas cost for the year was around: $1.40/gallon
USA min wage, 2026: $7.25/hour. Average gas cost today: $4.36
Sure, lots of people make more than minimum wage, but lots of people make less, too (if they get tipped).
I am also confused about this one 😂 despite living here my whole life. I have a subcompact hatchback of a type that’s pretty common in Europe/Asia and kinda rare in the USA. People are often shocked by how small it is. My ex-gf’s mom (from a rural area/“big truck country”) was like straight up offended by how small my car was. Every time I travel in Europe I’m like “omg, everyone here has cars like mine, this is so nice” People don’t even understand the fringe benefits beyond fuel efficiency. My car is easy for others to see around, so traffic flows better around me. I can park it anywhere, because there’s almost always a place that the huge American cars gave up on trying to fit into. I even get discounts on ferries because my car is so small!
I think most Americans just don’t understand how much fun small cars can be, they want more room to haul more stuff and people (even though most of us already have too much stuff & not enough friends, boom roasted)
Now I am curious. What car don’t have?
We gave a Suzuki Splash. It is still a small car but not even close to the smallest ones I often see around here.
Sure its not as comfortable, especially on long drives on the motorway (speed limit 80m/h) but the benefits counter that by quite a lot!
Yeah that’s basically the type of car I’m talking about. Mine is a Toyota Yaris but yeah. When I was in Italy I drove my friend’s Chevy Matiz and I was like. This is made by an American company, but they don’t sell it in the USA! It’s bonkers
Ah yeah the yaris is very popular here! We have one at work and it drives pretty well! It’s a hybrid though so a bit larger that the original models
Yup, super common type of just basic “car” in Europe and Asia… oddity in the USA haha
Nobody can afford economic cars, vehicle arms race, and light truck legislation.
The vehicle arms race is the increasingly large vehicles. SUVs are considered light trucks and light trucks have legislation which allows for them to be less fuel efficient. This encourages less efficient vehicles to roam the street and makes riding bikes and motorcycles much less safe which further encourages the arms race.
Additionally many of our roads have a speed limit at something like 35-40mph which makes it so things like microcars can’t feasibly be street legal, even ignoring the glaring issue of being in a microcar next to an SUV.
My advice is make sure that your own country never laxes laws to allow for larger vehicles, you give auto manufacturers and inch they’ll take a mile and put you into this self perpetuating cycle.
Very interesting. I didn’t know this
We need two cars. One of them is annolder microcar (Suzuki Splash) and it does fine on our roads with 80 mph speed limits
Cars here are taxed every half year depending on how economic they are. The more they use the more they cost
Microcars aren’t able to travel above 25mph for the most part because of safety regulations. So what we do have here are a bunch of LSV rated microcars which can’t be used on many streets.
As for that tax it wouldn’t do much here, more likely to just lock them into poverty.
I’d personally love to own electric car but I don’t have 40k to blow. Mivro cars which are more affordable aren’t available here as LSVs as far as I can tell. I can’t even afford to buy an electric trike. And this is speaking from my position which is definitely better than most other people.
I think something that’s lost in the weeds is how truly poor US citizens are, as it would turn out having over 50% of the wealth in the hands of the wealthy makes for a rich impoverished nation.
Take for instance gas, sure it’s cheap comparatively, it’s also subsidized by our taxes so we’re paying for gas whether we like it or not.
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