If you listen to the Biden administration we are in a record economic recovery. More jobs than ever before. The economic struggles are just being played up by right-wing media.
But, in reality, we see headlines like this one every single day.
$700 a month! A new car will cost you, on average, 47 grand!
"Unfortunately for the segment of the population that probably needs it the most, it's getting more and more out of reach," Drury notes.
Indeed, that high dollar figure doesn't even account for insurance or parking for those who have to pay for it. Not to mention gas prices that crossed $5 a gallon recently and are still hovering near these record levels.
The regular, everyday American is now in a place where they can't afford a car, and even if they could they couldn't afford the gas to get anywhere.
The result is that prices have climbed to astronomical levels. The average cost of a new car is hovering at the highest level on record, topping $47,000 a pop.
Drury says get used to these prices: "We're not going to see a sudden drop-off in price anytime soon, because there doesn't seem to be any resolution for the chip crisis."
Those who have sought respite by buying used cars are also facing sticker shock.
Used car prices have shot up even more dramatically than new car prices, up 16.1% from a year ago compared to a 12.6% jump in new car prices.
This is a tragedy for most Americans.
However, for the climate-change cult and the power-hungry elites, things are going exactly as planned.
Let me take you on a little history lesson to show how we've just erased a century of affordable cars.
In 1908, the Model T Ford cost $850, or about $27,000 in 2022 dollars. The average wage was 22 cents per hour, or $450 a year ($13,000 in 2022 dollars).
This means that the Model T was not affordable for the average worker, taking nearly 2 years of salary for the most middle class person to buy.
This changed rapidly in the following years, however, because Henry Ford and others liked money. Ford diversified his offerings and lowered costs through mass production and the beauty of the free market, putting cars into every home in America.
By 1940, the cost of a car fell to $14,800 in today's money, while the average worker was making $28,000 in 2022 dollars. Following the war, cars stayed inexpensive, allowing the parents of the Baby Boomers to travel around the U.S. and fill up their tank for the equivalent of an hour's work.
Even after the inflation of the '70s, by 1980, new cars cost around $23,000 in today's money, while real wages were around $43,000 in 2022 dollars.
Then there's the last generation that started implementing the technology we know and love in today's cars (RIP, CD players!).
In 2000, the average price for a car was about $21,000 in today's dollars, while the average wage was about $50,400 in today's dollars, making sales of minivans explode through the roof because families could afford kids and a car.
Now to today:
In 2021, the government reported an average median salary of $52,000 for full-time workers.
This means that in the last 22 years, the average person's real wage has only increased two thousand dollars, but the inflation-adjusted price of a car has jumped from $21,000 to $47,000.
This is why many people in their 30s are buying 7-year-old minivans for their families, because they cost nearly $30,000, which is about the upper limit of what most middle class families can afford. And for those making less, the only option is a decade-old Dodge Caravan with 200,000 miles.
Yes, newer cars get a lot more milage and have more advanced safety features (the literal steel on cars has become much stronger in the last decade). But over the past 100 years, the market has always adjusted.
Only during WWII and Jimmy Carter's inflation did a new vehicle go out of reach for the average family. The same holds true for gas prices: the average person has been able to fill up a tank of gas for about 1 to 2 hours of work.
Until now, that is!
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
