Sunday, January 01, 2017
Everyman's X
Carmakers have repeatedly gone bankrupt trying to make Everyman's Car, a superbasic car cheap enough for a minimum-wage employee.
The idea seems attractive but it never works. Basic economics shuts it down. There's no way to build a USABLE car that a poor man can buy NEW. Smart carmakers understood this point. ('Smart carmakers' = exactly Nash.) Mason didn't try to design the Rambler for Everyman. He realized that small cars were going to be SECOND cars for middle-class types.
In the current situation Everyman's car is a used car. Rambler and descendants like Gremlin became the best Everyman-cars because they were GOOD cars with low status. A poor man could afford a GOOD used Gremlin.
In earlier times Everyman's car was a streetcar. When America gave up on public transit in 1950, Everyman's life got harder.
= = = = =
This is a broad and general rule. I've consciously applied it in Polistra's new milltown:
If you want lower-income people to have decent STUFF, you need to provide for legal distribution of OLD STUFF, and you need to provide for COLLECTIVE SHARING.
Housing: Everyman's house is an old house or an apartment. Real estate bubbles often price both of these out of Everyman's range.
Clothing: Everyman's clothing is bought at Goodwill, or shared within the family. Large families make this method work better.
Food: In this case the USED part is impossible! It's cheaper and better to have a large family with a mother who has time to prepare and cook from scratch. Fast food and restaurants are the equivalent of new cars.
Jobs: The best job for Everyman is a W2 wage job, working for a middle-size company. Since 1980 the bankers have set up the cruel joke of the 'gig economy', supposedly turning Everyman into an entrepreneur. In fact it's a perfect replication of the old sweatshop system.
Health care: Everyman's doctor is Medicare. Only the government has enough BULLY POWER to control feral hospitals and Big Pharma. Romneycare is another cruel hoax, pushing the myth of 'shopping around'. Insatiables can shop around because they have money + status = bully power. Deplorables can't shop around. After a few years the hoax is exposed, as the shopping malls (exchanges) disappear.
If you want lower-income people to have decent STUFF, you need to provide for legal distribution of OLD STUFF, and you need to provide for COLLECTIVE SHARING.
Housing: Everyman's house is an old house or an apartment. Real estate bubbles often price both of these out of Everyman's range.
Clothing: Everyman's clothing is bought at Goodwill, or shared within the family. Large families make this method work better.
Food: In this case the USED part is impossible! It's cheaper and better to have a large family with a mother who has time to prepare and cook from scratch. Fast food and restaurants are the equivalent of new cars.
Jobs: The best job for Everyman is a W2 wage job, working for a middle-size company. Since 1980 the bankers have set up the cruel joke of the 'gig economy', supposedly turning Everyman into an entrepreneur. In fact it's a perfect replication of the old sweatshop system.
Health care: Everyman's doctor is Medicare. Only the government has enough BULLY POWER to control feral hospitals and Big Pharma. Romneycare is another cruel hoax, pushing the myth of 'shopping around'. Insatiables can shop around because they have money + status = bully power. Deplorables can't shop around. After a few years the hoax is exposed, as the shopping malls (exchanges) disappear.
Labels: #DeplorableLivesMatter
¶ 10:20 AM
