A nation of idiots

[Bob]

Surprise: Sales of big SUVs surging faster than small cars - USATODAY.com By James R. Healey, USA TODAY
Automakers are tantalizing the market with 40-mpg small cars and 30-mpg sporty cars. Electric cars from major automakers are due by year's end. Plug-in gas-electric hybrids are under development.

But guess what? The full-size SUV market segment ? the bane of mileage-minders ? is where the action is.

The jump in sales of full-size SUVs the first half of the year outperformed the rise in the overall auto market, according to tally master Autodata. And the growth rate also outpaced that of small cars, which conventional wisdom says should be the darlings now because of their lower prices and higher mileage

 

[Geo]

Or perhaps a nation of folks with big families who require a big vehicle as their primary to carry all their people/gear- who are taking advantage of offers from dealers who are just clawing their way back?

I still believe consumption changes will only come from the top down (or from $5+ per gallon gas prices)...

 

[Mango]

Or perhaps a nation of folks with big families who require a big vehicle as their primary to carry all their people/gear- who are taking advantage of offers from dealers who are just clawing their way back?

I still believe consumption changes will only come from the top down (or from $5+ per gallon gas prices)...

or perhaps just a nation of big people. ;-)

 

[passin thru]

Or, a nation of consumers & politicians with no notion of the actual, true cost of things (not the price) ... the true cost of a gallon of gas, in dollars, in environmental terms, in political & military terms, etc., is a lot higher than $2.65/gal ... as are the true costs of bottled water and Toyota Priuses, for that matter.

 

[Rita]

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[AlphaCrab]

Americans all have ADD, they have short memories of $4 + a gallon gas, they don't realize that they might as well just write a check out to the enemy, or rogue nations who want us destroyed while they feed our dependence on oil, and are the first to find oil spills just a deplorible situation.

Americans are just getting more materialistic and dumber by the decade.

 

[Rita]

Americans all have ADD, they have short memories of $4 + a gallon gas, they don't realize that they might as well just write a check out to enemy, rogue nations who want us destroyed while they feed our dependence on oil, and are the first to find oil spills just a deplorrble situation.

Americans are just getting more materialistic and dumber by the decade.

If we would reduce consumption we could put a dent in several problems - from oil dependency & wars to environment & catastrophes. Conservation would be a lot less pricey route for us to take.


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[scooterbug44]

I seriously think a lot of people are compensating for shortcomings.

 

[ugabuga]

Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs, and Steel) has written a book entitled ?Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed,? that is very pertinent to this discussion. Diamond says that societies fail mainly through their misuse or mismanagement of resources. What went through the mind of the Easter Islander who cut down the very last tree on the island?

 

[Beach Runner]

Our dilemma is that the laws of physics show that one is safer in a heavier vehicle. If one drives frequently on the "expressways" in Atlanta, s/he is safer in a big vehicle.

And if you've had a child involved in sports like we have, you know that you are always called upon to drive a bunch of kids to sports practices and events. They just won't fit into a fuel-efficient vehicle, and those small vehicles aren't as safe if you are worried about liability. Most schools around here depend on parents for transportation.

Those days are over for us, but we still have an SUV because my husband needs it to cart around his bass violin to performances, and we have a big poodle whose crate won't fit into a smaller vehicle when we go to the beach.

I guess we''re idiots.