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The week's question
In March 2025, in the thread "Re: OT, out", Umm asked the members: "Do you think it is because America is made up of magical soil that makes businesses based in America magically profitable?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Author: Steve203 ⎊❂🐝 HONORARY
SHREWD
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Number: of 86281 
Subject: the solution to everything...
Date: 05/10/26 12:00 PM
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...get the Proles farther in debt.

Why one of the nation’s largest auto lenders isn’t worried about high vehicle prices or ‘forever loans’

“If I just told you, ‘Car prices going up, interest rates going up, insurance prices going up,’ you would say, ‘You know what, consumers must be paying more as a ratio to the income,’” Capital One Auto President Sanjiv Yajnik told CNBC. “However, if you look at every quintile of salary and earnings of people, the payment-to-income ratio has remained fairly flat.”


cnbc.com - Capital one auto forever loans used cars

Of course, he is talking his book, like everyone else on bubblevision. Even if his point was valid: the bite each payment takes from a Prole's monthly income isn't rising as a percent of income, that is only half the story. The Proles are making each payment, for a much longer period, than was the case a few decades ago. That is the impetus behind 7-8 year car financing, and Pulte's proposal for 50 year mortgages: keep the monthly "manageable", by typical lending standards, by spreading the debt over many more payments. But it's still debt, that will hobble the Prole's spending in out-years.

Steve
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This community has written 86,214 posts about US Policy. The article-length ones it recommended most:
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