{"id":11344,"date":"2025-03-30T09:08:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T16:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=11344"},"modified":"2025-03-30T09:12:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T16:12:59","slug":"driving-us-to-15-minute-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2025\/03\/30\/driving-us-to-15-minute-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving Us to 15 Minute Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It remains to be seen how the tariff battle plays out, but it could end up just costing consumers more. Worth noting, my former 2003 Ford Ranger was assembled in the states, but the engine came from France, the transmission from Germany… so what can tariffs really do with international megacorps? But the whole thing with vehicle prices being jacked up so high is an interesting one, as many trucks and Jeeps are approaching $100,000 if not over, so in what world does that make any sense? Throw in that because of regulations the format of many ICE vehicles today won’t last very long not to mention the quality control has dropped off significantly. Even Toyota has been having a horrible time with their trucks of late. My thought is they’re just trying to make as much money right before a major worldwide financial crash kills them, and the 15 minute city angle below makes a lot of sense as another angle to the plan, as the OCGFC are always working multiple well planned angles. And just look at the massive apartment complexes they’re been building everywhere. Interestingly, they using smaller investment firms to build a lot of them and they won’t be able to pay their debt<\/a>, so the OCGFC are going to gobble them up in the crash (or before) for pennies on the dollar. They told us we’ll own nothing and rent everything, and [they’ll] be happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.ericpetersautos.com\/2025\/03\/29\/driving-us-to-15-minute-cities\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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By Eric<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is no longer possible to find a new car for less than $20,000. Soon it will probably be difficult to find one under $30,000 \u2013 thanks to the 25 percent tax that will be folded into the cost of just about every car (and crossover) with a price around $25,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not to mention most trucks, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Because almost all of those are not made in the United States, either \u2013 and they will all be hit with the 25 percent tax Trump likes to call a \u201ctariff,\u201d so as to try to get people to not think they\u2019re paying it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And how much will they be paying for this tax? Bloomberg estimates<\/a> the per car cost \u2013 for cars not made in the United States \u2013 will be in the vicinity of $5,855. This would raise the base price of a car such as the 2025 Kia K4 (which I recently test drove and wrote about here<\/a>, if interested) from $21,990 to $27,845 \u2013 putting this for-the-moment affordable Korean-made car into the unaffordable range. It is one of many \u2013 the Hyundai Elantra is another \u2013 that will be so rendered via the tax<\/em> the president insists on calling a \u201ctariff\u201d \u2013 for the same essential reason that the government insists on calling the 15 percent lopped off every dollar we earn a \u201ccontribution\u201d to Social(ist) (in)Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a real struggle for buyers,\u201d said Erin Keating, executive analyst at  Cox Automotive. \u201cWe only expect prices to rise and incentives will go away. Some vehicles could go away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More finely, they will \u201cgo away\u201d because not enough people will be able to afford to buy them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like eggs \u2013 on a grander scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The very popular Mazda3 \u2013 made in Mexico and Japan \u2013 is another not-made-in-the-USA model that will shortly become much less affordable. Right now, its base price is $23,950. Add $8,550 to that and it will cost $32,500. The $26,900-to-start Hyundai Sonata \u2013 currently the second-most affordable mid-sized family car available for sale in this country (Chevy\u2019s Malibu<\/a> has been cancelled) could soon cost $35,450 to start because it is made in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That is the kind of money people looking to buy (and who could afford to buy) an entry luxury<\/em> car used to anticipate having to spend. And \u2013 just so you know \u2013 luxury-brand cars such as those sold by Lexus and Audi and Mercedes and BMW that are not made in the United States will also go up in price, too \u2013 such that even people who used to be able to afford one of those may no longer be able to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$5,855 may not sound like all that much if you\u2019re flush enough to be able to afford a luxury car at current prices. But there will be additional<\/em> costs not mentioned in news coverage of Trump\u2019s plan to increase the cost of vehicles \u2013 luxury and otherwise \u2013 by 25 percent in order to (somehow) make America great again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of these costs will come in the mail very soon \u2013 and it will be paid for by all of us. Including those of us who haven\u2019t bought a new car, luxury or otherwise. It will be the increased cost everyone who drives a car (or truck or crossover or SUV) is forced to pay for insurance, irrespective of where the vehicle they already own is made. For exactly the same reason the cost of the coverage everyone who owns a vehicle is forced to pay has already increased by 25 percent, on average. Courtesy of the infusion of EeeeeeeVeeeees that \u2013 typically- cost $50,000 or more each. It does not matter that you<\/em> did not buy an EeeeeeeeVeeee,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You (and I) get to pay for the anticipated replacement costs<\/em> of other people\u2019s vehicles, in the event they are totaled in an accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a new Kia K4 or Mazda3 or any of the other vehicles not made in the USA will shortly cost $5,855 more to replace then it will cost you and I and everyone else that sum plus<\/em> whatever markup the insurance mafia decides to impose. Because we can\u2019t decide to refuse the mafia\u2019s offer \u2013 not without deciding to turn in our vehicle\u2019s plates and cancel the registration and take the bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It being illegal to drive (and in some states, even to park) an \u201cuninsured\u201d car on the government\u2019s roads. Never mind the etymological mind-game about those roads being public<\/em> roads \u2013 let alone public right-of-ways. It is a government-enforced conditional privilege to drive upon them \u2013 and one of those conditions is that you must maintain \u201ccoverage,\u201d whether you can afford it or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If most people can no longer afford to buy a new vehicle \u2013 or insure the vehicle they have, in order to be legally allowed to drive it \u2013 then most people will no longer be able to afford to live more than walking (or pedaling) distance from where they work or where they need to go in order to shop for food and so on. They will thus be herded into what the president has himself referred to as \u201cFreedom Cities\u201d \u2013 which has the same mouth feel as taxes styled [as] \u201ctariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more honest term for \u201cFreedom Cities\u201d is 15 Minute Cities, i.e., open air prisons where you\u2019re nominally \u201cfree\u201d to move around as you like but only so far as you\u2019re physically able. And that could be the intent behind all of this \u2013 even if it is not intentional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even if it is isn\u2019t it will end up being the same result. So does it make any difference?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kind of like the difference between a \u201ctariff\u201d and a tax<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It remains to be seen how the tariff battle plays out, but it could end up just costing consumers more. Worth noting, my former 2003 Ford Ranger was assembled in the states, but the engine came from France, the transmission from Germany… so what can tariffs really do with international megacorps? But the whole thing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11344"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11348,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11344\/revisions\/11348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}