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Good points all the way.
I happen to believe part of the reason our economy was going so good over a decade ago was partly due to the sudden importation of cheap goods from China- that meant in the short term our standard of living went up, only to be at the cost of millions of middle income paying jobs that we have now lost. I guess I'm one of the few here they prefer to buy American, but I also believe that due to the competition from the imports our own domestic cars/trucks are of much better quality.
I do not blame people that have to drive a long ways to work. Most people prefer to live near their families, many have to take care of their relatives that are elderly or disabled, and it's not always easy to pack up the bags and move to the big city to save gas. However, I managed to trade my 2005 med size 4X4 Chevy Colorado (due to a bad wreck, insurance settlement paid for my Cobalt XFE) in for the most fuel efficient car I could buy with the money I had for a new car.
I do question why more people near me don't trade in their full size Dodge Rams and other gas guzzlers, which often get around 10 MPG for the older models. I very well could be one of the people that will again have to drive a long ways to find a decent full time job. Personally, I am struggling right now to find full time work. But I did go from 17MPG to over 45 MPG. Most people I know that drive such large trucks rarely ever use them for towing or hauling stuff, and that does puzzle me as to why so many continue to settle for less than 20MPG and drive 80 to 100 miles a day just for their jobs. Often times such drivers claim they are safer in these large trucks because of all of the sheet metal involved in a crash.
Fact is many prefer to live in the country while about 99% of the jobs are in the big city. So people either have to make enough money to cover their gas bill, or perhaps get much higher MPG to get by.
I once worked for a guy that used to pick me up in his extended long bed Dodge Ram pickup truck which hauled a large trailer full of tools. He would normally go about 95MPH on the 70MPH interstate for 45 miles to the big city, and he got some of the lowest MPG of anything I ever seen, about 6 or 7 MPG at best- I think a semi truck gets better mileage! I never could understand how this small business man could not understand how much $$ he was losing by simply speeding so fast. He could of saved some serious $$ just by slowing down from 95 to 65! And the police gave him several tickets as well, but nothing slowed him down even while he was driving such a large 4x4 hauling a large full trailer of tools.
Nevertheless I live near many people that can not easily move due to family roots and family obligations, yet they must drive almost 100 miles round trip to keep a decent job. I do not fault such people if they just to their part to drive and high MPG car at a speed that returns decent mileage. It's the best some can do.
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