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A-Faris t1_j9x1jkf wrote

Reply to comment by Kindly-Mycologist135 in New cohort study of 3.7 million adults finds that long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with an increased risk of having a heart attack or dying from heart disease — associations more pronounced in low socioeconomic status communities by marketrent

The world is a zero sum game. there aren't enough "better jobs" to go around. Someone has to clean the toilets, someone has to stock shelves, someone has to bake bread. The people doing those jobs are often paid too little to live in the cities they work in. The solution? Commuting from cheaper cities. How do you commute without a car? Your 'advice' not only lacks empathy but it lacks logic.

Edit: Before you write a reply about how people should buy ICE cars instead of electric, ICE cars are unaffordable to people in these sorts of occupations as well. Whether electric or ICE, cars should be made cheaper. In my travels across Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa I've seen quite a few car brands that are never sold in the West which would be very affordable for lower income families. About one third of cars produced in the world are produced under Chinese brands which are subject to a 27.5% tariff and in some cases out right not allowed to be sold (a non-Chinese example of which would be Japanese light trucks which are quite affordable yet not allowed to be sold in the US). Cars can be made cheap, we just don't want to do it.

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Kindly-Mycologist135 t1_j9x26br wrote

That’s a terrible solution. Here’s a better solution: Raise the min wage to a living wage.

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A-Faris t1_j9x2d6y wrote

I can agree with that.

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Kindly-Mycologist135 t1_j9x32z8 wrote

I read the edit: If people are so poor, they can not afford an old used ICE car, then the real problem isn’t the car industry; it’s the legal min wage that’s the problem.

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A-Faris t1_j9xbou9 wrote

Again, I can definitely agree with that. I think raising minimum wages should be a priority but afterwards I also think they should reform the car industry. I'm an avid /r/fuckcars enthusiast but I do recognize that cars can be necessary for some people. They could be so much cheaper but our regulations are needlessly strict in areas they don't need to be and ridiculously loose in areas they should be tough on. Kei trucks can be bought new for less than $10k. If minimum wage was like $25 an hour and kei trucks were sold in the US no one would have to worry about transportation.

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Kindly-Mycologist135 t1_j9xfw3p wrote

Cars, electric or otherwise, are just a way to transport people and goods from A to B. We use to use horses. And over time things have evolved. Horses can run around 30 mph. Todays cars can easily go 90mph. And most speed limits are in the 60s+. At higher speeds there is more danger or death in a crash. So the govt and society called on automakers to invest in safety measures.

Telling automakers what they must do and must not do, is a tricky thing. We want competition in the market place, but we also need safety; this goes for all markets.

The safer a car, the more expensive. There’s no way around this. Building an inexpensive car means taking cost out. Safety cost, as well as other cost, less parts, less expensive parts = less expensive car.

If we want a society with safe products, we must define what safe means, and make sure everyone in that society can pay for that base line safety level.

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