I think his point in this case is you own the physical item but not the information on it. If not then I could buy some musician’s cd then I could say “Now I own their music” and start selling copies of their cd, publishing it, stealing their rights to it, etc. I think we can all agree that would be bad.

Piracy by definition is stealing.

And interest rates were a lot higher back then. No one had it “easy”

Often it is greed

The comments here should be good. All well thought out and reasonable. munching popcorn

I love my Subaru forester. It is nice enough inside to drive 4 people comfortably but with the back seats down and a tarp spread out I can carry a good sized load of mulch, bales, etc. I was even able to cram an 8 ft ladder into it with the passenger seat pushed forward and the ladder laid out diagonally. I’ve even slept in it. It has enough clearance that I can drive it on really rough forest roads to trailheads. I’m a big guy and it is much more comfortable for me to get into vs something like a Civic. My dad liked it a lot because with his very weak legs he could easily sit in it and swing his legs in and out. He liked it so much he even bought one.

If I ever need a truck I’ll save myself thousands of bucks by just renting one for those rare times. I’ve done it at Lowe’s and it was a no brainer.

These are cars that are sold on the idea of being able to drive off into the wilderness at a moment’s notice.

I suspect that is the selling point behind the majority of Jeeps with winches you see on the road that probably have never left pavement.

When I had to buy a new car a guy at work who was big into cars asked me what I was getting and gave me grief for not getting a big truck. I asked him why I would want such an impractical and expensive truck for just myself (and I lived in an apartment) and he only gave me macho signaling answers.

Toyota pickups are also extremely popular with militias and small militaries who slap a heavy machine gun or AA gun on the bed.

https://jalopnik.com/this-is-how-sudanese-militants-get-their-hands-on-so-ma-1842818238

They barely fit in parking spaces. Usually you see the ass of them sticking out.

Time to form the “Coalition of tiny dicked responsible drivers”

They are already expensive. People feel it is ok to have an insane monthly truck payment because they must have a massive truck.

Why do people feel the need to have a $60K+ massive behemoth? 99% of the time if I glance in the bed it is spotless. It is probably only used for commuting and carrying groceries. It might haul a load of mulch once a year. The things are so high that if they hit a car they are going to ride up over the hood and crush you. At least my state finally got its act together and banned those goddamn frontend lifted trucks that made it impossible to see anything within 50 ft and guaranteed a deadly collision. Now I know someone will say “But I need it for my building job/farm/etc”, you are the exception, the vast majority sold are not being used for that.

“reasoning that these vehicles are safer for drivers in the event of a crash” Sounds like an arms race. Soon we will be driving armored personnel carriers.

It is bad enough they make them with ridiculously loud exhausts as bad as muscle cars and fart exhausts. Electric cars and trucks quieting everything can’t come fast enough.

Do you expect them to jeopardize their bonuses by spending money on human beings to support customers? Then you’ll probably want them to keep them employed for more than a few months so they can actually become good at their jobs and familiar with the products.

Right up there with customer service lines that just have menus of canned responses that don’t address your need. No, I don’t need to hear your hours, I don’t need to know where you are, I can find all of that online. I need to talk to a human being.

I was just watching American Greed where making huge lies about your qualifications that can be easily checked seems to be too common (i.e. a guy who said he had a physics degree and worked for a nuke plant but never had one).

Vietnam draft…

Every generation thinks they are special or have it the hardest

Tell them it is a tax haven

Fellow Xer here. My optometrist fitted me for my first pair of glasses for reading and said “welcome to your 40s”. I keep a cheap pair in every room and the nice prescription ones in my home/work offices.

Not sure what this has to do with boomers. I’ve heard people of all ages grumble about having to wear glasses.