Ah, for the Days of the Horse

News flash, the car has surpassed money as the root of all evil.

People now spend more money on repairs, insurance, maintenance, taxes, accessories and payments on their car than they do on their house. Many will be surprised to find a traffic jam on the way into their eternal resting place, whether they be traveling north or south.

I’ve seen people steal from family, friends, employers and even commit robberies to obtain and maintain a nice car; the only things more addictive are cigarettes and heroin. The difference, the federal government hasn’t declared war on the automobile industry. You don’t hear about the Coast Guard searching ships trying to stop them from flowing into the country. The government hasn’t developed programs for people with car problems, such as Automobiles Anonymous. There are no pills or fancy gadgets to wean us from owning them. I can’t do without one, but at least Ellie Mae has over 200,000 miles on her and I’ll drive her until her wheels fall off. I shouldn’t say that, she may hear me and die out of spite while I write this.

We spend billions of dollars to bail out an industry that pays people $35 an hour, to produce a product people who make $10 an hour or less, can’t afford. Don’t get me wrong, if I could figure out a way to make $10 an hour writing, I’d have a new car in my driveway, immediately after having some new groceries in my fridge.

People get divorced, assault each other, mistreat their kids and even kill over their cars, but nothing is done. Come on, wake up, these people need help. Where are all the support systems for them? Studies show that the average household has more cars than drivers and here’s the scary part, more TVs than occupants. That’s another column.

Whether it’s the government, as some contend, or merely the finance institutions, someone is determined to keep us in debt. The automobile has long surpassed the house as the number one most financed thing in America. Many that pay $600 car payments live in shacks they don’t own.

I was a car salesman once, I’m blushing and you can’t see it. At one dealership, I made the biggest deal ever made there. I waited naturally, until the customer signed all the papers (I’m only slightly stupid), then I asked this question: You live in a trailer, in your parent’s backyard and you just bought a car with $547-a-month payments. What are you thinking?

I’ll never forget his answer, “You can sleep in your car, but you can’t drive your house." He never paid the first payment, in fact, it had a flat tire shortly after he bought it that he couldn’t afford to replace. The car was repossessed soon thereafter, still sporting a donut tire.

Show me a person with bad credit and I’ll show you a person who couldn’t afford the car he bought, which started him on his downward spiral. I know we can’t live without them, but we must at least learn to control them. Give me an old horse any day.