Don’t Tell Me It’s “Affordable”.
There’s a giant billboard on the side of the interstate that I drive by several times a week, advertising for a local car dealership. The premise of their advertisement is that they sell affordable new cars and trucks. At first I didn’t think much of their pitch, but now I’m starting to hear that term, affordable, pop up on television and in the newspaper.
Affordable. Isn’t that a relative term?
You see, I always thought it was up to me to determine what I can afford, and what I can’t. I never imagined that someone else could have the insight to tell me I could afford their products.
I may be able to afford a $20,000 new car, but my next door neighbor may only be able to afford a $10,00o version. In effect, it’s all relative to our own financial situation; earning power, savings, cash flow, investments, job security… All of that influences what each of us can afford to pay for a product.
“Affordable” health care. Another example.
On a daily basis, there is some talking head on T.V. telling us we need “affordable” health care for everyone. The Obama administration has even taken that effort up as a primary goal for his first term. But what does “affordable” health care really mean?
I may have the extra income to facilitate paying $300 per month for health care, but my neighbor may not. Maybe he only has an extra $100 he can part with on a monthly basis. Or to an even greater extreme, maybe he doesn’t have any extra money to shell out for health care. So affordable to me is not affordable to him.
So really, to make health care affordable to everyone in our country, it has to be free to everyone in our country. And isn’t that socialism? Sounds like it.
In our capitalistic economy, it is up to the consumer to tell the supplier what is “affordable” and what isn’t. Everyday Joe’s will tell car dealerships with 500 copies of a cheap sports car that they can’t afford a $50,000 sports car in this economy. They may tell that same dealership they can afford a $15,000 sedan that gets good gas mileage and is built well. The dealership will adjust inventory accordingly.
So let’s get this out there in the clear right now. No one tells me what is affordable and what isn’t; affordability is the most relative of terms.
Sphere: Related Content
Loading ...
great post, car salesmen will be car salesmen, bankers are just dressed up car salesmen in my opinion.
you should set up a poll to rank the value of different occupations…
politicians, bankers, car salesmen, etc
Totally agree, most people cannot afford a lot of thing because they don’t know how to budget and save. They spend money and feel they are entitled to things because they are Americans. It is not the responsibility of the people who take care of their money to look after people who don’t. I work with people who truly believe we need to give people housing, food, health care, education, day care, transportation, etc…when will it stop? Great post!