Originally Posted by
tandempower
I find it so amusing to always listen to talk about how people reject austerity in one way or another, as if economics is about giving people a choice about how much money they get to spend. You may not like austerity, but when your credit finally gets cut off and you can't get anyone to give you any money, austerity is mandatory if you don't want to go into illegal business dealings.
People scrape by. Cuba is a great example of that. They could certainly have abandoned cars, yet instead, there is a healthy car culture there, one where they keep cars alive that are 50-60+ years old. What meager cash they have, some choose to spend on their cars -- basically anyone who has a chance will spend it on cars. Black and grey market certainly become valid enterprises during times of true austerity.
Many Chinese live an austere life, yet it is one of the fastest growing markets for cars.
The "If only people would recognize..." and "When oil/society collapses..." arguments fall as flat regarding mass transformation to bicycle culture as do the arguments I hear from the
SCA crowd for their arms skills...