Why do people in run down neighborhoods have $40,000 SUV's in their driveways?

One of the reasons that people are down and out is that they have no idea how to handle their money.

Many years ago, when the first t.v. sets were being sold, the people who bought them were (1) the richest and (2) the poorest families in the city. That is a *FACT*, not just my opinion. I know it to be true.

Yes, there are other reasons for poverty: physical handicaps, mental slowness, bad luck, laziness, etc.

Interesting question.

I used to maintain and manage apartment buildings during the 80s and 90s and noticed that people with bad student debt loans had 50" big screen TVs in their apartments. Also, there is a factor that in apartmentland, nobody where you work cares about where you live, your image is all about what you drive, in that transient, mobile reality.

Uh, to make that more clear, your transportation is the prima facie case about who you are and where you live is secondary and of little importance. It's all about image. As for how do they afford it? I wish I knew but it almost certainty has to do with living in debt. How they get the credit? I suspect they're paying 19% interest on the car loan. Or, more logically, they have some side deals going on, for example, they may be drug dealers, prostitutes, scam artists or otherwise members of the underground economy.

Think about it: traditionally in America, the underground economy has always been equal to about 25% of GDP. Where do you think all the people who have fallen off the rolls during this depression have gone to make money? Into the underground economy. So that 25% is probably more like 35% nowadays, or maybe more. Money off the books. When you show up to the car dealer with cash you can get great deals, way better than Joe Average who needs a bank loan to buy a car. Cash is King. Not to mention, people who have their to the ground know when Joe can't afford his car payments any more and if you have some cash, you can solve his problem and get a fantastic deal on a fairly new car.... if you have the cash because Joe doesn't have any because for the last 30 years he has been living on credit.

Just sayin' .....

When I lived in California I looked at the cars of the illegal aliens parked alongside the garlic fields and they had better cars than I could afford. So the underground economy works. Just wish I understood it better and had the connections. Maybe I should start hanging around in the ghetto more, bring some wine and learn what I am ignorant about because clearly working for a living is just plain stupid in the new economy.

They got subsidies and the Government love the Auto Industry.

Lets face it, you helped pay for them.

I live in the UK. The US car loan market was being discussed on the radio yesterday. Much like the US sub prime mortgage market that sparked the Global financial crisis in 2007/8 people are being given loans for cars, no matter how bad their credit rating is. The institutions who are happy to give the loans say that Americans will default on just about any loan except their cars that they need to get too, or look for work. It would appear that the lessons of the credit crisis have not been learned.

It's weird. Seems to me like the teenage guys like to wear those flashy, expensive sports shoes costing over $200 because they can't afford a car, but they want to prove they still have money to spend.

They could be used cars or saved up the money or got it as a gift.

By the way, are you suggesting that poor people shouldn't buy goods and that they should live on budget without any extra money for entertainment or anything?

Nothing new, when I was a kid back in the 50's the poor always had caddies and lived in shacks. We had a name for those cars but in an effort not offend, I will not repeat it here.

They don't. You're just another pathetic conservative who is jealous of poor people.

Probably because they were former rental fleet vehicles and were sold at a severe discount. They look nice on the outside, but they don't run so nice anymore.

They steal them.

Ask anybody in the hood. They'll tell you that the cars are stolen and then the car recieves the vin number of a car that doesn't exist anymore.