You are repeating an argument a lot of people make so you're not alone in this.

> But if you had to make the old car now, you might be able to make way more of them for the same inputs

All these arguments miss that inflation is a proxy for the improvement of quality of living over time.

You don't make a 1998 Camry in 2026 because the 2026 Camry is a much better car for the end user than the 1998 Camry.

The 1998 Camry is easier to maintain and lasts a long time but if the end user doesn't keep a car longer than 7 years and they have to pay a mechanic to change their oil, they dont care about "easier to maintain and lasts a long time". They care about AirPlay, Remote Start, Parking Assist and ass warmers. No 1998 Camry has any of that.

You could chop wood for heat, grow your own vegetables and meat, living off a few hundred dollars a month if you wanted but most people won't do that because it's not very entertaining and a lot of hard manual labor.

Things cost more over time because people demand more over time. More things cost more, so people demand more money to get paid.

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slopinthebag 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

cheap cars would sell like hotcakes. so i don't think what you say is true. especially with inflation for things like food or shelter - it's not like the same bag of chips that doubled in price has more "features", if anything it just has less volume.

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ProblemExplorer 2 days ago | parent [-]

> cheap cars would sell like hotcakes

they don't. If they did, the retail car market would be flooded with cars that are made specifically for Hertz, Enterprise and the like that are built to hit a specific low price.

People want a good deal but they don't want to drive a cheap car everyday. They are fine with it when they have to rent a car because then their focus is on the daily rate, perhaps because they are focused on having fun on a vacation or thinking of a business opportunity etc.

	▲	slopinthebag 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		people want cheap cars so bad that the price of used cars is increasing because there literally isn't enough used cars on the market and demand exceeds supply. i think people would much rather spend $10k on a brand new low tech barebones vehicle than $10k on a 15 year old used joint with unknown issues and wear and tear. i know i would. i doubt that it's really possible to manufacture cheap cars these days. tech is being forced into the cars by legislation.

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timacles a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Your argument does not apply to anything that has happened in the last 20 years.