I considered buying a car after 4 years and realized cars are way too expensive for NO good reason.

I decided to keep my 2013 civic which I plan to drive until it dies. I did it on principle and refuse to be part of this market unless absolutely necessary.

I started driving stick shift and cars were solid back then. You could buy a car and drive it for 15 years and make all repairs yourself for much less cost.

Now the problem with new cars is that companies focus too much on performance that it reduces the life of the engine.

In addition, we want all these comfort features like lane assist, blind stop, whatever you can think of. It makes repairs difficult, you’ll have to spend way too much time or pay crazy labor cost.

I don’t know if it’s by design but logically it incentivizes (Or create a behavior) of upgrading cars every 4-6 years because people don’t want to deal with repairs and trading in new car is convenient. There’s no incentive for car makers to build a car that last 15-20 years if they can get guaranteed return customer after 5 years.

Edit: I didn’t expect this to get traction. Apologize, can’t reply to all but here’s my take/reply on some common responses.

• If you are already doing it, good. I only say this because number of leased vehicle every year is increasing and 4 digit car payment is on the rise so on it’s way to be unpopular in numbers. I also worked in accounting/tax firm and I saw plenty who buy new vehicles every 5 years, also had a car maker as my client and saw the lease data on monthly basis that often made me wonder, why don’t you just buy it!

• I also talked about quality and maintenance issue with new vehicles. It’s IPhone repairs all over again, you can’t make repairs as easy as it was in the past. I could be wrong but all the tech only makes self repair complicated forcing you to go to mechanic or dealer.

• Car free society is a good idea but it’s not for everyone. I lived in Korea for some time, good public transportation but I didn’t like lack of freedom to go wherever and whenever I want and peak hours are crazy.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), China purged its intellectuals. Universities were gutted. Professors were publicly humiliated. Research was shut down. Expertise was replaced with ideological loyalty.

Now, the same patterns are emerging in the U.S.

• Universities are being defunded, and research grants are disappearing.
• Professors are being targeted for their political beliefs.
• Words like diversity, equity, and climate change are being erased from curriculums.
• Entire academic fields are under attack for being "woke."
• Its department of education is likely to be axed.

Meanwhile, China is doing the opposite.

It is investing billions into AI, biotech, and scientific research and attracting the world's top minds—including from the U.S.

This isn't about whether America is left-wing or right-wing. It's about whether a country that turns against its own intellectuals can remain competitive.

Is the U.S. undergoing its own version of a Cultural Revolution? Or is this just what the decline of an empire looks like? How will the developments this month shape the USA's future?