Jim, this is yet another example of commodity fetishism. The car has always been more of a fetish than a practical item, whose main appeal was expression of a desirable ideology: upper class status, modernity and progress, freedom, being a maverick (cf. a hippiemobile), sexual prowess, power, etc. People buy cars precisely for those reasons, not because of their use-vale. Had they done a proper cost-benefit analysis of this thing, very few people would actually decide to buy one. On average, a working class person could save about $1,300 a year on car alternatives (combination of public transit, taxis, and car rentals) assuming the same transportation needs - see attached calculation. Those calculations assume a budget car and an exemplary driving record (no traffic tickets or accidents)
So from that point of view, private car based transportation is a very regressive form of taxation imposed on the working class. If you add to it traffic tickets and accidents, the regressive nature of that tax is even greater.
So your argument that car is becoming the subject of criticism when it start benefiting working class simply does not hold water. It should be a marxist thing to criticize auto-based transportation for at least two reasons:
1. It is an extreme example of commodity fetishism - its entire appeal lies in its advertisement-constructed image of creating desirable social qualities (independence, control over one's own life, personal attractiveness, etc).
2. Its main function is an upward trasfer of wealth from working class to owners of car-related businesses - just as lottery or credit cards.
wojtek
COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF A BUDGET VEHICLE (e.g. Saturn, Escort, Tercel)
purchase price $15,000 resale value after 10 years (1,500) insurance 5@$900 4,500 5@$450 2,250 gasoline 120,000@$0.065 7,800 (20mi/gal, $1.30gal) maint/repairs 5@$200 1,000 5@$600 3,000 park/misc tolls 10@$400 4,000
TOTAL $36,050
mileage 10 at 12,000 120,000 cost per mile $0.30
ANNUAL COST CAR ALT. TRANSPORT
commuting 7,200@$.3 $2,160/yr $720 (pass @60/mo) (30mi/day)
shopping trips 1,920@$.3 $576/yr $960 (taxi @ $1/mi return only) (40mi/wk)
recr. trips 2,880@$.3 $864/yr $1,500 (rent car 21 days @$50/day)
TOTAL $4,464/yr $3,180
SAVINGS $1,284/yr