>>> Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> 09/21/99 11:58AM >>>
>>>> Jim heartfield <jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk> 09/20/99 02:09PM >>
>Isn't it curious that the car has only become widely criticised at the
>point that it became cheap enough to become a working class consumption
>good, as opposed to a middle class luxury item?
Wojtek: Jim, this is yet another example of commodity fetishism.
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Charles: I think Wojtek is approaching this very cogently with this focus on the commodity fetishism.
There are so many ways in which cars are subjects, personalities. One thing about a car is that it has more "auto" motion than most other commodities, simulating a living thing. In this regard, it really fits the commodity fetish conceptions.
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Wojtek:
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.
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Charles: It is difficult to see, as Jim's analysis implies, how one of the main sectors of monopoly capital, the auto industry, is actually not in an on balance exploitative and anti-working class relationship with the working class. Wojtek puts some of the empirical meat on the bones of this analysis with this post.
CB
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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