A quick side note on this. I have a friend that retired around age 50. He had worked for Intel for many years and I figured that he’d gotten rich off of stock options. He did make some money that way, but the secret to his early retirement was more clear when he picked me up for a ride to work one day. I was suprised to see him pull up to the house in a very old brown sedan. The car looked about 30 years old. My first thought was, if he has all of this money, why doesn’t he buy a nicer car? And then I thought, that’s why he has all of this money and is able to retire early. He values freedom and the ability to help his wife (who has MS) more than a nice car.

Yet our gov't wants everyone to buy a new car while they smash the old ones... because it's good for the environment. Even environmentalists aren't buying that one since it takes so much energy to build a new car that it negates any advantage for the better gas mileage.

It's better for the environment and your wallet if you keep the car longer. Yet our gov't wants you to be in debt.