One of the ways the government has cost us is a way few of us know about. It’s an iteration of the seen and unseen that the economist Frederic Bastiat wrote about. If you have more than two kids, you already know about it – though you may not truly know about it.
But, think about it.
What do you have to have if you have more than two kids? A vehicle with three rows of seats. Because vehicles with two rows can’t legally or realistically carry more than two kids – or five people, in total. They are too small for more, for one. This includes “family cars” such as the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, which aren’t big enough for large families.
And why are they too small?
Because of government “standards” that are actually de facto laws requiring cars to deliver mileage numbers (on deck to ascend to nearly 50 MPG) they can only deliver by being smaller rather than larger. That is why there are no large, six-passenger cars anymore – let alone 7-9 passenger wagons – available anymore.
Cars have been downsized by government.
And even if you wanted to try to stuff more people in a smaller car, you can’t – legally – if they’re kids. Because how are you going to fit three or more child “safety” seats in a car with just two rows of seats and only two in back (away from the air bags up front) that can only accommodate two of the child “safety” seats the law – i.e., the government – requires?
Back when the government did not require parents to strap their kids into “safety” seats like little Hannibal Lectors, it was possible – it was usual – for kids to pile into whatever car their parents had. Kids always find – or make – room. But that’s illegal now. If a parent gets caught driving a car with kids under 12 or so in it who are not strapped in like little Hannibal Lectors, it is an actionable offense. Minimally, the enforcer of the law will issue the driver a “ticket” – i.e., hand him an extortion note that says he must hand over a large sum of money as punishment for not having had the kids strapped into “safety” seats, as per the law. If the enforcer is a particularly nasty one, he might summon (or sic) child protective services upon the parent for endangering the kids.
This threat is sufficient to get most parents to obey the law that requires them to strap their kids into “safety” seats. But what if they have more than two kids? It is impossible to strap them all in if the car only has attachment/anchor points for two “safety” seats. Ergo, families that have more than two kids under 12 must buy a vehicle that has three rows of seats – such as a minivan, SUV or full-size crossover – and attachment/anchor points for more than two “safety” seats.
How much does that cost?
Well, let’s look at the least costly way this costs.
There are only a couple of compact-sized three-row crossovers.
One of these was the VW Tiguan, which no longer offers a third row.
The outgoing 2024 model did. Base price for this small, thee-row crossover is $28,880. A VW Taos – which is about the same size but does not offer a third row – stickers for $23,995. The difference in price between the two comes to $4,885 – and that’s a measure of what government costs, if you have to have “safety” seat anchor points for more than two kids.
The cost is actually much higher than that, too – because there are only two other small crossovers that offer a third row. They are the Mitsubishi Outlander – which stickers for $28,395 to start. And the Kia Sorento – which stickers for $31,990 to start. These crossovers are the only three-row crossovers that aren’t one-size larger and more expensive for that reason.
VW’s Atlas – which is the largest model VW sells (and has ever sold) lists for $37,995 to start. It’s one of the more affordable three-row crossovers you could buy. A Mazda CX-90 – which is a three-row rival of the Atlas – lists for $37,845. The Chevy Traverse is another option, but it costs even more – $40,600 to start.
The handful of minivans you can still buy – like the Chrysler Pacifica and Kia Carnival – cost about the same.
From there, it gets even pricier – and larger. You’re looking at full-size SUVs such as the Ford Expedition or the Chevy Tahoe that start in the mid-high $50k range. But at least they have a roomy third row.
Circling back to the past – before the government required that kids under 12 be strapped in like little Hannibal Lectors – and before the downsizing effect of government fuel economy regulations that effectively outlawed the once-common six passenger family sedan (the last example of which, the Ford Crown Victoria, was cancelled after the 2011 model year) and the seven-to-nine-passenger wagon.
In those Before Times, a family of six could get by with just one affordable large car – or wagon – rather than two smallish sedans or crossovers. or a very expensive three-row crossover or SUV.
Because there was plenty of room for six in a big car like the Crown Vic (and even more in a Country Squire) and no one had to be strapped into a government-mandated “safety” seat, either.
. . .
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Another angle: The more children cost due to the safety cult the less children that are born. The less children that are born the more people want to keep them safe feeding the safety cult.
The additional hassle of transportation of children due to car seat mandates and CAFE downsizing vehicles is understood and deliberate. Eugenicists have for about a century now supported laws that make children more difficult, time consuming, and expensive. They know that will drive down birth rates for the not wealthy and especially for those who don’t get government checks.
I miss the days when my sister could pile her 5 kids into her decrepit little old Datsun 510 without being a “criminal”. Got them where they needed to go for a total cost of a few hundred dollars. If anything ever went wrong with the simple little car, the bubba down the street could fix it for $20-$40 at most. No taxpayers were extorted to pay for their transportation, and no one died.
That was the simplicity and economy of life when we still had a somewhat free market, and autonomy over ourselves and our families. Such life is not possible today in the Brave New USA. 🙁
As the old saying goes, some rules are meant to be broken. When I’m ready, I’ll get an older SUV with 3 rows, tint the windows and once the kids are no longer infants, just buckle ’em up normally in the rear so they won’t crawl out.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3665046, says it all right here. Again, old ‘burban, Land Crusher or Defender with tinted windows (20% or less) should do the trick, tinker with the suspension so it’s just right for daily driving, and we’re golden. How’d we go from Dad being one of 10 to me being one of 5 to now it being my future kids being 2-3.
Hell, here in WA the tint laws are ignored so every window gets the tint. Our vibrant new residents from south of the border really embrace tint. Not unusual to see limo level tint all around and yes that includes the windshield. “Equity policing” and “restorative justice” means hands off the recent arrivals.
Same with Jersey
At this rate, gotta be all ghetto or a complete asshole or blatantly speeding to get pulled over these days. Why my strategy is golden here
in most places thats not even breaking a rule, i know in illinois, once the kid is 40 lbs, a car with lap belts is all you need. You can still pack everyone in if your car came with lap belts, they are grandfathered. The child seat issues start once your rear seats have a shoulder harness, then a child seat or booster is required.
It’s amazing we can dress ourselves without instruction by a government agency.
Or handle common products. Santa brought me new tire gauges and of course “product may expose you to chemicals determined by the state of California to cause cancer”
Oh heck Sparky, they mean the air and the water. The only reason they haven’t declared f#%king to cause cancer is because the mice died of exhaustion…
It’s the Praetorian Prefect writ-large.
Somebody has to be in charge.
There has to be a big guy that is there to tell you what to do.
Take the jab, listen to what we say, mask up, buster.
On and on and on and on, ad infinitum, ad absurdum, ad nauseam.
Gets old fast.
Shut the hell up!
Driving me insane!
Joe ain’t there anymore, out to lunch.
It was easy to fit six in a passenger car in the time of bench front seats.
Back then I bought cars to accommodate a carpool. Last one for the carpool
was a ’70 Impala with a 400 cubic inch small block V8 and TH 400 trans.
Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 was transmission of choice in Rolls-Royce.
Aaah yes, I remember those days: Where you could shove at least 3 people in the front, never mind that middle seat or the “way back”. Especially when going to the drive-in. I suppose I am dating myself, but those were the days. The car was like a rolling boat, but never lacked for comfort and space. And now we can include engine power, too, sadly, compared to the vehicles we have today.
My uncle had a Suburban. Because he had a wife, three kids and two Dalmatians. It was white, cloth seats and maybe an AM radio. No AC for sure. One day when they were up visiting it stalled at the turn off to our neighborhood. Some quick diagnosis determined it wasn’t getting fuel, so he and dad took some tools down to the corner popped off the carburetor and brought it back to the house. I got a lesson in carb repair as I watched them troubleshoot and discover a pinhole leak in the float. It was full of gasoline. Then as my uncle carefully heated up the float to evaporate the gasoline and solder the float. After a few hours they were back on the road home, a 240 mile trip.
Sure, a fuel injector wouldn’t have issues with a float, but if it fails it’s not a field repair. I’m sure my uncle would have liked to have something a little less primitive (although maybe not) for travel, but then the cars of the day all had similar carburetors and they all had the same failure points. The Suburban fit the bill for his family.
A very long time ago, we rode 4-5 wide in a pickup truck with nothing more than a bench seat. Worse, we rode in the back of the truck when it was warm enough. And in loaded/empty grain wagons & cotton wagons. How the hell did we manage to survive?
Hi Mike,
I remember those days. My father had a 1978 Chevrolet C/K. There were six of us in the front seat. My Dad drove, my Mom held my youngest sister in her lap, and my other two sisters and I were squeezed between my parents. We drove from our home in rural VA to my grandparents home off of 450 in MD (about an hour and 15 minutes each away). Seatbelts? What the heck were those?
And, to what end?
Perhaps David M. Graber, GovCo Biologist, can enlighten us, ““Human happiness and certainly human fecundity are not as important as a wild and healthy planet… [Nature has] intrinsic value, more value to me than another human body or a billion of them… Until such time as Homo sapiens should decide to rejoin nature, some of us can only hope for the right virus to come along.””
Fewer people is the goal. How we get there is the challenge. Since ~1940 it’s been tough to just round people up and ship them off to camps. People now notice such things. So, how can you do it and make it seem like you’re a “Good Goy”? [“goy”, Freudian typo that I left in for poops and grins] It’s all part of the Envireligion that lays the Original Sin of destroying the planet on the mere existence of humanity. The ratchet of punishment, meted out by our betters, only clicks in one direction. This misanthropic movement will not be stopped until people refuse to obey the indoctrination which starts with the GovCo indoctrination centers known as Public Schools.
This program then extends to the “feminist movement” which tells women they don’t need men and having children is only going to hold them back in their “careers”. And it only gets worse. Can I get a “Me Too” from the back row? It’s a plan to destroy everything that white, Christian, heterosexual males have built along with their families. Nothing is more important than GovCo (Mussolini nailed this) and that includes the family unit.
Remember, it takes a village.
All DNA matters. Your existence might be stressing the environmental well being of another of Gaia’s creatures.
Your desire for lumber is committing a hate crime against the spotted owl.
The highways and cars
Were sacrificed for agriculture
I thought that we’d start over
But I guess I was wrong, hey
(Nothing but) Flowers – David Byrne
“… some of us can only hope for the right virus to come along.”- David Graber, GovCo psychopath.
Yes David, I’m hoping for that as well – a virus that will take out psychopaths like yourself, along with all the other busybodies and control freaks that infest governments everywhere. What a wonderful world it would be.
Yep. It’s basically a moot point that there are no cars for large families because there aren’t many large families any more. It has been official government policy for over fifty years to actively promote abortion, birth control, homosexuality and females in the workforce. Feminism and birth control is the death of the white race and of Western Civilization.
The relatively few people who still have large families either drive them around in horse-drawn carriages, like the Amish, or buy actual passenger vans instead of SUVs.
Station wagons were common as dirt in the 1970s, my dad had a ’71 Ford with the fold-down seats way in the back of the wagon… I remember riding in those.
‘It’s an iteration of the seen and unseen that the economist Frederic Bastiat wrote about.’ — eric
Bastiat’s broken-window fallacy, in a Lügenpresse headline today:
Will Trump Cut Short the Biden Clean-Energy Boom? Investors Are Nervous
— New York Slimes
Repeat after me: there is no boom. Rather, there’s an orgy of gov-mandated and financed white elephants, which actually reduce the reliability of the power grid, while adding trillions to the national debt and impoverishing the populace.
Moreover, there are no ‘investors,’ only opportunistic grifters — the same kind who sell ten-dollar bottles of water to natural disaster victims, while patting themselves on the back as ersatz philanthropists.
It only adds insult to injury when we are superciliously lectured by a Lügenpresse that maliciously inverts reality.
Smash the presses.
My solar panel installation was a tax dodge, plain and simple. That and a way to pre-pay my electric bills for the next 10 years. I have no illusions of saving anything other than my hard-earned money thanks to the subsidies. If the subsidy ends, so will solar.
Funny thing is, if there’s any maintenance required not covered by warranty it probably won’t be worth fixing. Just let it degrade or the payback gets screwed up.
Hi Jim,
The MSM incorrectly shortened the word boondoggle.