Those kinds of junk yards are almost non-existent in California - land values and local ordinances have driven them out. Thanks for the memories..............................
I believe it is too simplistic to blame the loss of an era it on a political party - we need to look at the big picture - it is the love of money that got us here.
Everyone these days has to have the latest and greatest new appliance/vehicle, etc at the lowest price they can afford with the best technology. This competition is worldwide now and corporations that manufacture these products have to continuously make improvements and achieve a good bottom line to please their shareholders in order to survive. That is what has led to global competition and use of labor at the lowest rates from countries that have low labor rates, no environmental laws and no workers protections, etc. - and other countries also provide the potential for more sales, so U.S. companies expand outside our borders. GM for example can't stay in business buying U.S. made steel when the cheaper steel coming out of China that is purchased by Hyundia/Kia, for example, helps their bottom line and GM can't get it at similar costs here. There really is no stopping "progress" when the world has gone mad with the need for all this new stuff.
Regular folks can buy new $50K+ Ram trucks on 7 year+ loans to be able to afford them and they go ahead and buy them.
For me, who really does treasure the "good old days" (I live in an old two story farm house built in 1929) and my newest vehicle is 24 model years old. I have never ever had a car payment - if I couldn't afford cash, I didn't buy it. I don't even have a TV - mostly just mindless junk on them. I do, however, own a smart phone because they are so very versatile and useful and I do appreciate new things like that.
In my mind, it is our own societies' fault that this has all occurred and our increasing lack of values that were once lauded but have now thrown out. To really understand how we got here, we need only look in the mirror - all of us.
I have sold a lot of cars to Finland (among other countries in the past), for example, and I find their particular culture reminiscent of our past - most of the ones I have sold to are farmers and they have strong family values, and rarely buy on credit. They are content with their lives from what I can tell and always a joy to deal with. They also have good moral values and live pretty down to earth lives too. Every single one I have dealt with is honest, fair, humble and respectable. That is what makes a country great IMO.
I sell overseas mostly because I don't sell junk and folks in the U.S. increasingly do not have savings to be able to afford them and I don't finanace, so that is why they mostly go overseas. But I have sold a good number here in the U.S. too to folks that appreciate them and I don't have to sell them at a loss.
