The downsizing of America

The housing market isn't the only one in trouble as economic realities kick in:

The sale of new SUVs and pickup trucks has dropped precipitously in recent months amid soaring gas prices and a weakening economy: SUV sales for the month of April alone fell 32.3 percent from a year earlier and small car sales rose 18.6 percent. This fundamental shift comes against a backdrop of relentless gas increases, and growing concerns over the environment and US oil consumption, according to auto analysts and car dealers.
"The SUV craze was a bubble and now it is bursting," said George Hoffer, an economics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University whose research focuses on the automotive industry. "It's an irrational vehicle. It'll never come back."

That last statement may be premature, but many Americans are now paying a high price for size and horsepower they never really needed other than as a status symbol. Unsurprising, since many of today's struggling homeowners bought more house than they could afford, for the same reason. "Keeping up with the Joneses" is a losing proposition. Nothing like an economic correction to remind people of the difference between needs and wants. Or where true contentment is found.