Yes, because it would be impossible for both of us to work without two cars. I once looked into taking the bus to work (for grins) and it would take 3 hours in the morning and 3 1/3 hours in the evening, with a 1/2 mile and a mile walk on either side, with me only being able to work from 10:30 - 2:15. Of course, we have a laughable public transport system (I'd have to travel all the way north to downtown, when I work 14 miles east of my house), and even besides work I wouldn't be able to get much of anywhere - the grocery store's only a mile away, I could do that, but that's about it.
There are plenty of places where life without cars just isn't possible, especially in the more rural MidWest. Granted, if I lived in downtown Chicago and a parking space was going to cost me $30,000 and the buses went everywhere I wanted to go, I'd ditch my car. But I really can't.
Now, you might say that "sure, but you could get dropped off at work by your husband, and get by with just one car!" (or vice versa). And, if we both wanted to waste hours out of our day, not to mention driving miles and miles extra, it might be possible, but it'd be annoying. And as my car is 12 years old and has been paid off for a long, long time, it's actually cheaper to keep it than it would be to buy the extra gas to drive all those extra miles (not to mention me not having to be at work early, or stay late, or run out at lunch to swap the car!).
That said, I don't claim to be poor or 'barely scraping by', and I certainly don't make that much! Of course, we also cut our own grass and clean our own house...
Now, the public/private school issue? I don't know about that - actually, public schools in parts of the US are very well funded, it's just... mismanaged. There was a study that shows the average funding per student was higher in public schools than it was in private schools, and yet the quality of education in private schools was better!? I think the issue isn't of enough money, rather, keeping that money going where it should.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 03:09 am (UTC)Yes, because it would be impossible for both of us to work without two cars. I once looked into taking the bus to work (for grins) and it would take 3 hours in the morning and 3 1/3 hours in the evening, with a 1/2 mile and a mile walk on either side, with me only being able to work from 10:30 - 2:15. Of course, we have a laughable public transport system (I'd have to travel all the way north to downtown, when I work 14 miles east of my house), and even besides work I wouldn't be able to get much of anywhere - the grocery store's only a mile away, I could do that, but that's about it.
There are plenty of places where life without cars just isn't possible, especially in the more rural MidWest. Granted, if I lived in downtown Chicago and a parking space was going to cost me $30,000 and the buses went everywhere I wanted to go, I'd ditch my car. But I really can't.
Now, you might say that "sure, but you could get dropped off at work by your husband, and get by with just one car!" (or vice versa). And, if we both wanted to waste hours out of our day, not to mention driving miles and miles extra, it might be possible, but it'd be annoying. And as my car is 12 years old and has been paid off for a long, long time, it's actually cheaper to keep it than it would be to buy the extra gas to drive all those extra miles (not to mention me not having to be at work early, or stay late, or run out at lunch to swap the car!).
That said, I don't claim to be poor or 'barely scraping by', and I certainly don't make that much! Of course, we also cut our own grass and clean our own house...
Now, the public/private school issue? I don't know about that - actually, public schools in parts of the US are very well funded, it's just... mismanaged. There was a study that shows the average funding per student was higher in public schools than it was in private schools, and yet the quality of education in private schools was better!? I think the issue isn't of enough money, rather, keeping that money going where it should.