Can this PLEASE somehow lead to the death of Comcast? Please?

@AlteredBeast: i'm staring at their new office building from the window of my office as we speak. i did my part and canceled their TV and HSI services. i think we need a priest or something to do an exorcism of comcast from society :)

And yet Monster Cable is still around.

@AlteredBeast: Hear, Hear!

Any other company with such shitty business practices and a completely insane business model would die. How they continue on despite their massive BS, I do not know other then the fact that people can't seem to live without tv and they are the only option. If we all banded together and refused to watch (and pay for) cable tv for a few months, something might happen...

Yay! I've NEVER seen the draw of claire's. Cheap plastic fake crap that breaks in 2 weeks for $10. Buy one Get one Free! Yay!

Ick. Way to make girls grow up shallow.

I doubt SUV's are dead... just temporarily knocked down. They'll be back, especially with gas around ~1.39.

Also, they're a steal right now. Compare it to a more expensive car with higher mileage, and it would take 10 years for most people to recoup the difference in price in gas costs.

For the record, I don't own an SUV, but the true financial impact to owning one is not that bad...

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: I was just in an Amazon thread where a user wanted suggestions on accessories and people were telling her that Monster Cable brand connectors were a must but due to their sound quality and (insert Monster bs here). This is how that company stays around. People believe what they read on the packaging and the mark up is so incredibly high they only need a few sales.

@Raekwon: must buy*

We need an edit button.

The New York Times. Sure, it's not gone yet, and it really has more to do with the industry it's in and its public perception, but they did just mortgage their headquarters. Good (eventual) riddance.

:( I proposed to my fiance in the bathroom at Harrah's. I guess we won't be going back there to relive the memories.

@meske: It's not the actual numbers that will kill SUVs, but the stigma. Just like the perception of monster cable that Raekwon mentioned, the perception that SUV owners are over-compensating, tree-killing morons will kill them.

And gas won't be this cheap forever, so the conscientious people planning to own a car for a long time won't be choosing an SUV either.

@Oranges w/ Cheese: Because making your 13-year-old look like a hooker can be expensive?

Only time I've been there was to buy a "placeholder" for my wife's engagement and wedding rings when going on vacation. The pieces held up for the duration of the trip, and that was it. $8 for the pair, IIRC.

I love when companies go under and under/uneducated people get laid off becoming a further drain on society.
Sarcasm aside, I fail to find the Schadenfreude when real wealth evaporates and people lose their jobs.

@meske:

You meant the financial impact of owning one *at the moment* isn't that bad. When gas goes back up to $4 a gallon in a year or so, and you go to sell that SUV and you end up taking 50% of what you paid for it...yeah, you will be seeing the benefit of those fuel efficient cars. Only complete idiots are running out and buying SUVs at the moment.

I am from Cape Cod in Massachusetts. People move here, open a crap gift store in what was formerly someone's home. Invariably, these gifts shops have a weird "quaint English cottage" theme, like we rag tag Cape Codders weren't the one to send the Brits home on their asses two hundred years ago. I love the recession because The *$&#ing Cinnamon Stick is going out of business. Can Lavendar Moon be far behind? Hope the move back to Minneapolis goes smoothly, ladies.

I must come to the defense of SUV's here. I don't really understand why people hate them so much. Yes, they are big, yes they use more gas than a prius. But my life is so much easier with an SUV. I have twins and frequently haul them and other extended family around town. We also go on roadtrips regularly (rather than flying) and we are able to haul everything in it that we need to enjoy ourselves when traveling or camping. I'm also a large guy and I've never found a smaller car that is reasonably comfortable for me to drive on a daily basis.

So for all of these reasons, an SUV is my preferred transport of choice. Yes, I paid as much as $90 to gas it up when gas was at $4 a gallon. But I paid it because it was worth it to me to drive.

So if you feel some kind of unnatural guilt when driving an SUV, feel free to trade it in on a yugo, but don't give me any crap for driving what I want to drive, and I won't call you names for driving a hybrid that could almost fit in my cargo area. Deal?

I don't own an SUV..but i do own a 92 GMC z71 5 speed. I suppose i'm evil and should be looked down upon because I own a truck that I use regularly for more than hoping around town.

I guess those families that have SUV's as a necessity for space and towing capacity are evil as well.

Down with the SUV's...we should all drive what ben wants us to drive.

Did you know that certain people in congress at the moment are saying if the big 3 get bailouts, they think casinos and gaming establishments should also get bailouts because they employ more people? Umm sorry, gambling is a luxury item. What makes you think a bailout would save your floundering casino when we could be in a recession for 1-2 years?

ummm....

[www.mediabistro.com]

there's your schadenfreude!

@howie_in_az: In the BATHROOM? Really?

@AlteredBeast: I'm in Philadelphia too. Comcast has too many monopoly deals with local govts it buys off, too many semi-literate and tech-unsavvy customers in those locales which makes it too easy to rip people off, too many customers without access to Fios, and so many renters and city dwellers who can't do satellite. This is the business model as I understand it: screw the hostages.

On another note, I liked this post! (Both the OP and the one I'm replying to.) I welcome lower home prices and the death of condo construction in my neighborhood, which was affordable when I moved in 11 yrs ago.

Downside: so many working people who never had the cash to begin with get beaten hardest and beaten first.

I live out in the country. For the last few years, we've all been bulldozing the forest to build McMansions for unpleasant people from New York.

This has completely stopped.

While it sucks for the people who were employed in construction, it's deeply satisfying for everybody else around here.

@Oranges w/ Cheese:

Sadly, I've purchased one thing from Claire's a few years ago when I was 21 (I'm also a male). It was a keychain that said "I Heart Johnny"... my name is Johnny.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: Thanks, Debbie Downer.

Nothing wrong with SUVs...I'm just a "car guy" and put a big premium on handling and responsiveness, which creates the feeling of real safety to me.

I don't really care about gas guzzling that much (my wife's wagon gets about 16-17 in the city). It more about having to make WAY too many ride/handling/safety compromises to get into an SUV--compromises made in the name of towing capability and 2-ton load-hauling...neither of which most people use frequently enough to justify the ownership of such a vehicle. The safety to your fellow drivers is another discussion about social responsibility. Not touching that here.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: Agreed!

Most of the things on this list have a pretty big down side. Take the condos. While hideous and expensive places to live when finished, while they were being built they gave people jobs. Now half finished or just bare plots of land will blight the local landscape for years to come.

@CaptainCynic: There will always be a niche for SUV's just like there has always been a niche for high MPG autos. I think the problem is the SUV crowd (generalization) keeps themselves while the high MPG crowd (generalization) wants you to know how great and progressive they are. South Park hit this nail on the head a few seasons ago.

@CaptainCynic:

My fiancee and I were talking about this last night. Why is it in current American society, people believe they need a vehicle with 1/10 the space of a small house to survive? Why is it they have 1-2 children, and suddenly a 3 br, 2 bath house is far too small for them? We are a society of excess, and it is collapsing upon us. People in the past had families and somehow managed to get along without a 4 ton SUV that gets 9 mpg, and they lived in houses that weren't 2500 square foot monsters. People want these things because other people have them, plain and simple. A honda fit would suffice for anyone with 1-2 children.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: *keeps to themselves
-god damn public school education

Ridiculous, unsustainable satellite developments and eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later) suburbs.

And people with more money than brains / taste. "I went to highschool with the owner" is not a valid and marketable job skill, and people are starting to realize that. Find some other way to pay for your McMansion and garage full of "toys" which are as pointless and superfluous as your sorry ass. I hear the circus is hiring!

Yay! I am putting the marketing term "Upgrade" (Xtreme of the 2000's) on deathwatch. I am also putting high cable and cellphone rates on deathwatch. They are going to have to comedown when everyone makes a mass exodus from comcast. They price gouge anyway. How can a company that is not price gouging afford to slash your bill, just because you called in? Also, phonetrees I think will get deathwatch status. In the past companies bult a wall because they could. Much like contractors during the building boom showed up only whenever they felt like it, because they could.

If that's the case then why aren't the big, stupid financial firms, banks, and insurance companies dying? Oh that's right! We're bailing them out!!! Silly me.

@sir_eccles: Wait a minute, you wouldn't happen to be a Chief's fan would you? I think I may know you from somewhere else...

@Raekwon: No nede four an edits buttun! Just reed you're posts moar careful next time, k? =P

@CaptainCynic: I still hate SUV's - I am happy with my smaller 2 door car. I do not have children - but I have 2 dogs (one is 100+ lbs) that can fit in the backseat - my roommate can ride in the front passenger seat, a trunk full of luggage and 2 bikes on my bike rack...and I also filled my car up last week for $23.

It seems people can survive in a small car...even with kids.

@Saboth:

I think this attitude is the real problem. The notion that one group of people can decide what "should suffice" for another group of people.

If I want to drive an suv, dammit, that's my right. If you want to drive a honda, well, you're good too. Everyone should be able to decide for themselves. That's the essence of a free society and the brilliance of capitalism. If I'm willing to pay for gas for an SUV, what right does anyone have to tell me I shouldn't?

@Saboth: 2500 sq ft is 'monstrous'? Are you in Tokyo? Maybe you're right about the excess, cause I've never heard anyone say a house was monstrous until 5000+ sq ft. 2500 I've always heard was 'small'.

Lets not forget newspapers. I'm laughing everytime one of the highly partisan newspapers lays off another 100 people.

Sorry dip-sticks, maybe you should have done your job.

@howie_in_az: Someone screenshot this for failblog please.

Two words: CEO bonuses, for shitty performance.

(sorry, that was five words)

RIP, golden parachutes for the inept.

I love the recession because I no longer have to deal with Wall Street douches at bars in the city.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: *cough* I was thinking the same thing.

"Gas-gorging SUVs will soon be worth more being turned into the toasters they look like."

This sounds like those radio ads I hear 'with high gas prices like today blah blah' and I look up and see $1.49 at the local Shell.

From what I've heard, SUV sales, at least locally, have picked back up and the Smart car dealership's wait list has halved.

@CaptainCynic: I'd recommend looking at the options again, my friend. If your sense of masculinity can take it, you should have a look at the newer lines of minivans out of Honda and Toyota. I know a guy that's 6'5" and just shy of 300lbs that fits quite comfortably behind the wheel of his Odyssey. For hauling the clan around, they're much more comfortable with their lower deck height and lower floors (when you don't drive off-road, you don't need a foot of ground clearance. You can give most of that room back to your passengers.) Take the seats out (or just fold them under the floor, let's see your SUV do that) and you've got the cargo space of a mid-sized SUV.

The only reason I can see to have a large SUV is if you've got to carry 5+ people while towing something larger than 2500lbs. Please note that this could be accomplished just as easily with a large conversion van or 15 passenger van. Several of the more fertile families at my church have the 15 passenger vans, and they end up with the same gas mileage as a large SUV (better gas mileage if the SUV has all-wheel drive).

But this America: land of the free, so you should be free to drive anything you want, but as long as you can back that behemoth out of a parking space without taking 5 minutes to make a 15-point turn, I won't call you names for driving a huge, wasteful willy-extension. Deal?

@AlteredBeast: If people didn't view cable ind internet as necessities, then they'd die. But, alas, people need their tv and interwebz (though I admit, I love my net access). And now that they actually offer a necessity in phone, I doubt they're going anywhere any time soon.

people, don't feed the troll.

@emilymarion333: Try putting 2 car seats, your luggage, your children's luggage, a pack and play and stroller in your car.

Then add in your two dogs and see where that gets ya.

i took a road trip this summer in my accord with four adults and their luggage...doing 70..i didn't get much better than 22-25. If i had an suv..i would have done around 15-17. But suv's are evil..and we should live by others rules instead of by the freedom that others use to voice their foolish opinions about suvs.

@CaptainCynic: I have no issue with you. People like you make this country work. You are a consumer.

Do you live in excess? Sure. You work hard, make good money, and live in excess. The American dream. Don't let these america-haters make you feel bad for living a comfortable life.

@skipjack: I think at this point it can be assumed that SUVs going dead is because they are completely superfluous at this point. Anyone with a brain that NEEDS to use offroad / towing capabilities (such as yourself) is already using better alternatives like a truck.

The problem with the SUV is that most people DON'T have need for the space or towing capacity, other than as a status symbol. That has pretty much come to a halt, thankfully, and what Ben is saying is not that people shouldn't drive them, but that people AREN'T driving them because they're unnecessary (most of the time). Maybe 5% (completely made up figure, but lowish) of SUV owners WOULDN'T be much better served by a different kind of vehicle.