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Comment by teekert | Hacker News Reader

In my country young people don't have loans (edit, they may have some nowadays indeed) and we pay for cars out of pocket. Effectively The only loans are mortgages. Young people are not even able to build any debt now because they can't afford a house anymore. So they have a big incentive to see the interest go up again. But I guess this housing crisis is also driven by the insanely low supply, so building a lot more would also help.

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What country is this? While I'd like to see consumer debt reigned in a bit, I think not being able to borrow at all for cars is a bit extreme. What happens if you need to buy a car in order to accept a particular job? (If the idea of being a polluting commuter offends you, then consider other job-related items such as office equipment or tools).

I live in the Netherlands, almost every place is accessible by either public transport of bike or (usually) a combination of both, no real need for a car. If you do really need it I'm sure parents are there, a small, ok car can be had for under 1000, right?

If you still live at home you can buy it from your first wage. Otherwise it may take a bit longer. Government advices people to have a buffer of at least 5000 so you can have you washing machine fixed or get a new furnace (the thing that heats your house) and fix other house related issues (or your car). Most people I know try to maintain that buffer.

Dutch young people do have student debt though afaik. Wouldn't rising rates affect their payments?

Maybe a bit, I did indeed have a 6000 eur debt. My knowledge may be a bit outdated. But school (BSc/MSc) will cost a max o 2000/year and the interest is basically zero and you have to pay it back in 20 years if you can't it's forgiven (it was in my time). I paid back the 6000 (parents didn't want to pay for uni) at a rate of 50 euro/month, until I just paid it off in one go.

If you studied for 4 years, that means you only borrowed €125/month. Since you mention your knowledge being outdated, I assume you fell under the old system in which you also received a multiple of that from the government. In today's system that government grant does not exist, except for students with low-income parents.

Student debt isn't quite like other debts though, as you're never required to pay instalments if you don't have the means, and iirc you are also never forced to pay instalments that are more than 10% or so of your income.

Here in the UK borrowing to buy a car is a minority thing.

The majority of people throw a few grand at an old banger and drive it until it stops working.

Young people have absolutely no power in this society, the fact that the world has come to a halt for a disease with an IFR of 0.25% while entire generations face economic, mental, social crisis should speak volumes.

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