Maybe it’s going the direction of housing. People used to routinely buy houses, or pay 50% down and pay the rest off over 3-5 years. After the 30 year mortgage became common, prices inflated such that hardly anyone could do that. More people overall could buy houses with the payments spread out and lower down payments, but it took almost an entire career span to pay them off. Then speculation drove the prices up higher faster than inflation while wages stagnated or decreased. How could we get back to a world where 40-50% of households buy their homes with cash or pay them off within 5 years now that prices are structured to cost 30%+ of two full lifetimes of income?
If cars go the same way it’ll be worse though - a lifetime mortgage on a rapidly depreciating asset that will wear out before it’s paid off. Even the dodgy-loan / dodgy-lease is better than that.
