Has the US been anything but a scam since its inception?

After the “cash for clunkers” thing reduced the used car market buying new made more sense because of price and warranty. You also get better financing rates on new vs used. Bought my Subaru new in 2019 and could sell it for about what I paid.

I was told in the 90's that in America if your car was 3 years old, your neighbor might worry you weren't doing too well, and you could buy 6 year old luxury cars for peanuts.