Paying attention to trends is not a mistake, and if anything, consumerism has ramped up much higher over the past few decades, steadily rising even through the great recession.

Yes the cost of living has gone up, but there are fallacies in your argument.

• If only the wealthy can afford to buy self driving cars, that does not remove regular cars from the road, if anything regular cars would likely wind up becoming cheaper, potentially putting MORE cars on the road.

• I agree with the point of organizations, but keep in mind I only agree when it comes to mass public transportation, such as a bus, or a train. The idea of having a car potentially driving a single occupant is incredibly wasteful.

• Why are you assuming that the types of people I mentioned cannot afford a $50k vehicle? Those are people who are not inherently broke, they just do not typically have driving privileges. Even then, you are aware that most people do not outright buy a car, correct? Most people finance a vehicle over the course of several years, doing so otherwise is uncommon and dealerships actually hate when you do this because it cuts heavily into their profits because a dealership is essentially a car loanshark supermarket.