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Note - the following is purely from an American point of view, and relates to American economic realities.
For what it's worth, I make my living off the automobile industry and encouraging people to lust after them, while letting the people who pay those who pay me work at parting those lustful souls from their money. My brother runs two luxury auto dealerships in the New York City area, each in the top ten nationally for the brand.
I'm no crunchy granola flake standing on a soapbox crying out about the falling sky.
That said, the majority of the boating market is not in the megayachts. The majority is in folks in the high end of the middle class, people who feel the squeeze and have to make tough decisions they haven't faced for the last several years... the kids' college tuition or the new Sea Rat TopHeavyAftCabin 4400? Roll a month of the mortgage to the end of the home loan to catch up on the Lexus and Audi?
If the decision is between an Aston-Martin Vanquish, a Lamborghini Murcielago, or a 599 Maranello... well, you're probably not going to curtail your lifestyle right now. The rising cost isn't having a major adverse effect.
But if you're commuting solo 2 hours each way every day with gas prices rising, spending $2-3k a month just on home heating oil for a McMansion, and not cracking into 6 figures? Something's got to give. A little restraint now, separating wants and needs, learning to tell the kids to scale back a bit, and leading by example will reap a lot of long-term benefits. Even if the goal isn't to send a message to the oil companies or car companies or banks, but instead to get your own house in order, then the result will be the same. Cutting back has the same end result no matter what the reason.
Please forgive me for being long-winded or if i sound preachy.
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