In 2025, the average new-vehicle sticker price in the U.S. exceeded $50,000 for the first time.

Despite this, the auto industry assumed Americans would continue buying; in fact, dealers worried about low inventory more than lost sales. But that era appears to be ending.

Car buyers are balking at $700-per-month payments, opting instead for used vehicles — if they purchase at all. Meanwhile, dealers are piling on incentives to clear inventory.

What’s more, about 22% of new-vehicle buyers in 2025 chose 84-month (seven-year) loans — a record share. Some lenders even advertise 96-month terms, and a few stretch to 108 or 120 months!

In past decades, car loans typically lasted three to five years, and anything longer than 60 months was considered reckless. Now, it’s becoming normal.

But a seven- or eight-year payoff horizon doesn’t make a vehicle more affordable; it temporarily dulls the pain. Monthly bills shrink, sure, but total interest balloons.

Meaning, many owners will still be paying for a 2025 model long after its warranty expires, and likely long after its resale value drops below the balance owed.

So when car financing starts to resemble a mortgage, it’s a signal that something larger is breaking. And that something is household income.

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Your Rundown for Wednesday, December 3, 2025...

The New Face of the Middle Class

The U.S. Census Bureau reports the nation’s median household income in 2024 was $83,730 — virtually unchanged from 2023 and barely above pre-pandemic levels. Keep in mind, half of American households earn less than that.

For many American families, $83,730 doesn’t buy what it once did. The cost of living (i.e. housing, childcare, groceries, healthcare, transportation, utilities, etc.) has surged.

Childcare is a clear example. The national average price of center-based care reached $13,128 per child, per year in 2024, up 29% from 2020 and well above the pace of inflation. Families with two young children routinely face bills exceeding $25,000 a year — the equivalent of a second mortgage.

Add housing costs that consume 35–45% of income, health-insurance premiums that top $1,600 a month for families and transportation expenses inflated by record-high car prices. The arithmetic no longer works.

That’s the core premise of a recent essay by economist and investor Michael W. Green: The official federal “poverty line” — still based on a 1960s formula that simply tripled a bare-bones food budget — no longer reflects economic reality.

Back then, for example, food consumed about one-third of a family’s budget; housing and healthcare were modest expenses. Today, food is closer to 7%, while housing and medical costs can approach 60% combined.

Green estimates the true “survival threshold” for a family of four would stand near $140,000 a year. For a family earning less than that? Green says they fall into the “Valley of Death.” 

And it doesn’t matter whether you live in San Francisco, Omaha or rural Georgia — costs are rising everywhere, and families are falling behind.

For U.S. households earning between $80,000–$100,000 — historically considered middle class — they’re now living on the surface of an economic bubble.

Specifically, these households earn too much to qualify for assistance, but too little to cover basic living expenses without some measure of belt-tightening.

“At $40,000, you are drowning, but the state gives you a life vest,” Green writes. “At $100,000, you are drowning, but the state says you are a ‘high earner’ and ties an anchor to your ankle.”

Seen through that lens, the slowdown in car sales isn’t an isolated hiccup. It’s a mirror held up to the American economy, revealing what national statistics blur. Official indicators, for instance, still look strong: low unemployment, expanding GDP, stock indexes hovering around highs.

But those figures can’t capture the fatigue of a family juggling debt payments, medical deductibles and daycare invoices.

Instead, these metrics hide a fundamental breakdown: Financial stability now requires incomes well north of six figures — just to tread water.

If we’re serious about restoring economic security, we need a measured re-calibration because the gap between what American families earn and what they need to survive is incrementally widening.

And policymakers should acknowledge that long-duration auto loans, mounting household debt and shrinking disposable income are leading indicators of a broader unraveling of the middle class.

Until we stop accepting the narrative of broad-based American prosperity — according to outdated economic formulas — too many families will continue languishing in the margins. While no one’s even adjusting the math to reflect it.

Market Rundown for Wednesday, December 3, 2025

S&P 500 futures are up 0.25% to 6,855.

Oil is up 1.40% to $59.45 for a barrel of WTI.

Gold’s up 0.70% to $4,250.40 per ounce.

Bitcoin’s making a comeback: at present, up 2.10% to $93K.