[mudetroit]

> owning a car is a visible blackhole of money

All shared vehicles do is distribute that same cost though. The owners of the shared fleets aren't going to no recoup those costs. If anything it simply makes the lost money less visible, but still equally present. (Feel free to argue that the actual costs are less with more sharing)

[gumby]

If you mean "shared vehicles" by the Uber/Lyft model, I agree. If you mean "shared" as in a fleet, well, Daimler Benz probably has a better balance sheet than you do, and can borrow at prime.

I feel the same way about housing stock, BTW; the US model of home ownership only works because it is heavily subsidized by the federal government as a longstanding matter of policy (not counting the tax deduction for interest which simply preys upon people's financial ignorance). Almost everyone in the US would be better off it a set of large companies/REITs owned the majority of the housing stock and most people rented.