[rarec]

Chicken and egg problem. Cars are necessary because businesses/places to work are far apart, but they got to be the distance they were because cars are around. The US is a huge place, there was plenty of space to go around and the current situation is what follows from it.

[trgn]

Partly, but it doesn't explain people's obsession with large, heavy, low MPG vehicles and the entitlement people have when it comes to fueling these cheaply.

The chicken-egg explanation is a normal consequence of not having anticipated the consequences when urban planning for car travel got going in the 50s. Unfortunate as it may be, but it's catch-22 that can be broken out of.

The unwillingness to break out of it, is because of the fetishization of car technology. This is a completely pathetic for adults to do, and is this toddler-mindset which is the biggest impediment to meaningful change today.

[RhysU]

> The unwillingness to break out of it, is because of the fetishization of car technology.

Careful tossing that first stone. This is Hacker News. Surely most people here have made some technology purchasing choices moreso for coolness than for practicality. Cars are simply one particular sort of technology.