Sorry, but that's the worst excuse for buying an SUV that I have ever heard. I grew up as one of two kids in a family that had two collies, and we managed to get along just fine with our sedan and even (gasp) went on 10+ hour road trips with it a few times a year. This was even less than ten years ago, after the advent of the Age of the SUV. Sure, it might get a little tight sometimes, but why can't your kids suck it up?

In addition, while your two-row station wagon was great for hauling stuff around, was that really necessary, either? I live in Europe and the only people I know here who absolutely needed to buy station wagons (as opposed to sedans or coupes - I live in a rural area, so almost everyone has a car) use them to tow horses. I find it absolutely appalling for a self-described environmentalist to say that a station wagon was inadequate to haul around two kids and a dog, especially when they're strong enough to tow horses.

I agree that the U.S. needs healthcare reform. However, something that Mr. Conason does not mention at all is that a doctor's average wage in Germany is 15€/hour (vs. 12€/hour for a member of a cleaning crew), and that doctors here in Germany do not pay tuition and often *receive* a monthly stipend, as opposed to going up to $250,000 in debt to attend medical school. Many of my friends in med school project that they will be paying off student loans almost they are in their late 40s/early 50s.

While 15€/hour is a ridiculous hourly wage (and Germany is experiencing brain drain to go with it), I also find it ridiculous for U.S. med students to go that much into debt. I wonder if U.S. rates would start to go down if doctors didn't have to charge so much in order to make sure they can make loan payments?