News summaries from across the multiverse.

Shrinkflation Scourge Limits Big and Tall Car Buyer Choice

2024 subcompact cars have 21% less interior space and are shorter by four inches, yet the price when compared to the 2023 models remains the same. If this were breakfast cereal, we would all complain about getting less product for the same price. In economics, it is known as “shrinkflation”. Shrinking already shrunken cars leaves big and tall car buyers with fewer choices other than XL or even XXL sized vehicles for a lot more money. A Mini Cooper spokesperson suggested that tall customers buy their convertible models and drive around with the top down all the time, leaving buyers in rainy and wintery states to laugh and cry a little at that suggestion. Critics of the company’s response photoshopped an average-sized clown into the 2024 Mini Hatch convertible with the top down. The clown is shown looking over the windscreen with a big smile painted on his face and a single tear. The American Association for Big and Tall People is pushing Congress to hold hearings on the issue. The Association has also shared its Big and Tall Manifesto, which calls for the enlargement of most products, the installation of people over six foot, four inches in positions of power, and the changes to building codes to raise the height of doorways.