"Without cars inside cities our GDP will tank!" I often hear this nonsense. Tokyo has the highest GPD per capita in Japan and the lowest number of cars per capita in Japan: 28.57/100, and falling rapidly. Similar to the US, where NYC has the highest GDP and lowest number of cars. 
We could build walkable towns with a mixture of rich and poor, workplaces and homes, and just spend our time and money on better things than automobiles and commuting. Some people think this is "utopian thinking", even though it is the norm in millennia of human urban history.
