[–] 16717944? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago (edited ago)
There is no reason we cant get vehicles, tools and such which are quality enough to be purchased only once in a lifetime.
We already have those, but most people don't want to pay more for them. They think cheaper = better. A $20 shovel sells better than a $99 shovel. But that $99 shovel will last much longer, and cost less per year than that $20 shovel which I have broken in the first year 3 different times! Many companies these days don't even know how to put a handle on a shovel the correct way with the grain going in the right direction. Grain direction is important!
Honda and Toyota cars are winning awards, and have been for years, for the quality of their vehicles and how long they last. American makers have not won as many awards for long-lasting cars because they employ unions who don't give a shite about what they do. Unions show up for a paycheck, not to make good cars. Japanese car companies in the US have a high happiness rating supplied by the workers, and no unions, and employ Americans to make great cars. So what's the difference? Japanese plants in the US have no entitled unions.
Sometimes I will opt to buy cheaper stuff, knowing that it won't last long, because I have other things I need or want to do with my budget at that time, and the cheaper version can fill the need for the moment until later when my budget might allow me to buy the better quality item. It is usually correct that, over time, we save by paying more up front for a better quality product that will serve us longer and do more, but budgets and saving must also be considered holistically.
Our economy is based on production, not consumption. Investment of time and capital is what creates the goods and services that others consume - this is the basis of a market. If people want those things you mention, the market will respond. There should be no central planning, rulemaking, or other body that forces anyone to produce or buy anything. Period.
[–] 16718975? ago (edited ago)
That's not logically consistent.
If production is dependent on consumption to exist, it logically can't be the foundation - or you're just playing kind of silly semantic games.
People shouldn't be forced to buy or produce, but that's an issue of personal freedom we definitely need guide rails - i.e. people being told they can't buy or produce certain things at certain times.
A perfectly free market can only work if:
1) consumers act in a rational self interest
2) producers act in a rational self interest
3) there is a perfect information exchange working along side it, so consumers and producers are able to decide things rationally
One only needs to look at the last couple elections to see that none of those are currently true. I'm not sure if they ever will be.
Don't ignore the history of our country, we moved away from a totally free market for a reason. What we do need to do is make sure we work to improve to make a free market as viable as possible and meddle as little as possible.
production is not dependent on consumption. I can go out and work the field and produce food. My labor provides me with abundance I can use to accomplish other things. A perfectly free market always works if you accept there will be correction. Certainly people can't always act in a rational way.
I'm just not sure where you are going with this. Describing how markets work isn't ignoring history - market meddling is what gets us the mess we have today.
[–] 16717152? 1 point 1 point 2 points (+2|-1) ago (edited ago)
Yep sounds good. Go generate your own power up to the level that you can live a first world lifestyle... Good luck with that hot shower after the sun goes down in Feb. Its ALL ABOUT ENERGY. Without LENR or ZPE or whatever... A bottomless well of energy available... We will stay in the dark-ages. Produce and store all the food you need for a family of 4. See how easy it is (its not even in good conditions)
Stuff that lasts forever:
https://www.whitesboots.com/#/page/home
[–] 16717226? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
You're not wrong, but I feel like there are a lot of things we take for granted that aren't actually in the requirements.
For example, you can feed a lot of people with a 5gal bucket of dry beans and rice. It's not a Big Mac, sure, but it's what the pioneers lived off of.
Another example - in Japan it's standard for living spaces to go unheated. Many buildings just don't have central air. If you want heat or AC in your unit, that's on you to obtain. Their weather is a bit milder than USA, but you get my point.
More people need to understand that their iPhone and Starbucks latte are not part of a living standard.
[–] 16717503? 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago (edited ago)
I spoke so confidently because I am living off the grid and generating all my own power and about half my calories for my family. I live in a 300 sq foot cabin that I built from local materials. I heat it with wood. AC is easy as fuck. Nothing to it because when it is hot outside, there is sun to run the solar panels and easily can power an AC unit. We have AC and no electric bill every day in the summer. No problem. Hot water is really REALLY tough without fossil fuels. Not kidding, its not easy. It takes A LOT of power to heat a 20 gallon tank of water to shower temp. It takes A LOT of wood to heat that much water. Its not easy and if made easy its not cheap. 1 out of 100 people or even less would be able to survive as I do let alone live a reasonable (2nd world tier) lifestyle. I like it and think its cool and love not having any bills but to say anything even remotely close to "people can do this" is wrong. Nearly everybody would die and long before that they would rob their neighbors or just eat them.
Let your house freeze up in North Dakota or Eastern Oregon and see what you get in the spring. If you only eat beans and rice you will die a miserable death from nutrient deficiency. Pioneers had a FAR broader diet than beans and rice.
[–] 16717129? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Our system is a ponzi scheme.
Everything is based on endless upward growth from GDP on down. Endless consumption is at the core. Endless consumption and growth are lies nothing expands forever. All our metrics are based on the assumption that expansion is good. Resources are finite, and the earth's potential for exploitation is finite.
I was told by a young Russian I worked with that "America is a throw away society". He went to explain in concrete terms what he was talking about. He said in America you buy a refrigerator and it will last five to ten years. A Russian buys a refrigerator and it will last him his lifetime.
The west is infected with corporate greed, and the politicians are their servants. They pass regulations that will increase corporate profits. For example the cost of a light bulb is now double what it was just a few years ago, and they last even less time than they did. All the result of the push for less energy usage per household.
[–] 16717077? 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
We are using so-called "fossil fuels" because you can't fuel cars, boats, and planes any other way. Solar and wind power can't produce the amount of power we need.
If a car company made cars that would last a lifetime, after they sold everyone a car, they'd go out of business. Now tools are another matter, because a lot of them get lost. I still use the tools I bought 40 years ago.
I buy what I need when I need it. My last vehicle lasted about 15 or 16 years. My last winter coat was bought 20 or 25 years ago. It's in perfect shape except for fading a little.
Don't buy plastic China crap at Walmart. You don't see wealthy people buying there. They know better. That's how they're wealthy.
There's no such thing as free energy. Perpetual motion fails because of friction and other losses.
Wealthy people do shop at Walmart. Pinching pennies is how you get rich. They may not buy some of Wally Worlds products but they do buy name brand shit sold at high end stores.
Craftsmen tools have a lifetime warranty for example. Samsung TV's and HP, APPLE products are cheaper too at Wally World.
I've never run into any of the wealthy people who live in my area at Walmart.
Craftsman tools are sold at Sears. Walmart tools are cheap crap.
Rich people can get better deals by buying in quantity. I know one man who needed a lot of TVs for his new mansion. He got a dealer's license for the brand he wanted and bought over 50 TVs at one time. He has them in every room.
Also, the name brands at Walmart are not identical to the same models at other stores. The manufacturers make them differently in order to meet Walmart's price demands. For an example, someone on a help site said that they had bought a certain brand and model of printer at Walmart. They complained to the manufacturer that the printer didn't have one of the features that model was advertised to have. The manufacturer help person asked where he bought the printer. He said he bought it at Walmart. The rep said that was the problem, as they didn't include that feature for printers going to Walmart in order to meet their price demand.
You don't pinch pennies to get rich. You buy the best so that you only have to buy it once. You can bet that poor people replace their living room furniture many more times than rich people do.
[–] 16718191? ago
When everything changes, expect everything to change. You are not wrong anon.