David Sirota: The High Cost of Low Prices

[marmar]

from truthdig:




The High Cost of Low Prices

Posted on Nov 11, 2010
By David Sirota


First, it was the new $200 printer—within hours of being extracted from its bubble-wrap womb, the contraption started making an awful wheezing sound.

Then it was the $10 stopwatch we bought to time my wife’s labor contractions—the moment it was torn out of its blister package, its digital screen flamed out.

Then it was our 3-year-old $500 television—the fuzzy lines started during late-night “Seinfeld” reruns and haven’t stopped.

And finally, it was the $25 lamp for my e-book reader—the light looked so useful ... until it started emitting a hideous blue tint.

Welcome to my most recent teeth-clenching weekend spent in return lines at discount electronics stores—a weekend no doubt typical in what journalist Ellen Ruppel Shell calls the current age of “Cheap.” In her new book by that name, she argues that our economy has been reorganized around goods that sacrifice craftsmanship on the altar of low price.

Weekends like mine prove her point—and they represent a relatively new economic phenomenon. Whereas Great Depression America valued well-made utilitarian products and understood the inherent danger of bargain culture, Great Recession America prioritizes discounts at the expense of everything else. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_high_cost_of_low_prices_20101111/?ln

[xchrom]

1. strong recommend!!! -- 'cheap' is killing us. nt

[handmade34]

2. well said

cheap is killing the environment, making us unhealthy and destroying our country

[HooptieWagon]

3. I agree. And the solution?

Buy used. I've picked up some great items on EBay or garage sales. A fantastic Panasonic AM/FM/SW portable radio, some nice high-end Yamaha audio gear (I LOVE Yamaha), musical instruments; there's all kinds of high quality used items available for a fraction of it's original price, and far superior in quality to the crap sold today. Do a little research before you buy.

[madrchsod]

5. all my stereo stuff is from ebay...

all the 60`s and 70`s stereo gear i could`t afford then i can now. i`ve purchased over a 1000 dollars worth of 60-70`s speakers for 150.

several high end receivers for 100...

agree-there`s great bargains out there i one takes the time to look

[HooptieWagon]

8. Yes. High end 70s electronic gear is a bargain right now.

I have had a pair of JBL speakers for 30 years now. They were about $800 apiece new, I got them for about $600 for the pair when they were a few years old. Now I see them on ebay regularly for 2-300 for the pair. Great speakers! I picked up a couple old Nakamichi cassette decks (550 portable and 1000 home unit) on ebay for pennies on the dollar of their original price, never could have afforded them when new. Also picked up a couple Canon AE-1 35mm cameras on ebay, including telephoto and wide angle lenses, power winder, flash- $60 for the pair! We have an old Kelvinator refrigerator at work, it's somewhere around 60 years old. On it's 4th cord and 3 or 4th door gasket...still works great! Quality is enduring - cheap crap breaks right away.

[madrchsod]

4. my brand new toaster was made in Missouri in the 60`s

bought it at my local charity shop and have been using it for over a year now. the chinese toaster i had lasted less than a year.


the chinese made 100 dollar microwave lasted one year. took the thing apart- cheap plastic and steel.

[LongTomH]

6. This is a great paragraph.................

Cheap, in other words, is operating most powerfully at the subconscious level, where semiotics reign supreme. We can no longer afford to show off with Corvettes and McMansions, so we now show off with less expensive smartphones and home theaters. In that sense, the bizarre obsession with moderately priced vanity gadgets is part of a living-standard masquerade at the twilight of middle-class prosperity. It doesn’t matter if the electronic bling works well or lasts long. Its value is not utility—it is the ability to feign class equality in a country of crushing stratification and rising poverty.

[marmar]

7. That is a great graph.....

nt