danemodsandy
Well-known member
Allen:
"But if appliances last longer and are made to be repaired what will happen to demand for new ones? And what will happen to the workers that build the new ones?"
There is always a demand for new; the effect of a return to sensible appliances would remove the artificial supports created by shoddy quality. Many industries are "propped up" by the easy sales to the replacement market they themselves created. There is, of course, a school of thought saying that sales growth must always increase, but there is another school (led by me!) that says if you can't grow without screwing customers on quality, maybe you're confusing growth with greed. A return to reasonable quality standards would essentially have the effect of "right-sizing" industries, something I happen to think is desperately needed.
So far as the workers who build the new ones are concerned, many of them could - and should - be put to work repairing the old ones. My father was an RCA service technician during that company's glory days, and he made a very good living indeed. There was a time when a color TV represented a serious financial commitment; you did not throw a malfunctioning one out and hop down to Mall Wart to buy a new one for next to nothing.
Corporate America wants the status quo to continue, as indeed it probably will for some time to come. But if this nation is to get its energy consumption and environmental concerns under control, we need to think about appliances (and cars!) in terms of their entire consumption over their life cycle - from the moment someone starts digging iron ore to the day a worn-out appliance is scrapped. Today's "Energy Star" program is a sick, sad joke - yeah, the appliances may use less power than yesteryear's, but they're carted to America from halfway around the planet, and many last no time at all, making it necessary to come up with more steel, more manufacturing energy, more precious metals and more oil to replace them.
I personally would refuse to replace my vintage appliances with anything new, because even the most efficient new appliances would mean that I had commanded that the Earth be raped a little more, when that was not necessary. And I do not and will not believe that the "energy savings" of new appliances would even begin to offset that plundering of our planet.
"But if appliances last longer and are made to be repaired what will happen to demand for new ones? And what will happen to the workers that build the new ones?"
There is always a demand for new; the effect of a return to sensible appliances would remove the artificial supports created by shoddy quality. Many industries are "propped up" by the easy sales to the replacement market they themselves created. There is, of course, a school of thought saying that sales growth must always increase, but there is another school (led by me!) that says if you can't grow without screwing customers on quality, maybe you're confusing growth with greed. A return to reasonable quality standards would essentially have the effect of "right-sizing" industries, something I happen to think is desperately needed.
So far as the workers who build the new ones are concerned, many of them could - and should - be put to work repairing the old ones. My father was an RCA service technician during that company's glory days, and he made a very good living indeed. There was a time when a color TV represented a serious financial commitment; you did not throw a malfunctioning one out and hop down to Mall Wart to buy a new one for next to nothing.
Corporate America wants the status quo to continue, as indeed it probably will for some time to come. But if this nation is to get its energy consumption and environmental concerns under control, we need to think about appliances (and cars!) in terms of their entire consumption over their life cycle - from the moment someone starts digging iron ore to the day a worn-out appliance is scrapped. Today's "Energy Star" program is a sick, sad joke - yeah, the appliances may use less power than yesteryear's, but they're carted to America from halfway around the planet, and many last no time at all, making it necessary to come up with more steel, more manufacturing energy, more precious metals and more oil to replace them.
I personally would refuse to replace my vintage appliances with anything new, because even the most efficient new appliances would mean that I had commanded that the Earth be raped a little more, when that was not necessary. And I do not and will not believe that the "energy savings" of new appliances would even begin to offset that plundering of our planet.
