Don't forget about bathroom fixtures as well. Low-flow toilets, shower heads, etc. Billed as "saving water" but when you have to use them 2-3 times as much just because they're fairly ineffective all it does is waste time and consumes the same if not more water.
Ironically when you get something like a fridge and it's basic form it's infinitely cheaper than all the other fridges with extra crap attached to it.
But not as cheap as it should be. I bought the same model fridge this year that my parents bought in 1992- they paid $299.95, I paid $549.99 ($150 off on sale). Adjusting for inflation, that fridge got $30 more expensive in 30 years, despite now being made in Mexico, using butane as a coolant, and having lower wattage LED lighting.
But at least I could buy a fridge for that price, and not a $2000 one. "But sir, this one keeps track of what's in it!" No, thanks, I'll pay a third that much and just have a whiteboard on the front for inventory.
And when you install those in old European cities, with centuries old sewers designed for a certain flow rate, the result is stagnation and failures.
I know in Germany in the summer some cities have to use tanker trucks with water to flush the sewers in summer to avoid smells.
In Europe, I suspect it's got to do with cornering the energy market. That's consistent with blowing up Nord Stream. Then, Europe has to buy a lot more from the US.
At 3-4x the price. Great deal for US energy companies and super convenient Nordstream was blown up...
That's why they want to ban gas stoves in the US. Energy companies have to meet domestic demand before exporting. Solution... Push to ban gas stoves, lower domestic demand, export more to Europe, profit.
Except they are shutting us production down too. I suspect it's more about destroying affordable access to energy supplies, mostly hydrocarbons because they are both resilient and "off grid" once in consumer hands.
What you are describing is not the "Green Agenda", but the consequences of inflation. When you print money and purchasing power keeps going down, the actual value of the things you are buying can't be maintained. You have to lose quality.
This is why you should consider the value of things in gold or 'hours worked'. It's a more reasonable reference to value.
A Kirby vacuum in 1975 would have been about 300 1975-USD, but 2000 2023-USD. The vacuum has been changed only mildly over the past several decades, but for the most part it's remained relatively the same. A modern one comes in around 2500 2023-USD. Most of the value of each dollar has been lost. So, that's why the price of a product which has remained relatively stationary in quality has gone up, rather than down due to technological improvements and efficiency in production.
But what if I say, "No, keep the price exactly the same. Let the product change, but the price must be 300 1975-USD in 1975, and then 300 2023-USD in 2023." What must happen to the product. Well, the effect of the inflation means that the 2023-USD is only worth 17.480% of what the 1975-USD could buy. You would have to make the product out of cheaper material, you'd have to make it less reliable, and you'd have to remove features, because there is no way to keep the quality with such a loss of purchasing power from the investments you are making in building and selling it.
Put it in another way: 17.48% of 300 is 52.44 . How fucking cheaply made do you think a vacuum in 1975 would be if it were made with 52.44 1975-USD? It would have had to have been a piece of junk... which is what you have now: junk.
I haven't noticed the first bit in the US. Only the really hippy establishments use paper straws around here. I don't like disposable electric things though, like I saw a video recently about an electric lawnmower that broke and they don't even sell parts. Either its under warranty and they give you a new one or it's garbage. My gas lawnmower will have parts available for decades most likely with the prevalence of Honda engines out there. Also been looking for a toolbox and that stuff has cheaped up badly. Surprisingly quality hand tools are still very prevalent and made in western countries.
I bought some Chinese shit and it's not bad. Definitely not commercial business grade but not bad.
I wonder as Chinese quality in basic goods improves and Chinese demand more money for it they are starting to offshore it to even shittier places like Cambodia. I worked with equipment we started sourcing from Cambodia and it was a huge step down. Nothing fit together and it all had to be disassembled and retuned.
If you complain of course, inevitably they're going to stick you with the climate denier label among with other things
That's interesting. I find complaining about getting schlonged at the market is a great common talking point with people I disagree with politically.
Megacorps don't care. Monopolies and cartels are allowed to operate freely because they pay the right politicians, so if they all agree to fuck you, they will. Modern-era interpersonal relationships means no one has any qualms about screwing over their customers, their neighborhoods, or their people. Add in the competency crisis, and the knowledge to actually make shit that works even on a basic level will be gone from all things in a generation.
You already see this today in tech. It started with bugfest games that barely run and need 3 months of patches even on fixed-hardware consoles. We're now in the part where your new phone might actually be diagnosed as schizophrenic with glitches you just have to get used to. My parent's Linux-based computer went tits up because apparently nvidia drivers are broken on the newest kernel but the package repo pushed the update out anyway.
In the UK if you are looking for quality home good and appliances, try looking in charity shops. A lot of quality stuff from yesteryear is being sold for pennies nowadays, and it will last a lot longer.
A good majority of the time when something's being pushed as "good for the planet" or "good for society", especially by a politician, investor, journalist, someone working directly for a business, activist, "influencer", or non-profit it's because they're being compensated to push for something intended to help some corporation/business either make or save themselves money.
Government subsidies often line the pockets of politicians investing in said industries. Roman senators did this shit all the time too, only they weren't exactly discreet about it.
Take a look at houses being built, if it's anything like my country the timber beams are very narrow, and I question their stability.
Once you have the idea of a return to feudalism with peasants being tied to their local lands and too poor/no permission to leave it'll make more sense.
There's also a healthy dose of anti natal kool aid drinkers that genuinely believe we need to lower our standard of living to save Gaia.
I have noted that while mass produced products get ever cheaper and flimsier, the cost of custom manufacturing and tools continues to plummet. Certain products like motorized window blinds which can somehow cost > $1000 each are just cheap plastic, but for that price could be 3D printed out of literal titanium. On the other hand, there's weird things like a 42 inch TV costs less than a custom printed canvas banner. The tools to do a job can be bought for cheaper than paying someone to do the job with tools they already own. Soon I feel it will be cheaper and more convenient to own chickens than to buy eggs. Strange economic times.
Recently I built a TV console and media shelf out of aluminum extrusions, oak, and some custom waterjet aluminum parts. It was expensive, but not that much more expensive than standard furniture and much much sturdier.
He is in Bongland, but I noticed Wal-Mart pulling that shit about 8 years ago. Literally every week the grocery bag was leaking milk. I don't know if it was regional or they fixed it, because we switched to another store that has quality products.
Don't forget about bathroom fixtures as well. Low-flow toilets, shower heads, etc. Billed as "saving water" but when you have to use them 2-3 times as much just because they're fairly ineffective all it does is waste time and consumes the same if not more water.
Unscrew the shower head and faucet strainer cap and pull out that "water saver" rubber piece with the little hole in it.
Bam! Instant water pressure. I've done this in every apartment I've had.
How annoying to have designed low water pressure in the shower.
But not as cheap as it should be. I bought the same model fridge this year that my parents bought in 1992- they paid $299.95, I paid $549.99 ($150 off on sale). Adjusting for inflation, that fridge got $30 more expensive in 30 years, despite now being made in Mexico, using butane as a coolant, and having lower wattage LED lighting.
But at least I could buy a fridge for that price, and not a $2000 one. "But sir, this one keeps track of what's in it!" No, thanks, I'll pay a third that much and just have a whiteboard on the front for inventory.
And when you install those in old European cities, with centuries old sewers designed for a certain flow rate, the result is stagnation and failures. I know in Germany in the summer some cities have to use tanker trucks with water to flush the sewers in summer to avoid smells.
Look into the theory of the Minimally Viable Product and the notion of the economic “Race to the Bottom”
It's not just the quality of the product but the safety that should concern buyers.
In Europe, I suspect it's got to do with cornering the energy market. That's consistent with blowing up Nord Stream. Then, Europe has to buy a lot more from the US.
At 3-4x the price. Great deal for US energy companies and super convenient Nordstream was blown up...
That's why they want to ban gas stoves in the US. Energy companies have to meet domestic demand before exporting. Solution... Push to ban gas stoves, lower domestic demand, export more to Europe, profit.
Except they are shutting us production down too. I suspect it's more about destroying affordable access to energy supplies, mostly hydrocarbons because they are both resilient and "off grid" once in consumer hands.
What you are describing is not the "Green Agenda", but the consequences of inflation. When you print money and purchasing power keeps going down, the actual value of the things you are buying can't be maintained. You have to lose quality.
This is why you should consider the value of things in gold or 'hours worked'. It's a more reasonable reference to value.
A Kirby vacuum in 1975 would have been about 300 1975-USD, but 2000 2023-USD. The vacuum has been changed only mildly over the past several decades, but for the most part it's remained relatively the same. A modern one comes in around 2500 2023-USD. Most of the value of each dollar has been lost. So, that's why the price of a product which has remained relatively stationary in quality has gone up, rather than down due to technological improvements and efficiency in production.
But what if I say, "No, keep the price exactly the same. Let the product change, but the price must be 300 1975-USD in 1975, and then 300 2023-USD in 2023." What must happen to the product. Well, the effect of the inflation means that the 2023-USD is only worth 17.480% of what the 1975-USD could buy. You would have to make the product out of cheaper material, you'd have to make it less reliable, and you'd have to remove features, because there is no way to keep the quality with such a loss of purchasing power from the investments you are making in building and selling it.
Put it in another way: 17.48% of 300 is 52.44 . How fucking cheaply made do you think a vacuum in 1975 would be if it were made with 52.44 1975-USD? It would have had to have been a piece of junk... which is what you have now: junk.
I haven't noticed the first bit in the US. Only the really hippy establishments use paper straws around here. I don't like disposable electric things though, like I saw a video recently about an electric lawnmower that broke and they don't even sell parts. Either its under warranty and they give you a new one or it's garbage. My gas lawnmower will have parts available for decades most likely with the prevalence of Honda engines out there. Also been looking for a toolbox and that stuff has cheaped up badly. Surprisingly quality hand tools are still very prevalent and made in western countries.
I'm guarding my old American made Craftsman tools very closely. None have ever broke or rusted.
That Chinesium shit on the other hand...
I bought some Chinese shit and it's not bad. Definitely not commercial business grade but not bad.
I wonder as Chinese quality in basic goods improves and Chinese demand more money for it they are starting to offshore it to even shittier places like Cambodia. I worked with equipment we started sourcing from Cambodia and it was a huge step down. Nothing fit together and it all had to be disassembled and retuned.
my favorite ice cream has been coming in cardboard since i was a kid, they just switched from a rectangular box to an oval one.
this i will agree on, i used one a couple weeks ago and i feel like it was imparting a weird flavor on my drink.
Environmentalism has always been just another tentacle of Marx.
Greenies are called watermelons, green on the outside, red on the inside.
You will own nothing and be happy.
That's interesting. I find complaining about getting schlonged at the market is a great common talking point with people I disagree with politically.
Megacorps don't care. Monopolies and cartels are allowed to operate freely because they pay the right politicians, so if they all agree to fuck you, they will. Modern-era interpersonal relationships means no one has any qualms about screwing over their customers, their neighborhoods, or their people. Add in the competency crisis, and the knowledge to actually make shit that works even on a basic level will be gone from all things in a generation.
You already see this today in tech. It started with bugfest games that barely run and need 3 months of patches even on fixed-hardware consoles. We're now in the part where your new phone might actually be diagnosed as schizophrenic with glitches you just have to get used to. My parent's Linux-based computer went tits up because apparently nvidia drivers are broken on the newest kernel but the package repo pushed the update out anyway.
Phones don't come with chargers nor earphones anymore...
In the UK if you are looking for quality home good and appliances, try looking in charity shops. A lot of quality stuff from yesteryear is being sold for pennies nowadays, and it will last a lot longer.
Well yeah?
A good majority of the time when something's being pushed as "good for the planet" or "good for society", especially by a politician, investor, journalist, someone working directly for a business, activist, "influencer", or non-profit it's because they're being compensated to push for something intended to help some corporation/business either make or save themselves money.
Government subsidies often line the pockets of politicians investing in said industries. Roman senators did this shit all the time too, only they weren't exactly discreet about it.
Take a look at houses being built, if it's anything like my country the timber beams are very narrow, and I question their stability.
Once you have the idea of a return to feudalism with peasants being tied to their local lands and too poor/no permission to leave it'll make more sense. There's also a healthy dose of anti natal kool aid drinkers that genuinely believe we need to lower our standard of living to save Gaia.
Nothing more than a global transfer of wealth from your pocket to people that do not care about you, and possibly actively hate you.
I have noted that while mass produced products get ever cheaper and flimsier, the cost of custom manufacturing and tools continues to plummet. Certain products like motorized window blinds which can somehow cost > $1000 each are just cheap plastic, but for that price could be 3D printed out of literal titanium. On the other hand, there's weird things like a 42 inch TV costs less than a custom printed canvas banner. The tools to do a job can be bought for cheaper than paying someone to do the job with tools they already own. Soon I feel it will be cheaper and more convenient to own chickens than to buy eggs. Strange economic times.
Recently I built a TV console and media shelf out of aluminum extrusions, oak, and some custom waterjet aluminum parts. It was expensive, but not that much more expensive than standard furniture and much much sturdier.
All those middlemen need to get paid with rapidly devalued fiat funny money.
Where are you getting milk that the jugs don't work?
I haven't ever had a problem even with the wal-mart brand of everything.
The UK is definitely on the vanguard of national self destruction.
Spend the extra for the cardboard cartons.
the bad flavor you taste is from light penetrating the plastic.
plastic ingestion is bad for you.
He is in Bongland, but I noticed Wal-Mart pulling that shit about 8 years ago. Literally every week the grocery bag was leaking milk. I don't know if it was regional or they fixed it, because we switched to another store that has quality products.
Oil, you gotta loicense to have that spoon?
Must have been the tranny kind.
Gallon milk jugs are pretty thin, and the caps don't inspire confidence that they won't leak or pop off.
Arizona Tea jugs, on the other hand, are tanks. I would keep them to refill with RO water.
You're right, it's the fucking caps they use. What is that? Better quality jugs use screw lids.
It's all just laundering something.
It's just another face of communism and population control. To destroy the things that make us wealthy and successful.