62

(Sorry if this is the wrong community to post this)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Shit gets mass produced cheaply not because there’s some secret conspiracy to make everything worse, but because consumers care about price above all else.

I mean, this video itself has some counterexamples. Apple does not spend $700 to add wheels to a case, it's just a famous luxury brand that can impose an insane markup and still attract buyers. John Deer does not need to add software and contracts to their machines to lock users out where they could otherwise easily do repairs.

You can buy alternatives (they mentioned the market in vintage tractors), but for whatever reason, be it consumer stupidity or anticompetitive practices, it doesn't happen. What we need, and what's coming in still-functional democracies, is regulation to prevent this stuff.

Of course this only applies partially to housing. Houses are a lot bigger than they used to be, but people “investing” into property have driven up prices in and around cities to ridiculous numbers.

I have yet to see actual numbers on this, and at least in my country's case it's turned out to just be a physical shortage of housing. So, I'm going to take the more free market standpoint on this one, opposite to the last.

this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
62 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

37702 readers
533 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS