What you say is true...
Tolivac, and it proves my point. We did not suddenly appear in this situation overnight. Cheaper = better? NO! It costs a bit more to buck the trend, and yet, that is precisely what me must do to if we want to be free of this economic oppression. The more we can make, repair, create, and grow to supply our own needs and those of our neighbors, the more we free ourselves from dependence on huge manufacturers, conglomerates, and retailers. People have lost skills that used to be passed from one generation to the next because they have allowed themselves to be seduced into believing that material possessions equal self-worth, happiness, and life satisfaction.
The ShopSmith is an investment, yes lumber is not cheap, but someone who invests in a ShopSmith and learns to use it is gaining skills he/she can pass on while creating items of usefulness. The time shared while teaching and creating is interaction and bonding of the highest quality as opposed to passively soaking up the drivel broadcast on 536 channels of Satellite Digital HD.
I recently purchased a Swedish loom. I chose carefully after 2 years of research. I could have had a computerized dobby and/or a fly shuttle, but I did not want to be a production weaver. Those items can be added later, should I choose them, but I am in control. The joy of touching, using and appreciating items actually hand crafted by another human being, especially one who is close and dear, is beyond price. We need desperately to re-learn the value of the simple joys of living, instead of attempting to purchase them. Joseph Campbell talked about the pornography of our materialism. We buy for the sake of buying and having, but the luster quickly wears off, and the cycle repeats. For over a century we have been hypnotized through advertising and peer pressure to conform to this idea of working to spend to acquire, to lust after more, to work more, to spend more...
There is nothing wrong with wanting things, and working to achieve them. The problem is that we are discouraged form asking "WHY do I want this? What makes me believe I will enjoy it and derive satisfaction from its use? What must I invest of time, effort and money to maintain it?" If you resent the time, effort, or money (including monthly payments) spent to acquire something, it was not a beneficial purchase, change your attitude, or sell the item.
The ability to purchase anything, at anytime has morphed into a God-given right. How much energy is wasted building and maintaining shopping malls stocked with merchandise? The retail machine must constantly stimulate the urge to buy, buy, buy to keep itself alive. But what if enough people said "no" I am not buying today?
Instead of unbridled, unlimited production, what if things were produced on demand?
Manufactured items produced in limited runs, secured by deposits, delivered when paid in full. Blasphemy, you say? We have reached the tipping point. Manufacturing has become so sophisticated we need not produce things in huge runs to be cost effective, we simply need to know how much to produce, and when. The specialization of production has not been developed to its maximum because we have not moved in that direction. The more individuals that wake up and take back their autonomy by not spending mindlessly, the more the manufacturing/retail machine will response to the market pressure exerted.
Ultimately, we will have to redefine what our lives mean and are worth if we step off the work, spend, buy treadmill. This does not mean not spending, it means spending consciously in support of values of fair compensation, resource conservation, and worthiness of human labor and creativity.
Trebor
