Planned obsolescence has become itself obsolete
"Obsolescence never meant the end of anything, it's just the beginning"
Marshall McLuhan

Lake Worth – I am very frustrated.

I am sitting here in an auto repair center, waiting for a mechanic to replace the right low beam headlight in my 2006 Mazda 3. It’s costing me $50.00 I don’t have right now.

Last night, I was pulled over by a Palm Beach County Deputy Sheriff and received a warning ticket from him for driving with a dead headlight. I have to get it fixed.

My car now has 100,000 miles on it. Every mechanic tells me that the car should run up to 300,000 miles easy if I perform the required maintenance. But the question is whether I will be able to afford the cost of parts and maintenance to run it another 100,000 or 200,000 miles.

This week, NASA succeeded in extending the life of the Hubble Telescope another 15 years by replacing parts and simultaneously incorporating new technology into the aging telescope.

The repair of the Hubble Telescope, which was launched in 1990, illustrates that America is still able to produce well-built machinery that lasts for years and that can be modernized with the latest technology to increase longevity and enhance its capability and results.

A fundamental underpinning of our economy is planned obsolescence. Most of our products are designed so that consumers must either replace expensive items after short product cycles or spend more money to fix them than they are worth over time.

As we continue our slide into a depression, it is obvious that this country needs to change the way we both produce and pay for goods and services. Right now, we are a nation of debtors. For the economy to be healthy again, we must learn to live within our means, which requires that we cut back our spending and avoid being in debt.

There has been a high expectation that the Obama Administration was going to make sweeping changes to fix fundamental weaknesses in an economy premised on consumer spending, but except for depleting the Treasury to prop up corrupt lending institutions, no major “changes” are being really discussed or implemented.

One significant change which can be implemented easily would be to take action to discourage planned obsolescence built into products made both here and imported from abroad, so that the average American consumer does not have to constantly be in hock to pay for them.
Obsolescence built into consumer goods drives consumer spending. It causes purchasers to carry a heavy debt load and maintain a reliance on leasing and credit cards to make the purchases.

For example, automobiles are costly and are designed only to last only a certain amount of miles. What’s worse, they utilize technological advances not to improve true durability, but to actually make them more expensive and complex to repair and maintain. Generally, the consumer is punished if he or she tries to fix up a car instead of buying a new one.

If Lockheed can design and manufacture a complex telescope with a lifespan of 15 years, and then with one major repair double the life and increase capacity of the complex instrument, why can’t manufacturers design and sell cars and other big ticket items that are reasonably priced and can fixed and upgraded to last a lifetime?

In addition, if we are so concerned with gas mileage, carbon footprints and otherwise saving the environment, wouldn’t it make sense to put forward a policy to manufacture goods that would last for decades and could be later modified to incorporate technological advances? Such a policy would reduce overall energy consumption, save landfill space, and reduce the depletion of minerals and resources.

Even our tax code wrongfully rewards planned obsolescence in calculating the depreciation of goods by granting less and less tax advantage to businesses as their assets get older. Businesses are encouraged to buy instead of fixing their assets to gain constant tax advantages.

Normally, I would be looking for a new car at this point. But like many Americans, my credit is shot and I can’t even think now about buying a new car. Thankfully, the Japanese are still designing and building their cars to last and hopefully I will be able to afford to get another three years and 100,000 miles out of my car until I can get back on my feet again.

Real changes need to be made to refocus our economic policies toward both mandating and providing tax incentives to encourage the sale and production of technological products that are affordable, durable, and upgradeable.

In 2009, planned obsolescence should become itself an obsolete economic standard. A headlight of a car should be built to shine as long as the Sun-or at least to last as long as the Hubble Telescope continues to send back images of our universe.
Check out recent articles:
Kurly's Belated Mother's Day Message
Recession” fries" mom and pop restaurants
Marxist interpretation of historical American History and Presidents
Celebrate Spring reading "Spring Tribute to Tommy"

Read Feedback from Kurly Kommentary readers on Kurly's Query Response page.
Send me your komments and become a Kurly Reader by using my Kontact Kurly page.