Zacharek seems to believe that discount culture is a new phenomenon, but it is not. Manufacturers have been producing cheap, non-durable goods for the masses, including furniture, since at least the "consumer revolution" of the mid-eighteenth century. If you look at furniture produced 50 or 100 years ago, you invariably find that it was built to last, but the reason should be obvious. The much larger quantity of non-durable furniture built by our ancestors has simply not survived. Most of it was probably chopped up for kindling after it collapsed under its own weight.

Is it, bottom line, all about consumption and for many, mindless consumption.

The consumers of this country, one which prides itself of democratic principles and the rest, have filled their homes with stuff built by those living in countries under regimes that do not have time or concerns for human rights.

The unemployed in this country really have no one to blame except themselves and their willingness to disregard the condition under which their products were manufactured as long as it was good deal and compensated from their own low wages.

People who could have cared less about the communities and people devestated by Nike, the woman beat and raped to make the shoes, those subjected to assembling products with rancid materials. Nope. They cared most about a nice little pair of shoes, or a nice set of shelves, or a little car that cost less than one built in this country.

Nope, consumers at the end of the day do not care who builts it as long as it is on the shelf and they can afford to buy it. But when their job is gone, and they have no more to buy, they will whine and cry but who will be there to listen?

1. One day a year IKEA divides its gross sales worldwide among its employees worldwide - each employee makes out really well.

2. It sells aesthetics as well as quality in its low prices. Customers are not stupid. It features designer names as well as names on items.

3. I can buy a sixpack of wine glasses for under $6.00

" ... that the wealth of cheap goods available to us doesn't make our lives better......" B.S.

".... the severe exploitation of China's factory workers and the contraction of the American middle class are two sides of the same coin....."

Comment: In fact there is another side to the 'contraction of the American middle class ' argument - the so-called American public 'education system', highly overpriced for what it does produce, is further exacerbating this very same "outsourcing' problem - the president of GE said this week that he has to go overseas to get good educated employees.

I don't really get this article. Likewise some of the letters defending it, go below my head! I say below, because I am tired of the wealthy effete acting like any of us who do not buy expensive craftsman made furniture and clothing, are somehow below them.

I lived in California for many years, I love the place. However I also find the people to be just as shallow as anywhere else in the USA. Perhaps sometimes even shallower, because somehow so many of them think that price means quality.

No the article did not go above my head. I understand the idea about our culture of "consumerism". However I am one of those who think Ikea is a good store, with quality merchandise at a price most can afford. I always enjoyed looking in places like Scan Design, but could never even consider buying something there. You see, I'm one of those people who lives on a modest income. I always have! Ikea is good design for the masses. I'll even admit that I do shop at Wal-Mart fairly often. We don't really have any "private" stores in these parts.( unless you consider a 7 eleven to be a "Mom and Pop". So something like a Wal-Mart or Target are really our only choices.They are also, our largest local employers. Not everywhere do you have choices like San Francisco, or New York. The rest of the country shops at these chains, for the simple fact that we have little else.

I will always buy hardware at an ACE rather than at Home Depot or Lowes. I will always buy meat from a local butcher, when one exists. However, I cannot afford Macy's or Nordstroms prices. For the record, I have clothes that I have been wearing for twenty years, and guess where they came from, K'Mart and Wal-Mart. Don't fool yourselves, the same clothing they sell there is made in the same sweatshops where Macy's and Nordstroms gets theirs.

I likewise have always been a union man, and shop in a union store if I can. Here in the deep south however,Unions are a rare commodity. Not one company I have worked for, was union down here.

If I didn't have an IKEA desk, I wouldn't have any desk, because I can't afford one of those big, beautiful, heavy desks that cost thousands of dollars. My IKEA desk cost less than $1,000. So the idea of an heirloom is great if you are an elite and can afford it. But if you can't, then IKEA does a great job in providing something nicely designed for much less money.

I don't mind putting something together myself if I can save money. I also paint my own house but I have to buy the paint. I suppose you can say Kelly Moore profits by making me part of its workforce.

I couldn't believe anyone would be stupid enough to say this in public:

Yes, IKEA offers nice, clean styles, but how many years before it all hits the local landfill? Not many, guarantee you.

Then I saw it was a post from KateTex. Well, at least she's consistent!

I still have furniture I bought at IKEA way back in 1999, when I first outfit my apartment in all-IKEA pieces. It's been thru 5 moves now, and is still in mint condition (in spite of the best efforts of dipsh*t lazy movers). IKEA's stuff certainly beats any alternatives in its price class, which is why they've gobbled up such a huge share of the furniture and housewares market.

I've also sold or given away a ton of IKEA furniture as I've moved from apartment to apartment - what works in one space doesn't necessarily work in another. In that whole time I've only lost two IKEA pieces, both thanks to movers who were idiots. IKEA's stuff is sturdy enough, but it's not designed for the monkey cage at the zoo.

For all the morons shrieking over IKEA's furniture, there's absolutely nothing new about low-end furniture. When I was a kid, Montgomery Ward, Sears, and even K Mart and Target sold lots of low end furniture, along with plenty of smaller local retail operations, and most of it was pure unadulterated hideous crap that ended up in a landfill within a decade (if you were lucky!). IKEA has now thankfully displaced most of that garbage with better-looking, better-made stuff, much of which even retains a decent resale value due to its design and quality.

Used IKEA furniture purchased thru Craigslist can be an incredible deal. I picked up a great (but seldom-used) dining room table for my latest apartment for only $50. It's fairly high quality, looks great and - assuming I don't move into studio apartment anytime soon - will likely provide me with years (or even decades) of service.