"I go into the store and buy what I have to and immediately think, "so how many months before this thing breaks?"."

Same here. Have never seen so many appliances made mostly of plastic in my life. Sure, the fact they are fairly digital/computerized accounts for less metal and all. But when you are talking about gears-made-of-plastic in a blender or the like, that's just shoddy, cut-corners crap. :P

"To wit, my mom bought me a relatively expensive vaccum when I finished my house. It lasted 18 months, after hardly any use, before a major part broke."

Was it a Dyson, by any chance?

"My mom always bought Electroluxes, which tended to outlast a decade or two of heavy use. But today? It is beyond pathetic."

My mom's old-school, heavy-console Singer broke down a couple of years back (a bobbin problem.) That bad boy had survived years heavy-duty sewing, from mending jeans to making wardrobes and the like. I figured it would cost more to fix it than it would to buy a new Singer, so I opted for the latter. Suffice to say the new machine has busted twice since I bought it, and since I've finally found a place that fixes old machines, I'm taking my mother's there ASAP.

"Same with the microwave I bought for the house. And it was not a cheap one. I have an issue with those cheap plastic sheet buttons, so I spent more on a mic with actual buttons you can press."

Try Sharp's "Carousel" line--it's well-made and the ovens go for at least three years or more. My parents are working on their second one--the first went for five-six years.

I found a terrific, surprisingly-sturdy pair of wicker bookcases at a local thrift store for $20 apiece. and I'm sorry I only bought one. I've had it for ten years now, and it's borne up under lotsa books, a couple of vintage radios, and more knick-knacks than I care to admit to. :) The desk I work on is a big metal clunker obtained from a school, and it leaves something to be desired in terms of design, but since my rooms are eclectic anyway, it fits right in. One of the most valuable lessons I learned at college was that I could live very nicely on less/not-new-but-functional items (though I refuse to buy cheap tea, sugar, or appliances and I ain't never giving up my iPod. :))

"The record companies at the time knew that the new equipment itself was the problem, so they would offer players for free if you bought so many records and made deals with other vendors to used record players as incentives for other big ticket items."

Why are current gadget-makers so slow on the draw with this conclusion? It seems to take them a good couple of years or so to make lower-cost versions of new gadgets, i.e. Apple with the Shuffle and Amazon with the (not-much-less-cheap) new Kindle. I thought the biggest profit was always made in targeting the mass market. So, what's going on here? Did they think the economic bubble and credit-based "disposable" income was going to last forever?

I guess it started in the 60's when the human factor was removed from the business model. All respect, or even acknowledgment of anything humane or respectful of the people who were putting the money in the CEO's paycheck every week went out the window. Greed became the only emotion that mattered any more and the gimme more money now attitude became the mantra. Then began the opening of China and the constant drone of deregulation whining from corporate began about how they can't compete because they are too greedy to want to actually work for their money any more and want everything handed to them. Even to the point of rewarding such reprehensible behavior as running your business into the ground and expecting something amazing, like a trillion dollar bonus, in return. Until consumers stop the demand for the crap these lazy bums put out and start demanding quality and craftsmanship this learned behavior is going to continue unabated, and continue the demise of the free market system. In the mean time I will continue making my own furniture, growing my own food and when I have a need for meat I will shop at a local butcher shop, since I can't keep animals because I live in the city.

...though I must admit loving seeing the yuppies who undoubtedly bash Wal-Mart rushing to the defense of their beloved Ikea. Their (allegedly) low-price-without-assembly scam is truly brilliant, but a scame nonetheless.

Also, where are the environmentalists now? Throwing out furniture after even just ten years of use cannot be good for the environment. Such incredible waste.

The problem is, of course, that the vast majority of us are squeezed for cash and time. We pay more for our health care and our salaries haven't even come close to keeping pace with inflation. It's far easier said than done to buy American when it comes to furniture - American-made furniture, though far superior and supportive of our work force, is extremely expensive to buy new. The sad truth is that most people simply can't, not won't, can't, afford it.

"Europeans don't shop like Americans because they aren't as fat and lazy as Americans and that's just the bottom line."

Really? Because I'd attribute that to a. the fact that many Europeans would happily buy cheap goods, but it's far more difficult to do so over there, b. the fact that many Europeans shell out a hell of a lot less for health care, tuition, etc. than Americans do and c. the fact that many Europeans have far more humane working conditions and vacation/free time than Americans do. I can only presume that the "Europeans" you speak of are Western Europeans.

My answer to all of this disposable crap is to buy used (real wood), refinish and pass on--It takes more time (Which we bitch about not having), but it is worth it. I don't buy totally into the argument that we brought this on ourselves--Corporate America made us eat the message and their product,and part of that message has always been instant gratification instead of savoring the wait (saving for better furniture, a better vacation, a better car, and so on. I bought a used dresser several years ago for twenty bucks (four drawer, five feet high, four wide) that had five coats of paint on it. It was made of white oak and refinished (Almost a month of part-time effort) looks better than anything in any high end store. My grandmother had one of those old pedal Singer sewing machines that would do anything from cotton to heavy denim. Hers has been repaired four times while my mother has gone through at least five over the years. When my grandmother died, she tossed it before I could get my hands on it. We have become a discard society, a super waste disposal and we have allowed that to occur at our own peril. Great article.