So, My Steamer Breaks...

...no big deal, right? It's just a steamer. They're relatively cheap; I can get another one.
After all, clothing steamers are great. Easier than ironing, keeps clothes from needing to be dry-cleaned as often... and heck, it lasted a few years. Great.

No, not great. It's a GIANT hunk'a'plastic that is now good for NOTHING. A few years??? C'mon!! And I know what's wrong with it - it's not boiling water anymore! This is a quick fix, right?? WRONG! These days, stuff is made so damn cheap that it's far easier - AND less expensive, even - to just junk it and get a new one. I can't even figure out what to do to repurpose it!

Well, woo-hoo, that's good for the economy, right? WRONG! It's good for some 3rd world economy somewhere (not even, really) where the stupid things are made. Cuz they ain't made here in the US. So please tell me what economy we are helping. Bed Bath & Beyond's CEO's personal economy? Here's an idea: how about jobs we used to have, you know, actually FIXING stuff?? Appliances lasted a long time. Decades, even. And if something twitched in them, we took them to the local guy who could fix pretty much anything. Toasters, sewing machines, mixers, vacuums... or when the bigger things went down, he came to the house to fix it. And we kept it. Now, you don't even keep a microwave. Too cheap and easy to get another one. Hand mixers? Like Kleenex. Blenders? Pfft.

 We cry out about jobs all the time. So someone please explain to me how this Planned Obsolescence things is good for our economy. I don't think it's working so well. Could be just me. Can't we just go back to making quality products, and to fixing them and keeping them around? Isn't that better?

In the meantime, forgive my wrinkled clothes. My steamer broke and I haven't been out to replace it with another. Maybe I'll buy two for when the next one breaks. Yeah. That's it.

Just doing my share for the economy.