Planned Obsolescence Will Kill Us All

by Unlearning Economics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz68ILyuWtA

An interesting video outlining the economics of planned obsolescence and what the problems are (beyond making us feel ripped off.) It concludes with, as far as I can tell, a solid argument against capitlism.

In summary, he argues that planned obsolescence isn’t a bug of capitalism, it is happening because capitalism is working. It’s caused by companies wanting to make profit in a competitive environment. It is a phenomenon that is clearly not happening in just one part of the economy, but has been happening for a long time in virtually every sector. Even Henry Ford, an industrialist with a monopolistic grip on the market and a conviction that cars should last for as long as possible had to give in to perceived obsolescence by making new models with largely cosmetic changes which would make older models seem obsolete.

Another problem is that we aren’t just complicit in the problem by participating in a system that creates this planned obsolescence, we are also dependent on it. Limiting planned obsolescence would shrink the economy, lower employment, and lower consumption — with all the problems that that would entail. The system is ordered such that people who don’t have a job can’t get the resources they need, so everyone (including politicians) need to work to uphold it. As such it isn’t a problem that can be solved with more regulation. He concludes, “[d]espite ripping us off, producing massive waste, destroying the environment, and conflicting with deeply held values about things which are ‘bought for life’, none of us can get off the treadmill we’ve collectively created. Planned obsolescence isn’t capitalism failing. It’s capitalism working. …and that’s why capitalism is bad.”