6d ago

In Defense of Cheap Things (if things get more expensive, people won't be able to afford them. That's it that's the article)

But I think some of the anti-consumerism is driven by less noble motives. The wealthier you are, the more accessible the alternatives are to buying things off Amazon. You can afford to get products custom-made for you, or make them yourself; you have more leisure time to go pick things up off Facebook Marketplace or drive up and down half the coast thrift shopping. Related

Most people can’t. For them, the ability to purchase cheap consumer products at affordable prices is life-changing. And I think that, as the Trump administration tries to rationalize its tariffs by assuring us that we don’t need affordable goods, it’s high time to acknowledge that, in fact, it is a good thing when goods are affordable.

If amazon didn't provide cheap treats for the poors, they'd have no treats at all!

I think it’s good when consumer goods are affordable; I think it’s good when people on a very limited income can still buy a pile of Christmas presents for their kids; I think it’s good that people can be financially responsible and also have lots of hobbies and fund lots of activities for their kids and their kids’ friends.

Just imagine what this person's idea of "a very limited income" is or what that hypothetical "pile" of gifts would be composed of.

13 comments

I can try a hobby I’d otherwise never try if it were a $1,000 outlay to get the equipment my (large) family needed. I bought plastic dice when I wanted to get into Dungeons & Dragons.
lol get a load of this guy he actually pays for proprietary dice and subscription e-books.
- Bro never heard of print(rand_int(5))

MY HECKIN CHEAP TREATERINOS!!

A plastic spoon costs $0.06. A metal spoon costs $0.90. Given that both products fulfil the generalized use-value of being spoons, I conclude that the plastic spoon is 15x as good for the consumer as the metal spoon.
I write for Vox in their "effective altruism inspired" section.

critical support to the Captain of the Department of Obvious.

Do they also have articles on? if we pay people more then prices will go up, why wages need to stay stagnant

Ah my favorite genre of article. The "much ado about nothing" where the author talks about vague concepts such as "consumerism", "anti-consumerism" and tries to say why they are good or bad.
There can only be something concrete about your article if it can be invalidated by a logical flaw or empirical information. The only part of the article that this applies to is "free trade makes people's lives overseas better", which happens to be false.

journalists are sub human

This is the usual pro-fast fashion take. Wahhh I cant afford my treats if the slaves get paid better!!
If only there was a famous historical example of how the beneficiaries of a slave economy fared once slaves were emancipated.