2009-12-02

Higher Prices for a Higher Quality of Life

Time Magazine hits the nail on the head in this article: Why Big Shopping Bargains are Bad News for America. As we begin our national shopping frenzy to prepare for the holiday, it's important to take stock of the costs of our bargain-hunting. There are real costs to cheap goods.

• Child labor


• Overworked Americans


• Low quality stuff = more garbage


• Endless cycle of buying more stuff

[B]uying carts full of cheap stuff - ensuring the production of even more cheap stuff - shouldn't be the social goal we've made it out to be.

And so the argument for raising prices starts to make sense. Instead of buying so much crap, maybe we should just own a few quality items... and I dunno... share with each other!

[I]f stuff costs more, we'll buy less of it (that's the demand curve in action). If we are forced to buy fewer things, then perhaps we'll start to break this mentality that the way to happiness is to own more.

Own less, love more.