A vacuum costing $35 to $65 in 1952 would cost $262 to $487 today.
One reason quality has gone down is that for many types of products people aren’t willing to pay more for the quality. Low quality drives out high quality unless people are willing to pay a premium for the quality product.
A vacuum costing $35 to $65 in 1952 would cost $262 to $487 today.
One reason quality has gone down is that for many types of products people aren’t willing to pay more for the quality. Low quality drives out high quality unless people are willing to pay a premium for the quality product.
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Inflation?
Free trade with cheap foreign labor operates outside the laws of inflation (and laws of gravity). Free trade is better then sliced bread, more pure then the wind driven snow. A religion. A godly standard to live up to.
Its suppose to deflate the cost of goods by 1,000%.
Another factor is that maintainability is seldom seen as a major asset. A tube radio from the 1940's may not have lasted any longer than a cheap receiver today before something went wrong with it, but a radio could be serviced many times and provide years of moderately effective service. With today's technology, designing something for serviceability would increase the cost. Since most people would junk an appliance the first time anything went wrong, any extra money spent on serviceability is, for many people, simply wasted.