Yes I know we are to blame too, you get a star from me because you make an important point. But I don't think us buying all their new models does
anything which would force them to keep raising prices, and your argument certainly doesn't hold when it comes to food. It is the endless greed of
these companies which is the main reason, they simply don't know when enough is enough, and it freakin pisses me off.
I am glad that people are noticing this trend of packages getting smaller (or at least the contents getting smaller), while the prices stay the same.
It's like "it's the same product", same price, same everything - except that it's not the same anymore, it's worse - much, much worse.
I have a lot to say about this topic, so my brain gets a bit messy - too many thoughts wanting to occupy the same area at once. But I am trying to get
some of it through.
One point I have is that this all might have to do with limited Earth resources, with continuously exploding population growth. 7 billion people
consume exponentially more stuff than 3 billion people (this was the number only a few decades ago - I think in the 60's and 70's), especially with
so, oh, so many "new" products in existence. Back then it was a little more humble compared to the maniac 'consumer hysteria' we have now.
Then there are the corporate tricks not to lose money, and to keep the prices up, no matter what - which I totally hate of course. Let me tell you an
example.
There used to be digital cameras in 2007 that cost about 100 € (EUR). That seemed reasonable for a pocket-camera to me, so I bought one. Well, of
course those cameras are built so cheaply that their battery door locking mechanism will break pretty quickly, and eventually the whole door mechanism
breaks - meaning that you would have to spend about 100 € just to fix it, so you might as well buy a new camera. Consumerism indeed.
(I don't identify myself as CONSUMER - that's a pretty insulting word to call a creative, thinking, multi-capable human beings, whose origins are
somewhere in Cosmos! - Being reduced to just one, most simplistic function.. man, that's an insult!)
Now, I spent some time without a camera, pondering my options - and then a couple years later (from the moment that I bought the camera), I thought
that perhaps those cameras are now CHEAPER, because technology improves, and better models come to 'market', and so these older models might cost half
the price they used to! So I might be able to easily and cheaply replace the old camera with an identical one, yay! Though I would have to be really
careful with the battery door.
Of course.. you can guess the rest. They didn't sell that same exact camera anymore. They had a 'new' version of a 100 € camera! Basically the same
thing as the old camera, but with some new 'improvements' and superficial changes (and probably just as weak battery door). So in effect, the customer
has to pay the SAME AMOUNT of money for basically the same technology, no matter how many years he waits! There's no "cheapening of prices"!
And there's of course no competition... the corporations won't let competition affect their prices. What do they do? They create a confusing, messy
hell for the customers, so that basically all the profits are split relatively evenly anyway. Remember the cell phone system? If you buy your phone
service from corporation F, you can call cheaper during 17-18, but text messages will be more expensive, unless you send them between 12-14. If you
buy from corporation D, your calls will be cheaper during 16:30-17:30, but only if you send more than 10 text messages per week. And .. so .. on. Who
the heck could figure out, which corporation actually sell the cheapest alternative, and how can anyone be so precise in predicting when he'll use the
phone and what amount of messages they will send? They don't lower prices, EVER - they simply create all kinds of tricks so they can keep the prices
HIGH.
The "new" version of the 100 € camera probably cost even LESS to manufacture than the previous camera, and yet they have the nerve to charge the
same exact price. So there will always be a 100 € camera, which will never become a 50 € camera..unless you buy it used, which of course means
that the battery door is probably already half-broken.
Corporations are demons.. they love it when people pour their money and soul into them, and feel helpless in their grasp. And we are all dependent on
these huge giants, who have the rights of a living, human being, but not the obligations. A corporation cannot be imprisoned, and any fine will be a
slap on the wrist. It can't be effectively punished, and the corporations practically own all governments anyway, in all signifigant ways. They get
tax cuts, but people never do.
It's a rotten world, with a really rotten system. And yet, we ALLOW it to be this way... we are the guilty ones for this situation. We were duped, but
we didn't have to let them dupe us.
edit on 28-7-2012 by Shoujikina because: (no reason given)