Evan Urquhart

When I splurge a bit, there seems to be no improvement in quality. A $100 pair of sneakers will look and feel a lot nicer, but they'll barely last longer than a $15 pair, so I buy the cheapest shoes I can find. (I can't afford a $500+ pair, maybe that buys quality, who knows?)

I hate buying clothes, but I buy new clothes every season because my old clothes get stretched out, or the seams have holes. It doesn't seem worth it to mend most things, either. If they've started falling apart they'll keep getting worse, even if you sew up a seam.

Last example- TOWELS! My parents had most of the same towels when I moved out that they'd had when I was a kid. Now, I find we're buying new towels maybe every other year.

I assume the culprit is capitalism, though I'd love a business reporter to go deeper than that. Why can't I spend more dollars to get better quality goods, even though I desperately want to? Why do I feel cheated and ripped off when I buy the $15 towel instead of the $2 one?

Something is deeply wrong. Everything in our lives is poorly made, falling apart. It wasn't always this way.

And, I think part of the problem on the left is that people now under-rate what work can be. Not long ago there were people who did high quality, skilled work making clothes, furniture, shoes, appliances.

I'm so intrigued as to where the idea of underrating work comes into this, can you explain more?

I think people are really aware of how exploitative and miserable the current labor picture is. It's terrible for factory workers in, say, China, and it's very bad for gig workers and service industry workers here.