Economics 101

Here is a little economics, supply/demand, manufacturing lesson for you....

Stop buying so much crap.

Myself included.

Why this lesson (rant) today?  Well because I happen to live smack in the middle of the world's industrial district, and I was cautioned today to not "go outside" due to the very poor air quality.  Rad.

We all know where most of this junk is going to once it is made- our living rooms.  It is in our living rooms because it is cheap to make and ship, hence cheaper for us to buy.  

There are two reasons it is cheap to make.  First wages are depressed, likely because of a work force that has become far too large.  Second, there are few regulations, and less that are enforced, on manufacturing....creating the perfect environment to make and sell cheap stuff.

Each of these reasons presents significant problems for Shanghai, China, and the world.  Today we are going to explore the second of these issues and how that impacts the environment here in Shanghai....and further, how now I can't just jump on my new bike and cruise the streets.  For more on the first issue, depressed wages, tune in next week for Calee's "theory of alienation" plagiarized by me from Karl Marx.

It's simple really, if you don't have to worry about anything that has to do with the environment, you make make cheap stuff.  Gas getting too expensive for your delivery trucks?  Mix some old oil in with some Aquanet (yes, another early 90's reference) and you're good to deliver 500 more units....let's worry about the black smoke the truck is spewing later.  Have a ton of waste from the aluminum you just drilled out?  Well the good news is that junk sinks....so throw it in the river and no one will see it.  Let's not even kid ourselves if we think we are even going to address the smoke coming out of the factory....that's level one stuff we started ignoring 30 years ago.

My point is this- rent, stream, or pirate some old MacGyver episodes and lets all start buying less crap.  That is the only way we'll be able to help this country dig itself out of this enviro-mess.  I don't know if that is going to solve the worlds problems or what, and I'm not sure I even care....I just want to ride my bike.

In line with this "anti-crap" post....a picture of our new trophy wall in the living room.  These are made from 100% recycled materials and only three animals were injured....