Rust Belt
Categories: Econ
Iron. Ore. Steel. The middle of the country where they actually...make stuff. Instead of just talking about making stuff, like they do in D.C.
It's a belt-shaped area around and along the planes. The metals that got put together to make cars and planes and tractors and whatevers did well for a long time. The train-making era was our favorite. But then the world rained on the parade. (See: Planned Obsolescence. See: Idiot Management Who Ruined The Party. See: Idiot Unions Who Wouldn't Listen.)
So the rain rained and the metals in the belt rusted. Jobs went overseas. Profit margins declined. America lost its lead. We became just like everybody else in making stuff. So the metals in the belt...rusted.
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Finance: What is Planned Obsolescence?201 Views
Finance allah shmoop What is planned Obsolescence We officially nominate
this business strategy for the top five dumbest business ideas
in history In the late nineteen sixties the american auto
industry was taking over the world America bought the most
steel and rubber shipped vastly the most cars and came
to dominate the banking and capital landscape Because this heavy
industry had such global impact on so many levels a
booming car industry pushed other countries to build roads and
bridges and infrastructure like stoplights and gas stations It spurred
interest in mining coal and steel and it brought nations
together to build something well practical and you know fun
Never drive it convertible in summer that's pretty cool music
blaring and we like that But then came along well
a bunch of idiots These were managers of the big
car companies in the nineteen seventies who observed that our
cars were lasting too long They were being too well
made And if we continued to make our cars better
and better so that they didn't wear out for twenty
years Well then the they'd sell fewer cars presumably So
what do they do Well they tried to make them
Worse Yes You heard that right They actively tried to
make american cars obsolete at some point not too many
years after you bought one so that owners would have
to turn them in and presumably by another american car
from an american manufacturer All right Yeah They'd have to
buy another car And another and another well The financial
managers at the time had the arrogance that the u
s auto industry was so powerfully dominant that nobody in
the world would ever catch up or compete They thought
they had so much room ahead of the japanese korean
and german car makers that well we could afford to
make them worse Yeah instead of a ten twelve year
cycle from birth to death the managers of gm ford
and others thought that if we created cars that died
after six or seven years well people would be forced
to buy mohr of them or rather buy them more
often And you khun bet that the legions of mechanics
might iss muffler shops and other repair areas Well they
were delighted with this notion and highly supportive of planned
obsolescence Unfortunately the us managers who made these decisions well
they didn't get out much at least not to japan
or korea and you know what happened Well look out
the window over your parking lot you see on lee
american cars not so much The japanese automakers stepped in
with much simpler builds in their cars with fewer parts
and better assembly and they were able to make them
at meaningful cheaper prices Will the american auto companies couldn't
change fast enough when they realized what a fungal mess
they've made and wealthy us dominance in auto manufacturer ended
quickly as buyers were introduced to a whole new and
better way of driving courtesy of Well the japanese players
mercedes and bmw also made big inroads at this time
as well So whatever happened to the geniuses who planned
this obsolescence pretty much nothing they're retired They took their
pensions built good golf games and well that's about it
Tesla could change things but well then again they might
get so distracted chasing mars that only missed the game 00:03:22.92 --> [endTime] entirely but we're better known Juan