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#16
August 5th 13, 06:45 PM
posted to rec.radio.shortwave
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It's all over for Monitoring Times
On Monday, August 5, 2013 11:45:23 AM UTC-5, Hils wrote:
On 2013-08-05 16:15, D. Peter Maus wrote: On 8/5/13 24:37 , wrote: This is probably the biggest problem in most advanced countries today- young people cannot do /make anything . Very disturbing, to say the least... Industry has wanted this for generations. The individual buys what she/he cannot build. Prices can rise, warranties can be revised. And the whole tenor of Customer Service can be dumbed down to "Policies" and procedures read from a computer screen. Heath, Dyna, and their like and kind in kit form are gone. Even Hafler were products built with parts and circuit designs from David Hafrler's Dyna days, and many of the manuals were reprints of Dynaco manusals with a new logo and front page. Convenience, higher wages, and lower costs of production have made kits, and a lot of DIY obsolete. Even DIY at the Home Depot is backed up by a league of installers who can drop a new cartridge for a water faucet in place for you. Codes, government permit policies, and oversight in your own home have made much of DIY repair impractical. In some developments, DIY is not permitted by CC&R's. Even painting your own home must be done by approved conractors. Often at elevated prices. And state law has facilitated much of this. Here in the Land of Lincoln, any new construction project, condominium, housing development, and subdivision MUST, by law, have a homeowner's association in place before construction may begin. And CC&R's must be approved by an oversight committee answering to the State. So, we become serf's to the contracting and construction trades. We become serfs to plumbers, electricians. Painters. And even lawn maintenance contractors. A few years ago the government here proposed banning all home electrical work: if you wanted to so much as rewire a mains plug, you'd have to hire a "qualified" electrician. There was enough of an outcry to persuade the government to drop the proposal, and many of the media tried to blame it all on the European Union, but the idea could only have come from trade associations lobbying politicians. I wonder how many politicians know how to rewire a mains plug? I wonder how many have any experience of real industry, either in management or on the factory floor? ISTM most of them come straight from economics and politics degrees or banking. And doing things for ourselves....well that becomes a case of atrophy. A thing no exercised wastes away. The last thing politicians and their corporate paymasters want is self-reliant citizens. communities........ www.wired.com |
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