Opus 2022-041: The Price of Progress

We hear about shortages and we act like this is some kind of new problem.  This has been creeping up on us in the form of less selection and poorer quality for a long time.

Do you remember going to the neighborhood dime store and having your choice of notes books and paper in a wide variety of sizes?  Today we are down to legal and letter.  I would imagine that part of it was the decrease in sales but what other factors went into the decision to discontinue.  I remember I had a notebook with six rings that used the half sized, 8 ½ x 5 ½ inch paper.  I went to Woolworth one day to restock and found that they had discontinued it.  

Remember when shirts came with two numbers, collar size and sleeve length instead of S,M,L,XL?  If you are willing to pay more you can even find XXL and XLT.  I think such things are still available but only in a certain price range.  The same thing was true of shoes.  I don’t think people have suddenly changed their shape and weight but the choices have been slimmer every year.

Remember all the local and regional gas companies?  I remember that my Dad always tried to buy gas at the Flying A.  One day it was no more.  I watched Richfield combine with Atlantic and for a short time it was the Atlantic-Richfield company until it became ARCO.  It used to be you could find intersections with a different brand on each corner, free air and water and an attendant who would come out and fill your tank.  

I remember being able to sell my oil to a recycler when I was a young man.  Now I pay a fee to have it disposed of.  The same was true of batteries.

This is called progress.  Our choices have been decreasing for decades and now we have a world with little competition.  

We will see how that works out now.  It could be the goal is to have a state run monopoly on gas and groceries.  It would make the Biden administration happy, but then I guess an ice cream cone can do the same thing.

homo unius libri