From: Steve Grammont (islander@midmaine.com)
Date: Tue Aug 26 2003 - 11:58:13 PDT
>What if civilian car makers made the same contracts with consumers?
They sorta are doing that. How? By making the cars more expensive and
less durable. In short, charging more for something that is not
engineered to last very long. They also try to control the flow of spare
parts, tools, and other things that consumers have to in the end pay for.
Major auto manufacturers have had various technologies for decades, in
some cases, that can make cars far less expensive, more safe, easier to
maintain, easier to repair, and far more durable over time. But they
don't because they need a certain critical mass in order to function at
the level they wish. Same is true for contractors.
Also note that when "big bad government" tries to make them do something
smart and positive for the consumer, the cry about how they are going to
go out of business. Standard trick if industry and it works most of the
time since consumers are (sadly) easily scared by the "loss of jobs"
threat (that is, the few jobs industry hasn't already shipped overseas so
they can get higher compensation packages).
Steve
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