1930s Neglected Fridge Still Works

Every once in a while I watch videos from YouTuber "Mustie" who does car repair and random stuff repair videos. He just did a video about a Westinghouse fridge from the 30s that still runs, and is still quite usable. It required mainly a cleaning and some minor electrical repairs, even the seals on the fridge were intact after 90 or so years. An old "consumer" product is significantly more durable than a modern version. Generally new products are engineered to be "just good enough" and so they are more prone to fail and the overall system promotes their replacement rather than repair.

The financial and insurance industry in the US steadily turned everything into garbage at least since the federal reserve system started. Fractional reserve debt money is a serious problem for all the nominally "western" countries. It's basically systematized rot and rust because perverse incentives seem to dominate every large institution. The core issue is the accumulation of currency isn't the same as accumulation of wealth or any true good. A related issue is bureaucracy and overhead grow to absorb money like fungus and mildew. Similarly, the population is turning into incompetent retards because the system is predatory and wants prey.

Another side effect of the consumer/corporate system is individual and small business capabilities are higher than ever because of the profusion of material goods. For example, back in the 90s I worked at a company that made plasma and oxy cutting tables... At the time it was a somewhat exotic piece of equipment that was used in what was essentially heavy industry. Today its a ubiquitous consumer level item. There are portable versions that a hobbyist can use to cut precise and elaborate parts with a robot arm.

There's so much stuff out there that it's entirely plausible to never buy any new consumer product, but still live the generic "American" lifestyle by remanufacturing all the consumer goods and maximize value and reliability.