In Our "Everything is Disposable" Economy, We're Disposable, Too

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Authentic community takes time and effort and a set of values and priorities that can’t be commoditized into a profit-maximizing venture or government program.

Here’s the problem in a profit-maximizing economy: durability is intrinsically less profitable than obsolescence, so to maximize profits, Everything Is Disposable, either by design (planned obsolescence, accelerated product cycles, product no longer supported, software upgrades, etc.) or by the ceaseless reduction in quality to boost profits by cutting costs.

This dynamic goes hand in hand with the other problem in a profit-maximizing economy: competition threatens profits, so get rid of authentic competition via monopolies and cartels and substitute a profitable facsimile of “competition” that lulls consumers into an illusion of legitimate competitive choice when all the “competing brands” are owned by the same conglomerate or the products and services all have the same low quality and same high price.

Once a monopoly or cartel dominates a sector, Everything Becomes Disposable because there is no other way to maximize profits. Since durable products and quality services are Kryptonite to profits, these are eliminated by whatever means are available. And since competition has been hollowed out, consumers have no choice: either buy one low-quality, high-cost product or service or an equally low quality, high-cost alternative.

The immense marketing industry exists to generate a soothing illusion of choice lest the public awaken to the reality that we live in a cleverly disguised system of privatized Totalitarianism in which every “choice” is the “right choice” because there is no real choice other than various flavors of disposability.

The key attribute of profitably disposable products and services is their interchangeability, i.e. they are commodities. When products and services have been thoroughly commoditized, everything is interchangeable because it’s all the same quality and form factor. So every sugar-bomb cold cereal is basically interchangeable, every ultra-processed snack is basically interchangeable, every insurance option is basically interchangeable, every parody-of-true-customer-service AI agent is basically interchangeable, and so on.

This elimination of unique qualities enables globalized production and supply chains, as everything is interchangeable everywhere. The same tires are available everywhere, the same pathetic customer service is available everywhere, the same digital tangles of endless and endlessly frustrating loops are everywhere, and so on.

So guess what happens to us “unique” individuals: we’re basically interchangeable, too, and therefore disposable. As consumers and workers, we’re commodities, interchangeable with billions of other consumers and workers around the world.

If profits sag in the US, or labor costs increase in the US, no worries, we can mximize profits elsewhere, as consumers and workers are globally interchangeable commodities.

When a product fails (as planned) or is rendered obsolete (as planned), it ends up in the landfill, or on rare occasions, in a legitimate recycling process. When we’re rendered obsolete (as planned), there’s no centralized putrid landfill where we’re dumped; we’re just abandoned in private cubbyholes, like the junked car under the tarp in the garage.

Or in some cases, we’re “recycled” into a lower paying job or a lower-price tier. Sure, you can still “afford” healthcare “insurance” (smirk), but there’s now a $5,000 deductible which you have to pay up front in cash before your “insurance” kicks in (oops, your claim was denied by our AI claims process, better luck next time), and since cash is tight you forego medical care and suffer the predictably dire consequences. Welcome to a lower-tier of “service” that you can “afford.”

You lost your full-time job with benefits, no problem, there’s an entire gig / delivery / rideshare economy of completely interchangeable, commoditized workers and consumers that will absorb you (The Borg will see you now.) And when you burn out, you just disappear from the digital screen, and what happens to you is your business. Welcome to a lower-tier of “employment.”

In this commoditized, everything is disposable wonderland of ever-swelling corporate profits, fixing what’s broken is rejected because it crimps profits. So human employees are now costly because the Sickcare Cartel is reaping billions of dollars in profits from insanely expensive healthcare, so the obvious solution–replace Sickcare with an affordable, truly competitive system from the ground up–is rejected, as that would crimp Sickcare profits.

So the acceptable “solution” is replace workers with AI agents. Since the central state will absorb all the healthcare costs of the laid-off workers, in terms of maximizing profits, this is win-win. (The central state and privatized Totalitarianism are two sides of one coin–the coin of the realm.)

The irony in this profit-maximizing, fully commoditized, Everything Is Interchangeable and Disposable privatized Totalitarianism is that everything of real value isn’t for sale because it isn’t interchangeable and disposable. Authentic community isn’t a commodity because it only exists in a unique place with a unique group of individuals with unique social ties and histories, and so it can’t be commoditized and made disposable.

What’s for sale is bunkers for billionaires and exclusive “gated communities” with all the commoditized, ersatz gew-gaws of fake “community” but no authentic community because that takes time and effort and a set of values and priorities that can’t be commoditized into a profit-maximizing venture or government program.

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Source: http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2026/08/in-our-everything-is-disposable-economy.html