From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Mon Jul 08 2002 - 14:03:41 MDT
Alfio Puglisi wrote:
>
> On Sat, 6 Jul 2002, Mike Lorrey wrote:
>
> >Alfio Puglisi wrote:
> >
> >> As I said before, it's a matter of balancing things. If discovering the
> >> GM status of my food requires an effort comparable to the OJ Simpson
> >> investigations, I feel that the rules should be shifted to benefit the
> >> consumer a little bit more.
> >
> >The consumer is a lazy selfish idiot who fails to obey caveat emptor,
> >and deserves what they get.
>
> You are using some strong language here. I don't have the time to check
> *everything*. When you buy a battery, do you check a CR report to be sure
> that it won't explode in your hands?
Actually, in this particular semi-free market economy, I occasionally
scan CR issues where I find them, and consumer word of mouth is also
pretty good at communicating what are good brands and what are crap. If
the manufacturer puts a lifetime warranty on their product, I am
reasonably confident that it won't fail. Thus, all of my tools I buy now
are either Craftsman, Snap-On, Mac, or Matco. I could save money and buy
Great Neck, which are made in china from poor quality metal, as I did
several years ago and learned the hard way on a country road in a
snowstorm in the middle of the night that one's tools are not to be
skimped on.
The more expensive and/or durable an item (or the more you depend on it
for life, work, etc) the more you are likely to check on consumer
reports before buying.
> Do you check a no-brand $20 chair for
> weight requirements? Maybe it collapses over 60 Kg, and you didn't asked
> the salesman for that. In your ideal free market system, no government is
> requiring mininum standards for chairs, so if you sit on it, and it
> collapses and you get a spinal cord injury are you just an idiot? Sure,
> you can sue the company. The damage is already done. And did you check if
> there's a label for the chair's materials toxicity? Maybe there's a little
> label that says "No water, otherwise it'll break" (of course, there's a
> better chair with a label "Water is fine"). Or maybe the label isn't
> there, and you should ask for it too. Or buy the CR report and spend 2
> hours studying the matter. IF there is a chair article. IF enough "idiots"
> bought the chair, to build a high enough complaint.
In fact, in this particular semi-free market economy, we have no
government standards for chairs' weight bearing ability. Manufacturers
generally put a recommended weight limit on such items, and if they
warranty the product, they are obligated to replace it if it doesn't
meet their own claims.
>
> Ok, I'm ranting too far. But I hope that a little regulation doesn't
> sound unfair. I want to know what I buy. And I don't want to spend my life
> worrying about it.
I dont' want to pay, in my own taxes as well as in higher product
prices, for some government functionary to do what I am perfectly
capable of doing for myself.
If not worrying about things is so important to you, why don't you just
stop worrying about government and politics and just bring back the
absolute monarchy while you are at it?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:15:14 MST