IIRC... it used to be that the durable & repairable products also dominated markets as the top sellers. But "advances" in materials (moar plastic!), outsourcing

IIRC... it used to be that the durable & repairable products also dominated markets as the top sellers. But "advances" in materials (moar plastic!), outsourcing & logistics (containers!), electronics (shiny! shiny!), etc. created broad new ranges of "junk" that were attractive for their better affordability, replacing the top-shelf stuff as best-sellers. Wider access to basic functionalities (if not durability & repairability) created more buy-in for the economic system and the underlying political system. Vote Consumerism! The top shelf stuff is in many cases still on the market, and might even be at roughly same-price after adjustment for inflation, but for Joe Sixpack, affordability trumps durability & repairability. This might be a dreadfully oversimplified explanation, but it's my strong impression after seeing decades of market (d)evolution.