Prime and Plus

 

How many times a day do they come at you through advertising (in any of its myriad forms)?  Unless you have the radio off driving through western Nebraska, it's endless.  One thing I've learned is that anyone proffering an unsolicited sales pitch does not have a good deal for you.  If you wanted and needed something, you would have already done your research and gotten it yourself.  

Take Amazon Prime "membership" or all the "+" streaming channels.  You can get free shipping without a whole lot of effort and don't need any Prime.  And Disney+ (and all the others): first, do you need any more content or entertainment?  There is always a lot that needs to be done, and you're not doing anything productive for yourself or your family by sucking in all those empty electronic calories.  The local library donation sale has all the Disney productions you might want, and they probably will be the older, really good stuff.  For a dollar or less.

We will never figure out why people fall so completely for the clever words and exhortations of others, be it a dictator or a marketer.  

Single-use small kitchen appliances, recreation vehicles which lose their value quickly and either must be maintained, insured and licensed or they will become yard clutter,  big houses, luxury cars, vacation homes...nothing you need, and the satisfaction felt after acquiring them is brief.  We used to think we needed a television in every room; it became clear they were really just ugly and space-wasting dust catchers.  We keep reducing the number of cable TV channels, but can't just get down to the half dozen we actually watch, which is undoable and may lead to the return of the cable box someday.

Unfortunately, novelty and quantity trump quality for the most part in an overheated global economy.  Two examples why quality is always the best route to go:  I have my father's WWII uniform jacket, made by Hart Schnaffner Marx (officers buy their own uniforms) -- it still looks great, actually new, after all these years.  I had several pairs of Florsheim shoes and they were near perfect many decades after they had gone out of style.

Less stuff is so much more.  This fellow knew what is needed and what is not --

  

"Let me tell you about the bear necessities..."