Before factories, most folks had a plate. One. And a knife. Maybe a fork. And probably a homemade table and chairs or benches. And some cooking tools. And rich people had several, of better quality, each one hand made. After factories, the quality of the rich person’s things remained the same or actually dropped… but EVERYBODY could afford plates plural, knives and maybe even a factory-made table.
Going back to local artisans is a nice idea, but it’s going to be expensive. It may be that we’re rich enough to do that … and some of us are rich enough to afford personal services too. But I suspect we’ll still be buying a lot of stuff from places where labor costs are small (that MIGHT be US factories staffed by robots, though)
Before factories, most folks had a plate. One. And a knife. Maybe a fork. And probably a homemade table and chairs or benches. And some cooking tools. And rich people had several, of better quality, each one hand made. After factories, the quality of the rich person’s things remained the same or actually dropped… but EVERYBODY could afford plates plural, knives and maybe even a factory-made table.
Going back to local artisans is a nice idea, but it’s going to be expensive. It may be that we’re rich enough to do that … and some of us are rich enough to afford personal services too. But I suspect we’ll still be buying a lot of stuff from places where labor costs are small (that MIGHT be US factories staffed by robots, though)