# Have I mentioned lately how much I hate "manufactured demand?" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 28, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-i-mentioned-lately-how-much-i-hate-manufactured-demand/534125 "2010-03-28T18:13:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-i-mentioned-lately-how-much-i-hate-manufactured-demand/534125/181 "2010-03-31T19:49:48Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > I wonder if you ever intend on posting a topical response. _Shrug_ Doesn’t matter to me that much. I’ll be here as long as you want to be here. Positions I have taken (before you even arrived) in this that were on topic: -That manufactured demand doesn’t exist. -That most people put considerable thought into their purchases. Certainly more than the OP gives them credit for. -That marketing isn’t a modern idea. -People need a good reason to part with money. So, once again, you’re lying when you say I haven’t said anything on topic. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-i-mentioned-lately-how-much-i-hate-manufactured-demand/534125/182 "2010-03-31T20:15:23Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Positions I have taken (before you even arrived) in this that were on topic: > > -That manufactured demand doesn’t exist. Meaningless and nonresponsive. Also dismissive and incorrect. You get no credit for it. > [@](#): > > -That most people put considerable thought into their purchases. Certainly more than the OP gives them credit for. Unsupported and undefined. > [@](#): > > -That marketing isn’t a modern idea. Duh. Drive-by, content-free bullshit. > [@](#): > > -People need a good reason to part with money. I suppose a penny saved is also a penny earned, and a bird in the hand is somewhat more desirable than a bird in the bush. You’re not discussing anything. You’re posting hollow horseshit and trying to spin it as a discussion. Again, no content. > [@](#): > > So, once again, you’re lying when you say I haven’t said anything on topic. I still haven’t lied. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-i-mentioned-lately-how-much-i-hate-manufactured-demand/534125/183 "2010-03-31T20:49:21Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Meaningless and nonresponsive. Also dismissive and incorrect. You get no credit for it. > > Unsupported and undefined. > > Duh. Drive-by, content-free bullshit. > > I suppose a penny saved is also a penny earned, and a bird in the hand is somewhat more desirable than a bird in the bush. You’re not discussing anything. You’re posting hollow horseshit and trying to spin it as a discussion. Again, no content. > > I still haven’t lied. nothing in this entire thread has been supported or defined, liar. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-i-mentioned-lately-how-much-i-hate-manufactured-demand/534125/184 "2010-03-31T21:53:10Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > You’ve oversimplified it to the point of hyperbole, but you know it’s an inarguable fact that we are rich because we built, and continue to build, our wealth on the backs of the Third World. You’re a complete idiot if you can’t see it. Ludicrous nonsense. There’s no doubt tha the Third World has gotten the shaft (to varying degrees depending on the specific case) from the First. But us buying cheap sneakers certainly isn’t the reason they’re poor, and it’s idiotic to say it is. Would it be better to cut off trade? Well, of course not; it’d be awful. They’d be far poorer The more trade we do with the Third World the better; we should be opening our markets to them even more, though one of the barriers to that is than many Third World shitholes won’t open themselves to trade. The reason people in the Third World are poor is that they have shitty governments. It’s essentially impossible to build up any sort of wealth when the government is nothing more than a gang of theives whose job it is to steal people’s money at every opportunity and enforce the law at the convenience of the pwoers that be. Places like Cameroon or Zimbabwe are kleptocracies to the point that growing commerce or indsutry is nearly impossible. There’s nothing the First World can do to fix that, unless you’d like us to invade. The correlation between shitty governance and poverty is almost perfect. Third World countries that have gotten their act together and that have stable civilian governments are growing out of poverty rapidly - look at the per capita GDP of Botswana versus any of its neighbours - one that don’t, aren’t. Historically, shitty Third World governance can to some extent be blamed on the Western imperial powers, but it has absolutely jack shit to do with people like Sarahfeena today buying consumer goods that are made in the Third World. The very poorest Third World countries are the ones that DON’T sell us any consumer goods. When was the last time you bought something made in Zambia? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-i-mentioned-lately-how-much-i-hate-manufactured-demand/534125.md?page=9)