123 YEARS OF LIGHT, 100 YEARS…

123 YEARS OF LIGHT, 100 YEARS OF LIES

In Livermore, California, a single light bulb has been glowing continuously since 1901.123 years of uninterrupted brilliance. But this simple bulb reveals a dark truth: the deliberate sabotage of innovation by the Phoebus Cartel in the 1920s.

This cartel didn’t just shorten the lifespan of light bulbs to 1,000 hours, they set the stage for planned obsolescence, a system where products are intentionally designed to fail. The result? A global economy warped by false scarcity and consumer exploitation. Exactly what Saifedean Ammous mentioned in the Fiat Standard.

HOW THE MARKET WAS RIGGED

Planned obsolescence distorts free markets by severing the natural relationship between consumer preferences and producer innovation. Instead of competing on durability or quality, manufacturers engineer products to fail, creating:
🔘 False scarcity, forcing premature replacement.
🔘 Distorted price signals, hiding true product value.
🔘 Resource misallocation, with energy and materials wasted on unnecessary replacements.

The Austrian economic perspective shows how this disrupts entrepreneurial discovery, where true innovation is replaced with profit-maximizing manipulation.

THE HIDDEN COSTS OF PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE

🔘 Consumer Debt: Endless replacement cycles disproportionately burden lower-income households.
🔘 Erosion of Trust: Consumers lose faith in the fairness of market mechanisms.
🔘 Innovation Suppression: Producers focus on maximizing profit margins, not advancing technology or durability.

The effects ripple outward: natural market forces are stifled, and the potential for true progress is dimmed.

THE WAY FORWARD

The solution isn’t more regulation, it’s a return to genuine market principles. In a free market:
🔘 Durability becomes a competitive edge, as consumers reward long-lasting products.
🔘 Entrepreneurial discovery thrives, driving innovation in response to real demand.
🔘 Trust is restored, as producers align with consumer needs, not artificially imposed cycles.

The Livermore bulb is more than a relic it’s a symbol of what markets can achieve when driven by freedom and ingenuity. Let’s reject the #Fiat cartel mindset and reignite a system where innovation and durability shine brighter than ever.

#Nostr