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In the United States and some other Western countries, repair work has been largely relegated to automobiles, major systems in buildings, and products under warranty. Most other items are discarded if the owner can't repair them, due to the lower cost of buying a new replacement. Many of these items could be fixed, but it doesn't "make sense" economically for the owner to pay for someone to repair them. Some people consider this to be perfectly normal, and claim that the economy would not function without the constant sale of new items. However, every new product that is produced has a harmful impact on the environment, promotes global warming, helps to deplete the world's supply of oil and other resources, costs consumers money, and potentially releases hazardous materials when it is disposed of. Just talking about reducing pollution and global warming will not make a difference; serious measures must be taken, and one of them is giving repair a greater role in the economy than disposal and replacement. Repair work could replace the jobs which would be lost in sales, and much of manufacturing has already been moved overseas. However, the free market won't solve this problem, at least not until it is too late. If the government were to cut some of its wasteful expenditure on war and "pork barrel" spending, it could afford to set up and fund repair stations across the country to employ people who can fix items which private businesses generally aren't repairing. Customers would pay a small fee of a few dollars or so to get items like DVD players, small television sets, older computers, inkjet printers, radios, microwave ovens, electric heaters, etc. repaired. Stores wouldn't sell as many of these items, but customers would save money, the environment would benefit, and better jobs would be created.
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