The credo of the western world is free enterprise. Demand will regulate supply. Oh, really?

I am wondering: if this is so, why are there so many products I don’t want, or don’t want in the way they are offered or stuff, noone should want?

I have to yet get across a single can opener, that works properly, for example. I have bought them all, from simple, mechanical ones to motorized monsters. But whenever I have to open a can (rarely happens, I avoid buying canned things as much as possible), I am stuck with a defunct devise. Happened just yesterday.

Or else, plastic packaging, that one can’t get open – blister packs, they are called, I believe. Whether it is batteries, toothbrushes or light bulbs, these items are somehow zoomed into this hard plastic in a way, it is next to impossible to get them out. Maybe a can-opener could help, but – they never work.

Or say, clothing. I am pretty average in build and height, I’d say, for a woman my age (normally, that is – now that I am expanding irrationally, that might change, which is further going to help my argument here). I am slightly overweight, this is showing around my middle, backside and upper thighs, mostly. Do you think, regular shops want to sell me anything, that fits properly? Nope, they are just not interested in money, I would be very happy to spend. If they only offered anything slightly fitting. And it is not just a severe misconception of my own persona – if  I look at most women around, I can tell, that they have similar problems and just make do with ill-fitting wardrobe, too. Except maybe for those lucky few, who have really big purses and can afford high end tailoring. Even young girls with perfect bodies wear stuff, that’s too tight, loose, short, long, whatever. I am not sure, this is because those fits and styles are sooo  “must have”. I think, it is more so, because that is, what’s on offer. And I am pretty sure, women, who are shorter or taller than average, have even more reason to moan, than I have.

And what about stuff, that doesn’t do it’s job properly? Like all those multi-functional items, you need an IT degree to use. Like my phone, which is almost everything – camera, lamp, computer, what not – but I still struggle to pick up a call with (never can remember the direction in which to swipe to answer it. I guess an engineer put in this little program, that lets the pick-up swipe direction change all the time, just for a laugh). Sometimes I wish for my old mobile – it was made for phone calls only and did its job just fine. And don’t get me started on my satnav. I received this gift from sweetheart for my birthday, what, five years ago? To this day it sits unused, because we both can’t get it to work. Now, with me, this would be no surprise. But sweetheart is a tried and tested technology freak and very patient with anything the like. To me personally, the thing was unusable as soon as I found out, that the mechanical device with which to stick the satnav to the windshield, was way too underdesigned, to ever hold the screen up properly. Honestly, why deliver such a high end device and not make sure, the vacuum plug is big enough to hold the gadget’s weight in place?

I am sure, you by now got the hang of where I am drifting with this post. It is not us, the demanders, who steer supply. It is the suppliers dictating what we need or should have. Whether we like it or not.

To become more serious, I bet you, there aren’t as many evil people in the world as there are guns, bullets, landmines, bombs, fighter planes and other war & crime stuff on offer.