Thanks. From the sounds of it mentioning economy or politics at all, even in the context of a rant, means it goes in Hellfire? I will try to learn your structure here quickly.

As our society becomes increasingly more entangled in global economics and politics I am noticing that raw materials and physical acts of creation are disappearing in availability; and with them many practical skills are lost. America used to be a nation of skilled workers and craftsmen. We are quickly becoming a nation of managers and stuff-movers. There are many technical jobs still, but very few where people with technical skills may put to use their creativity and innovation.

Blame mass production.

I dabble at cabinet making, but am employed as a computer consultant. The trade-off is, I can afford to NOT rely on making furniture for my income.

Sadly most people are not willing/able to afford what skilled craftsmen need to be paid to live in this country.

IF I owned property and had huge wooded areas and IF I owned a mill and IF I cut my own lumber and IF I owned the space to let the wood cure....and IF all this was already paid for...

I could possibly turn a small profit on building furniture.

Blame mass production.

IF I owned property and had huge wooded areas and IF I owned a mill and IF I cut my own lumber and IF I owned the space to let the wood cure....and IF all this was already paid for...
I could possibly turn a small profit on building furniture.

Therein lies the problem solved by people called "entrepreneur".

I build guitars, but I wouldn't dream of trying to do it for money, let alone try to make a living at it.
I consider it therapy for having to grind away at a job...

What we need is not entrepreneurs but skilled and educated workers. We don't need dozens of managers that can't communicate with each other we need people who know what they're doing.

They're in separate sentences because I'm complaining about entrepreneurs and also managers. I'm not using the terms interchangeably.

People buy things these days for only the way it looks and not for what's put into making it.

Go to a furniture store and find the cheapest dining room chair and the most expensive, then lift both.

The cheapest will weigh next to nothing, and the most expensive will have you straining to move it. One, if it breaks it gets pitched, the other, a cabinet maker can repair easily. One lasts... a couple of years, at best. The other lasts your lifetime and many afterward.

In a disposable world, though if someone buys quality they still buy once where those that buy disposable buy many times and pay many times what quality costs.

so in other words, we need entrepreneurs. gotcha

An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of a new enterprise, venture or idea and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome.

Taskiss:

When I put in my new kitchen, I would absolutely pay for some handmade cabinets.

As to the OP, two words: service economy

One lasts... a couple of years, at best. The other lasts your lifetime and many afterward.

These kinds of problems are not atypical for most construction sites. One customer returned a 1500$ air compressor a week after he bought it because it was "defective". Let me tell you what I found: the customer had failed to put oil in the compressor and ran it dry. Of course it over heated. This particular compressor has a safety shutoff system, and when it over heats it simply throws a breaker. Duct tape residue was surrounding said breaker and the compressor had thrown a rod. This brilliant man decided his compressor was turning off on him because it was defective, and then duct taped down the breaker to continue working. I WISH I could say this was not commonplace.