Over the past several decades we have become very much a disposable society.  Disposable pens, razors and cameras are just the tip of the iceberg.  Until forty or fifty years ago, if you wore out the heal or sole or your shoes, you took them to a cobbler to be repaired, now you just throw them out and buy new ones.  Even socks would be darned by mothers so they could continue to be worn after getting a hole.
    Now we throw out everything because it's often cheaper, or about the same price, to get a new replacement rather than getting the old one repaired.  And the manufacturers take advantage of this by making things that will fall apart and have to be replaced.  Planned obsolescence.  It's not just the auto industry, though they may have started the concept.  
    In the fifties and sixties televisions were quite expensive in comparison with the average income, so they were almost always repaired when they broke.  If you did decide to get a new one, your dealer often took the old set, repaired it, and sold it as used.
    While recycling has become fashionable and, in some cases, a legal requirement, we still have a growing problem of people disposing of old cell phones and computers.  While there is some effort to recycle them, it's still very small.
    More significant though in my opinion is that this attitude of being disposable has permeated our society to the point where everything is disposable.  A friend said something you disagree with, don't try to work it out, dispose of (not literally of course) the friend and get new ones.  You've fallen on hard times and can't afford to feed your pets anymore so kick them out to fend for themselves.  And most recently, you can't afford to care for your child, or you have a difficult child that needs more care than you want to provide, abandon the child.
    These are the types of things that have destroyed great societies and empires of the past.  Hopefully, The U.S.A. will wake up before we become the newest fallen power.