We are in the retail & service industry .... Johns comment above ...
"And of course the retail industry that has been planned on the basis of continuous growth is finding it a problem. This applies to everything from day to day purchases to houses and commercial premises"
... holds so true ... for a business/industry to grow X% PA the market that it services has to grow X%+ PA (at or above your growth rate) for that to be a reality ... so if your market isn't growing faster than you hope to grow, where does your growth come from ? It comes from putting your competitors out of business :( ... and the smaller ones are the first to go. That means less jobs.
I have been in our business for 25Yrs. We have been in business for the last 32yrs ... what I see happening, is that in an effort to keep sales/turnover happening, the BIG boys keep finding ways of bringing product ranges to market at an ever decreasing sale price to keep encouraging the market to buy (and it appears they do) ... that's all good and well for the buyer, but at an ever decreasing price, quality takes a big hit, hence life expectancy, and so your out replacing that cheap item sooner than you should be, putting MORE money into the hands of the big boys. AND those $$$ are leaving the town / region / state you live in and in most cases are going overseas ... so we are progressivley devaluing our town areas.
They (the big boys) don't service, repair, or carry spare parts for what they sell, (they don't make any money out of that business sector), so the only way they can make money is to sell you another one .... and while this mentality grows, the service and repair industries slowly close down ... why fix it when its cheaper to buy another one ? ... but (and this is fact from one of the industries we work in) ... instead of buying one of item X to last you 20+yrs at $370 (which can be repaired and parts are readily available, and the machine needs to be serviced & maintained), you choose to buy item Y at $119 ... but it only lasts 2-3yrs ... but that's alright, it's affordable, and you can have it NOW. When it breaks down, you can just throw it away and buy another one .... Trouble is, to get 20yrs worth of item Y, you'll need to buy 7 to 10 of them and you end up spending 2-3 times as much money to do so ... where is all your disposable income going ? ... not to mention the greif and hassle you go through when the item lets you down ... over & over & over again .... and the disgusting waste of precious natural resources !
If you choose to buy the better item, then you are helping foster industries that employ people to service, repair, maintain said goods. Those industries then need to employ & train people to do said work. That provides JOBS & SKILLS and a sense of worth to those people who become employed doing something worthwhile .... and they earn a reasonable income, and hopefully, spend their money buying QUALITY goods that then makes the money go round .... not leave your town.
... but that isn't the business model of the big boys :(
I squarley blame the crap we are in on the multinational corporations and the advertising agencies (whose job it is to make every household want what the multinational corporations are pushing ... they got crap to sell, and they'll pay the ad agencies handsomley to convince us to buy it).
... sigh :(

