We might be living in times where we are encouraged to recycle etc, but just look at how quickly the electronics we use change and improve.
Phones, Ipods, even plasma/LCD TV's are made to just be tossed because the latest version has come down so low in price that no one would pay the minimal costs to have it repaired if broken.
You can buy a bluray player for $100, who can have a business model that would be profitable to fix these? Customers are not going to pay even $50 to have someone look at and figure out whats wrong with it, let alone the labour to fix it. You just go and buy a new one.
Look around you, how many TV repair shops are left....
Sad and certainly seems wasteful.