The Phoebus Cartel episode artwork

EPISODE · Nov 21, 2025 · 15 MIN

The Phoebus Cartel

from Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography, & More · host Gary Arndt

Companies that sell products to the public have to follow a fine line.  On the one hand, they need to sell stuff to make money, and the way they do that is by making a good product.  However, if their product is too good, then people might not need to buy it again, or at least not for a long time.  Almost 100 years ago, a consortium of industrialists plotted to make their products worse just so people would buy more of them. Learn more about the Phoebus Cartel and planned obsolescence on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Mint Mobile Get your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed Stash Go to get.stash.com/EVERYTHING to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase. Newspaper.com Go to Newspapers.com to get a gift subscription for the family historian in your life! Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Nov 21, 2025

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The Phoebus Cartel

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