Christmas Light Scam

Christmas lights, the little ones, the mini ones, the ones in strings of 50 or 100 with the green wire - are a scam. Certainly by now the technology exists to manufacture a Christmas light that will work more than one season. They sell the replacement bulbs. They sell bulb testers. there is even a $29 thing that supposedly tests the strand. We now occupy a "throw-way" society. I don't believe I am alone in the belief that when a strand of Christmas lights goes bad, I just throw 'em away and buy new strands. Can you think of anything else we purchase that we have such low expectations of going in - that the moment it doesn't work, we throw it away? General Electric and the other companies that makes these lights - price them right where we don't consider them expensive. We mindlessly fill the landfills with bad strands and buy new strands. Why isn't the American public at the end of it's collective strand? Simple. We want the damn tree up and we want it up now. The stress of the project is enough already without the friggin' lights giving us a headache. Two years ago I bought a CASE of lights. 24 boxes of lights in a giant cardboard display box. They were $1 a strand. I thought at the time - I was buying a "lifetime supply". This year they're ALL in the trash. I'm sure there are Christmas cowboys that will spend hours diagnosing light problems, and fixing strands. I don't have that much time. When I'm lying on my death bed, I'll be glad I spent that time living instead of fiddling with lights. The only solution I imagine, is putting those GIANT LIGHTS on my tree - they seem to be fail safe - but ugly. Candles? There you go. My home owners insurance is paid up.