DIY Ethic

With the economy being the way it is, I have become more and more of a DIYer and adopting the DIY ethic. What gets me, is the DIY ethic is on wikipedia and the article about it is HERE.I generally agree with the DIY ethic as stated in the article except a couple of things. the main exception is when it talks about the Punk ethic is against consumerism. There will always consumerism of some sort or another. I can not see how anyone can provide themselves so well with all their food, all their clothes, all the products they need that come all forms of manufacturing. You would have be be farmer, doctor, miner, manufacturer and all sorts of things or get those services from someone.
However, having said that, I think people would be far better off if they learned to do more for themselves and learn to do more with less. How much better people would be if they learned to do at least basic car maintenance, did most or all of their own cooking and learn to sew or knit? I can not do it all and it is a challenge to learn all the skills and have the time to do stuff yourself but I am the better for what I can do for myself. Saving money on what I can do myself frees up money for the stuff I can not do for myself. Maybe I should not say this but I dare Washington to try to tax the worth added by my DIY projects. (watch them try now that I said something) It may not avoid taxes completely but whenever my money does not go into the government coffers, it makes my little heart shine a bit brighter. For that matter, whenever I get to keep more of my money period it is a victory won.

I guess that is my soap box for the day.