I’m sure we can make our cars last just as long if we clamp the screws tighter and ensure no one can afford to buy a new car.

doubtful, if you look at the differences between a lot of soviet engineering and a lot of western engineering, the western engineering is often much nicer, but also rather temperamental in terms of long term maintenance. It's certainly possible, but it's just a different design meta. Especially if we're talking modern western equipment, which is designed to be "service life only"