I agree with you 100% and was probably the first guy in line to get a decent product for cheap back in the day but after just recently rebounding from the economy's impact I wont support foreign products or people anymore. The economy hit the construction industry pretty hard and I used to subcontract to less expensive illegals all day long but I wont do it anymore. They are taking work away from you, me, and every other hard working American in the country and I'm done with it.

Well how bout that.. a COUPLE guys seeing what im talking about.

dude..

I got 2 kids.. one day they will have to deal with the problems I was too indifferent to deal with.

why is it that China is getting richer with a bustling economy and we are in trouble.. why?

its that "****it ima get me a discount" we so love in America that is costing us.. it may be even worse in the future.

so.. again.


**** THOSE BITERS..

I have the real thing.. I loved the real product.. the welds are gorgeous.. and I think the BITERS are worthless.. even it they work.

Makes me think of Ring Bros hood hinges and all the copies that followed. I remember at SEMA, they had just debuted a set of hinges on a car and Mike had a guy wanting the file on the hinges. He would have a copy back from China in a week.

And it gets worse. There are even human rights abuses for our (seemingly useless) daily products:

http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/le...202400773.html

And we wonder why China owns us. :rolleyes:

It's simple math guys.
US made product cost = US hourly labor rate (?) + taxes, etc.
VS
Chinese made product cost = many that will work for a cup of rice!

Now the only missing component is people willing to buy a cheaper product......and that's where the consumer comes in.

The ONLY way this will change is if the consumer stops buying the cheaper product.
Just like drugs my friends, if no one buys them, the transport of drugs into America stops.

Just sayin.

But there is always someone that will and it will never change. And that is the tip of the iceburg. There are almost no manufacturing jobs left in America. Empty factories sitting idle. Workers becoming stagnant collecting unemplyment. Those almost broke workers are buying the cheap knock offs to save a buck. The pattern is there and there is a million reasons why but no true fix.

Cup of rice is close. Most make an average of $7.50 per week...a 80-110 hour week.

I am a manufacture of goods. The regulations, laws, fees and high rents prohibit me from hiring employees. I can produce and design more but without employees im forced to do it alone and only produce so much. My business is then low output. Banks will not loan money to a low output business. Even with 2 homes, an 800+ credit score and $145K in assets (Shop equipment). Times my situation by 10 thousand and you have a pretty good idea of what the small business have to deal with in the US.

The government loaned Solyndra $535 million to run its business. Soon after recieving its money they go bankrupt.
Short time after that Solyndra files a $1.5 billion antitrust suit against China’s three biggest photovoltaic panel manufacturers. Guess who if funding those companies.

The stories go on and on.

And dont forget about the simple engineering

I agree with you and get your point.
There is another side to this that we as americans are just as guilty of... I had a bunch of guys that helped build my house who didn't speak much english BUT they showed up for work every day, worked all day, and did a good job. The "american" subs I used might not show up for several days, worked half a day, did sh!tty work, and would try to file injury claims or steal supplies from the job site. It wasn't about cheap labor, it was about finding someone who wasn't so lazy and dishonest that I wanted to give them a shovel-ectomy.


Jeff-

One thing that I have not heard from anyone in this thread is where do most of the products come from to be duplicated in China???

From the USA!! People here are the ones sending the USA made products over there to be made cheaper!! It's not Chinas fault completely, it's our own people ripping off our own people!

I know there are plenty of China company's doing this on their own now but we started it or at the very least feed the beast.