At the end of the day, most of the problems America faces are tied back to respect and pride.
Pre 1960: try buying a foreign product and see how you are treated. If you father spared your life, your neighbors would probably not. We all had pride and respect.
Try stealing something: once again, if your father spared your life, you were at minimum shunned from the community.
Try back talking to the teacher: ditto
Not respecting your elders: ditto
Not showing up for work: (all that would get you is showing up the next day with battle scars from your old man after he incentivized you to be on time)

Today, it's accepted to buy foreign, stealing is just one of those things, talking back to any kind of authority figure, well everybody does it so it can't be that bad. Elders, what's an elder?
Not showing up for work on time...if I can get my employer to fire me unjustly, then maybe I can sue him or at minimum get unemployment. In addition I can make more at home drawing a check than bother with work.

PRIDE AND RESPECT folks, and until we teach our youth PRIDE AND RESPECT, things are not going to get any better.
Our 12 year old son knows, when his parents or elders ask something, it is to be done. He was taught PRIDE AND RESPECT from day one. Amazingly he is a straight A student and has had perfect attendance many of his school years. He also knows that whether he is 12 or 50, his father will always be his father and will not hesitate to jerk him aside if he disrespects the family name. As a father it is my JOB to make sure the family name is respected and personally I don't care how old my child is, it doesn't give him the right to disrespect the family name.
Hey, if I do this right, maybe he will hold his children to the same standard (like my father and I did)
My .02. Sorry for ranting, but it had to be said.

Jeff, I started out typing a long winded response to this but I could have written a book so I stopped...twice. I have been in the trades for 27 years working my way from carpenter to superintendent to owner and then continuing to building and construction inspector and have seen alot on the construction end. In short I want to say we need to put an end to this but has the sno-ball gotten too large and gained too much momentum? Seems that way. This is where ImpalaMans response holds true. PRIDE AND RESPECT. Teaching our children at a young age. This is something that cannot be said enough times. PRIDE AND RESPECT!! Look at the young punks on the street today wearing their pants down to their knees. That is blaintant disrespect to every one around us. Too many variables are the cause but once again it boils down to teaching PRIDE AND RESPECT.

Question,

If we patent a USA made product can it still be replicated in China or can the inventor sue the balls off of them?

Happens all the time John. Typically no enforcement or punishment either. The entertainment industry estimates annual copyright losses in the billions.

never apologize for speaking your mind. I agree, pride and respect are a rare trait and is overtaken by greed and success.

Like they say, run your race and watch for the other guy.

its a bunch of craaap. I have a patent on a product and it only protects you if you are willing to pursue. The second product I brought into market, I used the money that would have gone to my lawyers and put that towards stock amount of the product. I then saturated the market before the imitators could catch up. Consumers already know it's my product.
I also set a price point so I could still make a profit if I dropped the price 40% if it was copied. That would kill the profit margin of my competition. It worked, right after my price drop the competition backed off.

Its a huge lawyer game. Your on your own if the copies come from over seas.

Vince,
What do you make over there?

a little bit of everything. Main market was firearm accesories/parts but car builds have taken the spot light since getting into the bigger shop. Just don't have the time or man power for both right now.

A shame you stopped, I'm certain it was a good read even if it just helped you vent. You'll notice I didn't even mention money in my post. It was never about the labor cost with us. We only wanted a professional job done on time. Tradesmen like you are few and far between nowadays.

Jeff-

Thanks Jeff. I understand what your saying and there is alot of truth to what you say. Trust me I know....as a superintendent I was extremely aggressive and if you didn't work as hard as I did you never got my respect and on many occasions got sent down the road. Things didn't change as an owner.....and as an inspector.....God help us!! I dread what the future brings from our future tradesman/buiders. Truth is the good ones will most likely be from south of the border. As long as they're legal I can live with that.