snip
Have you looked at the stuff coming from China lately? Relatively low
cost stuff that is also heavy, the kind of thing you would expect would
be cheaper to make here than to ship here from China.
snip
Another result of deliberately opaque pricing in the "brave new
world order free market."

Transportation costs are far higher that they appear based on
public data such as the cost per barrel of oil. These costs are
subsidized through special tax exemptions, deductions and
exchange rate manipulations, which the the average citizen must
pay for over time. Thus the true cost of imported goods is
concealed.