"Doug Miller" wrote in message

But better? You've got to be kidding. We used to make appliances and tools
here that would last a generation. Now we import cheap crap from China
that
falls apart in eighteen months and winds up in a landfill. How is that an
improvement?

There is a flaw in your argument. We started making cheap crap here too.
Black & Decker was one of the leaders in the rush to consumer grade junk.
Lasko Metal Products fought the cheap stuff by making their own version of
cheap fans back in the mid 1970's. I have a couple of made in the USA drill
from B&D that are not as good as many imports. GE sold the small appliance
division to B&D also and they kept making stuff cheaper. Why? Because we
wanted cheaper from the discount stores at the time.

Wal Mart takes a lot of heat, but thee were discounters going back a number
of years that fought for every low price imaginable. They just did not do
it as well as WM. You can probably think of a bunch of discount stores that
have gone under in the past 20 years, before China made everything. Two
Guys, Lechmere, Bradley's, Crazy Eddie, Zayre, Clover, Kiddie City, and
every department store that sold decent merchandise at reasonable prices.
Macys is about the only one left.

Consumers demand cheap stuff too. We are as much to blame as the stores
selling it.