On Sat, 21 Jul 2012 19:14:29 -0700 (PDT), "Gramp's shop"
wrote:

Here's an interesting piece found in the online New York Times equating the business practices at HD to the general decline in craftsmanship in our country:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/bu...y.html?_r=1&hp

Remember that quote in Pogo "we have met the enemy and it is us".

Sometime in about the 60's or 70's, society decided that blue collar
work was not as good as white collar and professions where you did not
do that manual labor. College was more affordable and Dad, who worked
on the line an a factory, was able to send one of his kids off to
college.

Technology was starting to boom. Hey kids, become a computer
programmer and you'll never have to clean under your fingernails
again. Make lots more money than dad ever did down at the mill.

Cameras, stereo systems, Pong, and a Commodore 20 became affordable
and it was imported, mostly from Japan. Big box store replaced the
corner store and offered discounts. We like discounts. Oh, if I send
my manufacturing off shore, I can offer discounts and sell cheaper
too. Yay, now we get all that new technology cheaper than ever.

We want cheap. We demand cheap.

Hey, why is that factory torn down and another shopping mall going up?
Great, it will have a big store that sells stuff from China.

Need a house? 0% down and low interest for the first five years.
Sure, you can afford it and can re-finance later.