On Sun, 15 Jan 2017 17:51:21 -0800 (PST), wrote:

Hi folks,

Please trim your lines to 72 characters. My word wrap is turned on
but your lines all go off the page into the 3rd screen.


I was just looking at some old Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalogues from the early 1900s. Here's an example of a page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/138493...posted-public/

That 20" bandsaw costs $31.65. If you figure out a current equivalent price (multiplier of 27), it comes to around $855. Seems cheap for a 300 lb cast iron machine to me, as do the other machine tools. A Jet 20" bandsaw now costs $3556.00:
http://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/93252591

Equivalents to the other manufactured products in the catalogue are mostly cheaper today (this guy has some interesting examples from the 1970s: http://cafehayek.com/2006/01/working_for_sea.html)

But what about machine tools? If they are more expensive, what's the cause? A rise in the cost of skilled labour, or less local competition among small foundries and machine shops? What do you think?

Yes, your reasons, then add in unions, branding, and corporate greed
(possibly caused by attorneys who are pawning it off as feeding
shareholders). These aren't just price hikes, they're multipliers.

When the Chiwanese knockoffs can be sold for 1/4 the price of domestic
units, it isn't just quality of materials.


--
There is s no such thing as a hyphenated American who is
a good American.* The only man who is a good American is
the man who is an American and nothing else.* We are a
nation, not a hodge-podge of foreign nationalities.* We
are a people, and not a polyglot boarding house.
--Theodore Roosevelt