On 06/02/17 07:25, Checkmate, DoW #1 wrote:
Are there actually any phones being made in Amerika these days?

I was going to ask the same question. Everything is made in China, for
the cheap labor, but the quality standards are enforced by the brand
company, and are those you would expect. If they were made locally,
they would be identical, only ten times the price.

They say that protectionism (put up overseas prices until locals can
compete) isn't the answer, but when world free trade came in, several
well-established Australian industries folded quickly. We never hear an
Aussie accent on the phone nowadays, only well-trained American accent
from the Philippine call centers (That is, if you can understand them at
all. I had a telephone conversation that should have taken a quarter
of an hour. The first operator was so dumb and unintelligible that I
hung up on her. The review operator prompted me to ask if she knew what
she was talking about. Total time: three-quarters of an hour.) Our
labor advocates are aware of the problem: cheap labor means
poverty-level working conditions, and they don't want that.

I know that Trump has advocated protectionism. It means that the price
levels are all so high that only he can afford anything. (And if he can,
that is all that matters to him.)

Doug.