Actually, there is a serious number of cultural and social-economic
factors playing out in the hobby welder (and hobby machine tool) market.
It will vary strongly by the average age of the population as well as
some blue collar vs white collar backgrounds. In one city of 60k people
that had the majority of growth from 1955 to 1970, the number of estate
sales that have any tools to interest has dropped by 3/4. All the guys
that did stuff have died off. The younger set just doesn't get into
welders etc.

Grant Erwin wrote:
I'm curious if that guy in Miami ever found his cheap AC welder. I quit
posting the ones I've seen up here after a week or two, figuring I'd made
my point, that he really wasn't looking correctly. It's hard for me to
imagine a place so devoid of guys selling little old welders. - GWE