Maxprop wrote:
"Peter Wiley" wrote in message
. ..

In article . net,
Maxprop wrote:


"Peter Wiley" wrote in message
om...



So - tell me why you own a French yacht when there are so many more
expensive and inferior US made ones available.


She bought her boat used, Pete. It was the best boat available in her
price
range at the time.

Oh, I don't doubt it. Point is, tho, that Katy coulda bought a new US
made boat for a higher price and thereby supported US industry. It
might have been a smaller boat, or a worse equipped boat, or whatever,
of course.


They had just sold their smaller, US-built boat, and another smaller
US-built boat before that, IIRC. Chanteuse was a substantial size upgrade.

27 feet to 30 ft and 4 inches is a substantial size difference? And
both the previous boats were very old...the upkeep on them was
horrendous and the 27 had an atomic 4 that was going to need to be
replaced...Neither had any great value and the 22' sailed for crap
(shoal draft)...we upgraded to a boat with diesel and a wheel (27
was a tiller boat and Mr Sails has had rotator cuff surgery...)


So - what's the difference with foodstuffs? Why insist that people have
to buy US grown produce instead of cheaper imported produce, when the
same logic isn't applied to other items - like boats.

That's my point.


Your point is correct. The vast majority of goods sold in the USA are of
foreign manufacture now. I'm always a bit amazed when I discover the
product I've bought is of local manufacture. Last figures I saw said the
trade deficit between the US and China was something like 78-22. One only
has to watch container ships entering and leaving San Francisco Bay to see
this--the incoming are loaded and way down on their waterlines, while the
departing vessels have empty containers and are riding high.

Max


The major problem is that American manufactureres ignored the fact
that this was going to happen. When Mr Sails worked for Steelcase,
his team dragged in a desk made by HON to a presentation and
indicated that that was the future of office furniture and that
tghey should eatablish a competitive line. But the PTB's said
"absolutely not". We would be lowering our standards. Problem was,
though, that unless they bought used, the average small business
owner, which is still the heart of America but is fading fast, could
not afford Steelcase furniture. The average doctor could not
decorate his waiting room with Steelcase designs. So they ignored
the American public, holding out for governemnt contracts. And then
9/11 hit and it was all over. America has sold herself out by not
having the foresight to change with the changing world.