In article , katy
wrote:

Maxprop wrote:
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.

Bingo. We've been running this argument over on rec.crafts.metalworking
for years now. There are basically no US manufacturers of small
precision tools like lathes, mills etc left. South Bend didn't update
its lathe design in 50 years and that wasn't because it was perfect.

I have a mix of US and British machinery and I like it. But it's all
old. When I go to buy a new lathe or milling machine for my people at
work, I buy one made in Taiwan or China. They aren't as elegant or as
well finished, but they cut metal just fine and the accuracy is
satisfactory.

It didn't have to be that way, but it is.

Ditto for vehicles. Almost nobody in Australia would buy an imported US
made vehicle in preference to a Japanese or even Korean made one.

PDW