Country of Origin and Quality of Tools

[Larry Edgerton]

The way I look at these things, I build houses for American customers, and so my first loyalty is to that customer base. My second loyalty is to nations that compete with my customer base on an even playing field, in other words a living wage, no child labor, safe working conditions, etc.

You may not agree with me, but then I do not really care who does or doesn't, I am only responsible for my own charma.....

We may well be in a time of a global economy, but I still feel my first loyalties are to my own....

[John Sanford]

Frankly, I find the bashing of the American consumer to be incredibly ironic and shortsighted, given that it amounts to little more than bashing ourselves. 'Tis especially silly when y'all compare the products made in the US 50 years ago with the products "made in China" today.

What am I getting at? 50 years ago, the consumer was far more likely to buy a product that they expected to keep 10-20 years or more. As a result, the manufacturers built the products far more robustly.

Today, how many Creekers have replaced a perfectly functional car with a newer one? Howza bout replacing a stereo because you "want a better one", or replacing your tools that still work just as well as they did when new with the latest and greatest?

North American manufacturers don't make tools built for the consumer market to last 50 years because very, very few of their customers intend to keep them more than 10. And frankly, in an environment where technology is advancing as rapidly as it is, why should they? The top tier American electronics manufacturers have clearly demonstrated that you can build electronics that last 20 or 30 years. Just look at the electronics in our aircraft and ships. Yet, it would be economic foolishness to spend the amount of money necessary to build consumer electronics to that level, because consumer electronics are replaced every 3-7 years, even when they work!

American (and to a lesser extend, Canadian) consumers are frequently accused of being incredibly materialistic. That is such inane poppycock! Materialists (in the popular sense, not the philosophical sense) don't throw stuff away, they can't bear to part with their stuff.... we getting newer better stuff constantly...