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Sorry, maybe I wasn't entirely clear. That is only part of the issue I was trying to address.

Read this article which contains a great account of the Dell/Asus relationship for a better explanation of what I was getting at.

Part of the problem with sourcing China to assemble products like this is that they aren't exactly opposed to engaging in rampant IP theft and undercutting the people whose products they are building.

In the process of putting things together they gain the knowledge to do an end run around the people they are contracting for. This has happened in the computer industry in some cases already.

OldCurlyWolf wrote:

koolaid wrote:

tacticool wrote:Sorry but I'm not drinking that koolaid.

A meaningless quip that essentially proves my point.

Actually it says that your opinion is worth ignoring.

Insightful.

tacticool wrote:Sorry but I'm not drinking that koolaid.

A meaningless quip that essentially proves my point.

tacticool wrote:It's like Reagan said. Government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem.

I would say more of the problem is that our continued system of only two parties has reduced political discourse to arbitrary team cheering and completely eliminated nuance from general political discussion or opinion.

Because your quote if taken to its ultimate conclusion is current day Somalia and a return to feudal warlordism, which is what happens basically everywhere in the absence of government.

Medic624 wrote:
You have NAILED it... It's the perversion of the American dream... Only after generations of being indoctrinated into believing they are DESERVING and OWED without putting in the work to obtain the level of success to afford them the luxuries of a hard lived, hard worked life have we come to this...

While that sounds nice it is a rather simplistic worldview that ignores many facts.

Conditions in China that make it popular with manufacturers are quite similar to conditions in the US and other countries during their industrial revolutions.

For all the complaining about unions and environmental regulations, I don't see a lot of people chomping at the bit to send their children off to work in dangerous mines and factories every morning, or putting down their bottled water or showers in order to drink and bathe in untreated industrial runoff.

And on the other side of the coin, for all the complaining about wealth distribution and corporate greed, we have come a long way from the era of the robber baron and Pinkerton goon squads bashing in the heads of workers who don't toe the company line, forced migration to company towns and the indentured servitude of the company store.

Our economy and society has moved on from that, and it has for the most part been beneficial. China today is the Japan of the 70's and 80's. There are already other nations further behind on the industrial path that are starting to become the low cost alternative to China, while China and India begin to creep into the information age. It is the natural progression of things.

So sure, buy American when you can, but stop romanticizing the 19th century. We aren't going back to it.

Especially where clothing is concerned, Made in America often means made in island sweatshops by workers in deplorable conditions. Notably the Marianas which you may recall from the Jack Abramoff show.