Oh boy, here it comes...
I fly the American flag outside my home everyday. I would like nothing more than to by American and only American. But, sadly, if I want quality stuff that lasts I usually have to look elsewhere.
I dont think America lacks the technology or knowhow our Aerospace industry is proof of that. What it lacks nowadays is good old fashion pride. Pride in country, pride in being an American, pride in what you do and the quality of your work, pride in knowing you did the best job that you could and feeling good that you did.
You can see the lack of all these qualities everywhere you look. From the grocery checker that doesn't even look at you when you say hello to the paper delivery person that lazily chucks your paper in the puddle at the end of your driveway. Most American workers nowadays could care less except when it comes to getting more money for less work. Their unions, tho necessary to protect the workers rights, have forced many companies into the Red or worse to layoff in order to keep paying their lazy workers what the union damands or else go on strike. GM is barely hanging on yet the UAW is demanding more pay/ benifits for their workers. Things are compounded when those same 'workers' work for the typical Anerican employer who's bottom line is money and producing a product as quickly and absolutely cheaply as buyers will put up with.
Awhile back I read an article in Business Week or similar magazine about the decline in quality of Toyota vehicles that prior to being assembled in America had a very good reputation. These cars were built with the exact same parts and machinery as those built in Japan but they were having serious reliability problems and were loosing their reputation for quality. What it came down to was the American worker that was assembling these Toyota vehicles. Unlike Japansee workers that apperently take pride in their work, the American workers were extremely careless in following simple assembly guidelines and their was virtually no quality control to correct their poor work. Simple things such as not bothering to align mating surfaces, properly tighten bolts or worse not bother putting a second bolt/screw in when a single one 'seemed' to hold it 'good enough'. Unbelievably, Japanese Toyota management had to come in and clean house, fire managers and 'force' the American workers to do decent work and enforcing quality control.
Look at any Consumer Reports annual car issue, flip to the back and you'll see almost all American vehicles are rated very poorly. Reliability, quality and workmanship consistantly trail behind imports such as Toyota. It's disgusting. Even staunch US supporters such as my Dad, a WW2 vet that lost 65 of his shipmates when a kamikaze struck his Destroyer, for years he refused to buy anything not labeled Made in the USA much less Made in Japan finaly got tired taking his American cars in for repairs and now drives a Toyota.
PBS had a program on the dying American auto industry. A GM plant in the mid-west had to close it's doors after over 20 years. The workers were out of a job and angry that a non-American auto maker, Honda, was taking over. Angry that if you worked for Honda you were not unionized (they may be now), wore the same uniforms (overalls) as your supervisors/managers and you were expected to complete tasks in a strict time frame under the supervision of a quality control manager. Well those same angry workers were interviewed several months later and the majority were very happy working for their new employer and a palpable air of pride was evident.
Thats just the American auto industry. I've got friends that have recently gone thru remodels. The story is the same. Poor workmanship, the least expensive and cheap materials as they could 'get away with' and thats if they even showed up. My own remodel required me to remind the sub-contractors several times that I wasn't remodeling to sell the property but instead plan to retire here so 'please' (as if I should actually have to ask!) build to last and not use cheap material. Their answer was usually the same, 'oh, ok, then we should not use this particle board that wont last very long in you bathroom but instead use solid wood' or 'ok, then I should go ahead and use the insulation with the higher R rating since this stuff wont hold the heat in at all'. I could tell they were used to using the cheapest materials and doing a half *** job was 'normal' to them, after all who's gonna know? No pride, none!
Unfortunately nowadays in America mediocrety is acceptable, 'I got mine who cares about the other guy' is normal and taking pride in your work is almost gone. A shame really, considering what the Greatest Generation fought and died for.
So yes, there is plenty of cheap **** coming out of China and if you want to keep replacing your broken Harbor Frieght junk thats your business, buy American and only American but do your research first, buyer beware, that the norm.
Rant off, sorry had to vent.
Mike
DJ
