The US was once a mighty industrial giant. No more, we are in decline. I bet it was mainly the EPA that put the steel business out of the US.
Working at HD dealerships I found that more and more parts are imported, because they have shut down so many chroming plants. The leather jackets are foreign made, because the EPA wont let us use the dies for the leather. The EPA guidlines make it that only a few chroming facilities exist, due to permits etc.
When things are made in the US, it is more expensive to produce because of this. You cannot really say it is the labor cost, because everything is automated. I see manufacturing shows on History or Discovery channel. A facility will have maybe a dozen workers and the place is filled with high tech equipment, replacing humans. So I feel it is the regulations imposed.
You may buy a name brand US product for 3x the price of an import, but you can hand it down to your grand children. The import stuff goes to the landfill within a year.
One problem is we have become a greedy consumer society. We buy what we want, not what we need. Instead of spending 1k on what you need (and saved for), you buy 5k worth of things you don't need, on a credit card. People want 5 tv's that are cheap so that you have one in every room, instead of one well made US product that might be double the cost of the import.
I would rather buy one $10 US made ice cream scoop, than a $1 import that gets thrown away in a couple of months. That US scoop will be around 20 years.
I try to practice what I preach, I own 2 Harley's, 2 Fords, all my guns are S&W, Colt and a Ruger.
