I just wanted ONE person to point out what hasn't yet been said on this thread, and I guess I'll be the one to do it, like I did on the same thread on AT.
Moving jobs to China is GOOD for us all.
Anytime we can get an equivalent product for less money, it frees up more money for us to spend on other job-creating pursuits. And moving factory-type unskilled labor to the third world allows Americans to focus on better jobs where we do have a global competitive advantage (not to mention it boosts a terrible economy in whatever third world locale). We want the people/country able to produce a quality product more efficiently to be the ones to produce that product. For the same reason that you don't solely support and buy camo that only your family members have made - there are others out there (US, China, wherever) that are better equipped to make a given product at a lesser cost. And in the end, WE ALL win. Everyone saves money, and everyone is able to work at a task/job/skill in which they excel and work more efficiently than others.
Granted, I too think it's great when an American company can produce a competitive product, but sometimes that doesn't happen, and that's OK. Now as to the issue of advertising "Made in North America" but shipping "Made in China," that's a different one that I'll stay out of.
You learned nothing from the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement, evidently.
The model you describe only converts U.S. taxpayers into welfare recipients and increases the quality of life of the foreign worker.
And just because Sitka or Kuiu is produced in China does not mean that it will be cheaper PRICED. I looked at a Sitka top the other day that was $329.oo at a big box store. When they were in their first year of production, that same top was $190.
I say where we screwed up was when Mom thought she was too good to work a sewing job anymore. Or some UNION convinced her she should make a "living wage" at that sewing job.
