Posted on 04/14/2016 10:23:32 AM PDT by Olog-hai
What frustrates me, is cars. You can barely do ANYTHING anymore outside of a full-up mechanic shop.
And my dealer HATES that I have an OBD2 tool, and already KNOW what needs fixing. . .
Not me...
I shopped around for new front rotor/hub assy’s for my truck until I found American made at NAPA...every other chain was selling crap from China for less than half the price.
I purchased new struts for wife’s car from internet (no “Made in” given was a clue, but I went with it), I knew the instant I saw the boxes they were from China. They weren’t manufactured properly (geometry and dimensions didn’t match OEM) and the car was not driveable...returned and purchased Monroes at almost twice the price...car drives fine.
I hate Chinese crap...I will pay more for quality.
Without competition that would be USA crap.
You want to go back to the 70's and 80's and buy a big 3 union made US Automobile that would typically be in the shop within days or weeks of purchase. It was competition from abroad that forced the US automakers to actually make a decent product.
” I doubt we’ll ever see the old days again excepting maybe a severe depression.”
—
My brother and I were born in The Great Depression,my father died in The Great Depression.
Like you I had a single mother who worked to give us a better life,
My grandchildren (late teens-early 20s) have no idea what real struggle is.
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A little off topic.
Why do iPhones, iPads and Apple Computers cost so much more than their Competitors who also Manufacture Overseas?
It isn’t just Technology, it’s the “cool” factor IMHO.
Cutting Edge Innovative Marketing always Wins.
My cheapie Windows Phone takes better Pictures than an iPhone and it does all the things I need a Smart Phone to do.
Of course, people who use Windows Phones are usually “uncool” Old People just like me. LOL
We had Olds Delta 88s for years and then I got a Sable in the late 80s——they were all great cars.
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“Without competition that would be USA crap.
You want to go back to the 70’s and 80’s and buy a big 3 union made US Automobile that would typically be in the shop within days or weeks of purchase. It was competition from abroad that forced the US automakers to actually make a decent product.”
Bingo.
The OBD2 tool is a must-have for shade tree mechanics. I’ve replaced quite a few components in my 05 Mercury with the help of the tool. Not saying it’s easy, not like my old 85 Chevy or 69 Merc, but it’s doable.
Yes, unfortunately, that part is correct.
And somehow the presence of lower quality products blinds consumers to the point where they become incapable of discerning durability. Nobody is forced to shop at Walmart. Nobody is prohibitied from subscribing to Consumer Reports.
I have a $15 digital caliper made in China. For my limited uses I never would have bought a $150 Starret. How many American (union) factory jobs would have been saved by the government preventing me from buying the cheap alternative?
At heart, all protectionist actions enhance union political power. The two are inseparable. You don't have to look for the union label - it's right there in front of your nose.
The most uninformed of the protectionists in this neighborhood claim free trade economists are pointy headed academic theorists - they ignore (or are just too stupid to see) that the economics departments at the academy have more than their fair share of labor union shills.
Your Mercury Sable (and its twin, the Ford Taurus) was one of the bright spots of U.S. auto design and manufacturing in the 1980s and 1990s. Chrysler’s L-cars and GM’s X-cars of roughly the same era were abysmal pieces of crap.
Yes. Partly because of ridiculous trade deals that continues to put the US manufacturing at a disadvantage. Not the total reason, but a large contributor.
I tried to do that, but if I had to learn HOW to do something, Lowe's or Home Depot personnel were more knowledgeable (generally plumbing problems LOL).
Tired of purchasing cheezy Chinese crap that has to be replaced every season. Damn it...I want an American made sprinkler! lol
Seriously, my furniture with the exception of a piece or two...American made. Appliances....American made. I look for the labels. Besides, purchasing something made in America from what I can tell is competitively priced.
Most Americans have never seen quality products. Chinese crap and Walmart have been with us long enough to bamboozle the younger folks.
Last year, I bought a US-made manual can opener at the local Walmart. Cost $10. Best-working one I ever used too.
Americans chose cheap over quality. That is how we lost manufacturing here in the States.
And union workers who contribute millions of dollars to democrats.
There is an efficiency about free-market economics that drives the desire to obtain goods more cheaply; it's not a "conditioning," as you put it.
To expect consumers to pay more for something simply because it's manufactured in one place versus another--especially when the products are relatively equal in quality is artificial. It's the stuff that Obama's green-energy fantasies are made of. Consumers won't pay more for energy because it's "green," especially if the outcome is the same.
Likewise, people won't pay three times as much for an American snow-shovel, when one manufactured and assembled in Malaysia will work just as well.
Granted, you might be able to brand some products as "American-made" and sell those at a premium, but it's not likely that you could brand everything like that.
Hmmm. Out of work for a long length of time, struggling to make ends meet or even eat at times, forced by circumstances to make a purchase such as... a replacement starter for the automobile for instance. I must pay either 90 USD for a made-in-USA unit, or purchase one manufactured overseas for 35 USD.
I wonder which one I will wind up acquiring?
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