[daniel1212]

It might help if we weren’t funding their military build up with our consumer dollars, but we have to have our cheap toys, so there.

Yet many common low-cost items are only had from outside the US, directly or indirectly. Due to past embrace by pols.

[TwelveOfTwenty]

Due to past embrace by pols.

It wasn't just the politicians. American consumers including many Freepers embraced the idea of getting their "made by communist slave labor" products for less. They're the ones who made it profitable to off shore, and made it impossible for companies to compete with American labor.