If flip flops were made in America, you would buy one pair and then never have to replace them because they wore out. America is capable of making very high quality highly durable products and we generally do. That which is made in China is generally puposely built with a short life span via “planned obsolescence”. Your Chinese flip flops may last you the summer. This is an imperfect analogy of course. I have observed this planned obsolescence to be especially prevalent in wal wart kitchen gadgets. I am convinced that the manufacturers sit around in meetings devising ways to make their junk fall apart faster and more effectively. That is one of my biggest problems with foreign goods, it’s all junk and I don’t know that our landfills can sustain this trade policy for much longer.
I have a TV with a built-in VHS system that was probably considered "state-of-the-art" back when it was new. It still works just fine, but it's gathering dust right now while I wait for the next electronics recycling date in my town.
“America is capable of making very high quality highly durable products and we generally do”
Respectfully, beg to differ. Bought a ‘95 Ford Taurus. Unloaded it in 2001, even though it was paid off, and had every recommended maintainence item done. The fourth $500+ repair job in a year convinced me to buy a Honda, it is still in the family.
The problem with that is that people are always losing their flip-flops, leaving them at the beach or by the pool. This is why they buy cheap ones.