There was a time when American products were both inexpensive and excellent. They might still be excellent, but what happened to the inexpensive part?
The Feds made it illegal to make inexpensive goods in America!!
that time was after a war when most of the world had been bombed into ashes. It took 6 to 10 years to see german industry return and it was the mid 50s when Demming went to Japan. Too many people alive in the 60s thought we where great because we shipped overseas not because the world was buying our heavy industrial products to try and rebuild.