There's a basic disconnect out there. Those of us that are members of the consumer society (and how many of you are reading this on the free PC at your public library?) want as much as we can get, as cheaply as it can be had. At the same time, workers in the States have resisted any efforts by manufacturers to modernize and automate our manufacturing system. And, yes, I realize that modernization would result in the loss of jobs, and life is like that. So our choices are to (1) buy stuff made in the USA that is not competitively priced (even if it were available); (2) buy high quality manufactured goods from a country like Japan that has modern factories (and don't give me that line about how we paid for those plants...the ones built in the 1940s have been replaced at least once since); or (3) buy material made by what amounts to slave labor. Guess you have to take your choice...and keep your eyes open for alternatives.