My feelings regarding Chinese made knives go much deeper than the type of steel in their blades or the “fit & finish” physical attributes of the knives.
I grew up during the 1950s, when Made In America meant something. Something good. Something great. The best airplanes in the world were Made In America. The best steel was smelted in American steel mills. Everyone wanted to come here. Everyone wanted the products we made and our dollar was a world standard currency. I see that slipping away, no, I see that rushing away, no, I see that flushed away, down the toilet, by ignorant politicians and greedy big business and I’m not ready to give up the pride we had in our country even though it seems we've lost the respect the rest of the world had for us.
In my opinion, the loss of our manufacturing base is a root cause for many of our economic problems. Manufacturing in the U.S. has dwindled down to a trickle. Where we once made everything, we now make hardly anything. In just a short time I was able to compile this small list of iconic American brands that are no longer owned by American business.
Edit: After further reflection, I suppose the economic problems could be the root cause of the erosion of our manufacturing base. I'm no economist and certainly no genius. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? All I know for sure is, the jobs have moved out of this country and that's BAD.
McIntosh Stereo – Sold to Clarion (Japan) in 1990. Since 2003, owned by D&M Holdings, also a Japanese company.
Bulova - Bulova paid $4 for the world's first television commercial, a July 1, 1941 placement on New York station WNBT before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.
On January 10, 2008 Citizen (Japan) bought the Bulova Watch Company for $250 million.
Browning Arms Company - Browning is currently a fully owned subsidiary of Fabrique Nationale de Herstal. (Belgium)
Winchester Arms - FN Herstal (Belbium)
Hoover – (yes, the vacumn cleaner people) Techtronic Industries Company Limited (Hong Kong)
Amana – (The kitchen appliance people) Aga Rangemaster Group (United Kingdom)
Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. - Acquired by Hong Kong based Techtronic Industries in 2005.
Powermatic Woodworking Tools – Part of the WMH Walter Meier Holding AG (Switzerland)
In just 60 short years gangs, violence and drugs, even in the small towns and countryside, have corrupted the America I once knew. Illegal immigration runs rampant and way too many act like it’s okay because the illegals “have a right to be here”. Political corruption is commonplace. Our economy is in the toilet and other countries who once welcomed our currency in lieu of their own, now won’t even wipe their a-- with it.
I don’t blame China for that. Those problems are a result of our own inability to run a country. We have fought the Communists and the concept of Communism for the past 65 years and every time I see “Made in China” on a knife or any other product I get a flush of hopelessness and helplessness. We could have won on the military battlefield if the citizens of this country had allowed it and now we’ve lost on the economic battlefield. It’s not a new thing. It hasn’t been that many years since we were hearing about how off kilter our balance of trade was with Japan and now, China has taken it to a whole new level. Was I born too late or sometime in the future will today be the good old days?
If that doesn’t make sense to you, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to explain it well enough. I won’t argue about it. Arguing is two fools thinking they will change the other person’s mind. That’s my opinion. I don’t have a problem with you if your opinion is different.
[/rant]
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.
This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.
"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
