All About Pocket Knives

I know we discuss this now and again, but here was an interesting article on CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal ... index.html

YEAH! Sarge; It's all very Sad indeed!

http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/04/news/in ... tm?cnn=yes

After tainted pet food, bad tooth paste, hazerdous toys, and a whole list of other junk that comes from China, you would think these companies would learn!

Because of the desire of a few wealthy people and companies to reap huge profits, millions of people have lost jobs as America is being sold out and sold off. We have been the land of the free and we still are. But what happens when the Gross National Product of China exceeds that of America? In 2020 based on a 10% annual growth by China, the combined product of India and China is expected to exceed that of USA. However, China has beaten that 10% quite handily, by about 27%. In 2006 China's GNP grew by over 12.5%, With that kind of monumental growth, with a population of about 1.3+ Billion, China could be the worlds reigning economic power in 2020, or sooner. BECAUSE AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL LEADERS GAVE IT TO THEM. Not only that, BUT we gave them our technology! I watched as Agilent Technologies trained Malaysians and Chinese in state of the art micro-electronics technology, much of which is used by all branches of our military, including those that are used in our AWACS planes.

In China's rush to become the worlds #1 ECONOMIC POWER and the United States manufacturing base, China has become the worlds most polluted land. Becase the manufacturing base grew so quickly to meet the demands, laws to protect the environment have not been instituted. But, there are no indications that these laws were ever in the minds of communist China. I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT WE ARE ON THE LOSING SIDE OF AN ECONOMIC WAR. The trade deficet with China is getting worse all the time and will continue to do so, there are no indicators to show otherwise.

So we won the cold war with the USSR. Big deal, the USSR never had an economic infrustructure to win, The people of USSR lacked ANY INCENTIVE. The lack of ability to get ahead AND have ownership sealed the fate of USSR. Now in Russia many things have been privatized, there is personal growth, wealth, and hope! Despite what the government told us, the real enemy was never the USSR. China was and is an economic enemy -- period. In the 60's, fearing an attack by the US, they encouraged married couples to have as many children as they can have and they were rewarded. There was no war, but it created an army of workers and they are very industrious. Now married couples are encouraged to have a single child. By cultrural tradition the eldest son cares for the parents in their old age. It is fairly common to get a black market abortion if the parents find they are expecting a girl, favoring a son to provide elder care.

The Chinese Government watched the fall of the Soviet empire and you bet they watched, analyzed, and made changes of their own. Some things have been privatized there also rather than be under government control. They can own their own land, there is personal growth, wealth, and hope in China too, rather than the collective --everything government controlled and owned. The Chinese are the masters of black market CD's, DVD's, and software, a multi-Billion dollar industry.

This is a NEW China, ambitious, industrious, and the people now have pride. All because the government released it's iron grip on industry. This is not the same agrarian China our parents came to know, it's a sleeping giant that has awakened.

Well I know I still feel DAMNED PROUD everytime I carry a knife marked MADE IN U.S.A. I will ALWAYS spend the extra dollars to buy American.

My wife and I try to buy American with all our shopping and its not easy, see some mislabeling. We avoid Target, Walmart, Home Depot and try to shop at locally owned merchants. Problem with those 3 and many more is that just about everything they have is made offshore or in China. By shopping at local merchants, the money you spend stays in the community. Buy at the big box stores and the money leaves the community forever and ends up as some numbers in an account held by these stores.

Even some American made products contain Chinese parts and we have absolutely no way of knowing.

Problem is we are a consumer state (the USA), we like our toys and we want a good price, China and the Pacfic rim countries provide that. Consumerism is rising in China and the Pacific rim. Almost all of these countries have cell phones, building towers is cheaper than putting up lines. Prices of construction steel is rising rapidly, enough so that many projects run over target. This is in part due to construction in China.

You're right about those big box stores Hukk, we have another one being built right down the road from the first one. Just makes me sad you know. There is just no way around buying some of that stuff. But when given a choice........BUY AMERICAN!