Quote Originally Posted by elk View Post
or stinky economic policy....
People want to buy more stuff, and for a cheaper price. Although I would agree that American economic policy stinks, I would not just blame economic and political leaders, but rather would distribute the blame within the whole population...

What REALLY gets me going though is when a company that used to do stuff locally outsources internationally to cut labour costs and keeps selling its items at the very same price. Arc'teryx jackets among others used to be all made in Canada. I was about to buy a wool jacket for my sweetheart from them last Christmas and had (as usual) a sticker shock when I saw it was around $250. But I was thinking, "mm, yeah, but it's made in the area" because they always used to. BEEEEEEEEEP: WRONG!! "Made in China." I was really mad and, needless to say, did not buy the jacket.

On the other hand, we just bought a big piece of furniture made in Canada. It was a lot more expensive than the similar piece made in China, and we could only afford the bed, instead of bed + nightstands etc. But we decided to go ahead with the made-in-Canada one. I don't always make that decision. But I'm happy I did it this time...