RED TAPE ? What about the free trade agreement! Am I missing
    something here? In Oz we had US leaders (Maybe Clinton could be Bush
    Jnr) bangin" on about free trade. I guess China is ommitted/immune
    from such  BS.We are getting screwed here. If any of these items were
    made in the US quality would not be an issue,item price maybe, but
    how much is your ass worth? welcome to the quality(and thus price)
  battle.   Watch what the Krautes do, they dont waste their time on
 crap, its   far to valuable to waste. I have an American made Walker
 Mower very   costly, very. And worth every cent. As a proffessional
 I respect   Quality and the high standard ticks all the boxes. would
 I buy   something else, NO. You Yanks make some good stuff. Caterpillar
    aren"t the tool of choice because of price. Don't stop. Don't
 trade quality   for price. We are digging great holes for iron ore,
 and digging even   bigger holes to pile the cheap crap into after it
 has broken, or even   worse just failed to do the job. You want to
 Know why the US is   broke. your money is going off shore to manure
 producers, and so is   ours. I'd rather spend 1$ on an American
 peace of crap because It at   least would be advertisedas such and
 usable on the garden. Somecrap   fails after serving no purpose at
 all. Go ahead US. sell us all down   the shit stream. Or lift your
 game, hold your head up, and hold   yourself above that low standard,
  Quality attracts quality, as   mentioned in the chrysler thread. If
 they make rubbish they'll be  rubbished.    I hope this may inspire
 some positive power. We in Oz make bugger   all. We're just diggin
 holes, not to fill, just to empty. When thats   all gone and our
 farms are all sold to the Chinese, we will truly be   part of Asia.
 And resemble Arabs with no oil. WE ARE A CONTINENT,   STAND OUT, NOT
 ALONE. Get it together peoples .Think global, act   local.   Tiger
 Woods gets paid $1,000,000 to play golf in Australia,   win,lose or
 draw. not because he is pretty,not because of his moral   standards
 because of his golf. Quality will win-out. Watch and see   what
 happens to Coby Bryant, the basketballer, If his game don't   suffer
 he will endure,sad but true.

    Graeme Riley

    I just had a similar discussion with friends about Chinese poor
 quality and
   hazardous stuff in products. Some of the hazardous stuff may not have
   shadowed
   our shores; but I am in doubt of the safety and quality. I am
 looking for  product made other than China. They recognize no safety
 and patent  obligations  like most other countries. When we buy
 there we take jobs away from more  civilized countries. I may end up
 walking around buck naked if I can not get  clothes made elsewhere!

   Dale Davies

   FYI Dale the Kiwi's make excellent clothing. I was given a jersey
 when I was living in N.Z. in '95, it's a personal favorite, gets a
 lot of use, and I reckon it's still got another 17 yrs in it. And
 when it dies it'll make a good polishing rag, then grease rag. This was
 made by Lenco, also try Fairydown, Canterbury Clothing, Swanndri,
  Line 7, Icebreaker, Postie, there are more. They make good clothing,
  They just don't make much noise about it. Oh, you'll also get excellent
 service. If an Aussie is giving you a "good" report on Kiwi's, it
 must be true. (lol).  Graeme.


Thank you Graeme,

It will take some searching to see if I can buy locally. I did buy some
work
jeans made in Mexico and Bangladesh, who I think have better shall I say
moral
standards. We had a GWG (Great West Garments) factory in Edmonton,
Alberta,
Canada. A number of years ago it was closed and production sent elsewhere.
One
of their products was Red Strap overalls with the red strap to hold a
hammer.
I think the quality was better than Levis!

Dale Davies

Sorry Paul, I know this is getting off topic but it peeves me. I wore the
Levis Red Straps for years, thats all I bought. Then they stopped making
them and I had to switch to the Big B's Red Straps. As Dale says they are as
good as the old Levis but now they have stopped selling them here, I've
tried finding a source for them but no luck yet. I hate shopping so I like
to be able to walk into a store, look at a lable and buy them, no fitting
rooms etc. Damn I hate it when things change.
As for free trade we have had that for years with the US and Mexico but last
year I tried to order a 4 1/2" 10-28(?) screw from McMasters and was
informed they would not ship to foriegners unless they had a previously
established account and they would cancel the account of American ordering
on my behalf and forwarding the screw to me. Yeh, free trade my a** !
Now back to your regularly scheduled rotary programming.

John Gibbons