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While looking for something in the garage I came across this thermostat housing. Not sure where I got it but its cast iron and looks like a good piece, until I turned it over
1 : a technical and not necessarily intrinsically outrageous violation (such as improper reception of a sacrament) of what is sacred because consecrated to God
2 : gross irreverence toward a hallowed person, place, or thing
Well.... it looks like it will do the job it's supposed to do. A thermostat housing isn't an intricate piece of engineering after all. And if it's the difference between putting your car on the road or leaving it at home what would you do?.
America is in its twilight as an industrial power, far from dead and buried like the UK, but a new world order is on its way, from Asia this time, China and India will be the next superpowers.
Incidentally, I was looking up replacement 2 bbl carburetors for a Mopar 318 last weekend. I could buy a new one for anything between $65 to $120 at current exchange rates, including shipping. No prizes for guessing where they were made.......
Even if they weren't well made they might still be better than a worn out genuine oem item.
I too mourn the demise of home produced manufacturing, but it's easy to see why it's happening.
Its sad to see this and I was thinking why the other day.
If I owned a company that made things and the govt taxed me so much that it cut into my profit badly or to near zero and I had the choice of keeping my business healthy or going out of business I would probably want to stay in business. That might mean cutting costs so I could compete or be profitable and to do that might mean hiring China to make these things because its cheaper to have them make it and ship it over here than it is to make them here in the U.S.
The cost of labor here is so much more than China. Labor Unions, insurace, taxes have made it difficult for american companies to compete. If I were just starting in business I might go to my boss and say "hey I know how we can save a ton of money by making this stuff in China" From a business standpoint it makes a lot of sense. The standard of living in America is so much higher than China that we can't compete with the hungry chinese worker that works for far less than an American worker and does the same job.
Places like China and India have so much poverty and people willing to work for near nothing that we can't compete. Even American tech companies are seeing their intellectual properties stolen and China is to blame. Thats why you see so much fake stuff or chinese versions of an american invention. Even Apple has their stuff made in China. You think China doesn't know how to make an iPhone? they do now. I don't see it getting any better for the U.S.
March 17th, 2019, 12:46 PM
