> i hereby challenge the assumption that shoddy goods must come from
> china.

What people perceive as "China makes crappy stuff" is really "US consumers
are cheapskates and China is the cheapest place Wal-Mart can get its crappy
stuff made". In the 50's it was Japan. Later, Taiwan. Really, "Chinese
quality" is a meaningless phrase, even if you limit it to tools.  I have a
lever-type spring compressor made in China and it's fantastic. I also have a
1/2" drive metric socket set I bought from a FLAPS to do an emergency repair
on the road, and the quality of this $25 set is outstanding. Not Snap-On by
any means, but so far  it's fared better than my Craftsman 1/2" stuff. I
also have a set of adjustable wrenches from Wal-Mart that are so sloppily
made as to be utterly useless. What I fear is that we'll end up with yet
another stratified market, with the cheap junk at the bottom, the expensive
pro stuff at the top, and a vast expanse of nothingness in between. Clearly
there are manufacturers in China cranking out top-notch middle-weight stuff,
but Bob Pro Mechanic won't buy it because it's not Snap-On, and Joe Sixpack
doesn't know cast from forged and buys whatever Wal-Mart has
cheapest.TheSears Craftsman brand has hung on in the middle, but
mostly on the strength
of the lifetime warranty. Right now there's not much brand stability from
China, but I think that'll change.

if that were the case IKEA would not exist.
>
> True, but it's noteworthy that "IKEA furniture" is probably the most
derogatory thing you can say about home furnishings.

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"