But I do get nervous driving through the "Big Dig" in Boston. People have died in those tunnels! Not from Chinese parts, but from materials made in the U.S. and installed by union labor!
Really had to do with management cutting costs and using the WRONG material. They used a fast drying epoxy instead of the stronger slow drying epoxy. They saved themselves $25k to use the cheaper epoxy…then MILLIONS in lawsuits…and then another 20 million fixing their screw-up.
You really don’t have to Google much to get reports on faulty Chinese steel and welds that have already been installed despite the testing methods employed. The Bay Bridge seems to be the best example. My point is they can’t be trusted and are having an adverse impact on our own industries. Not ready for prime time whether culture, expertise, or government.
Low tech jobs have been going away for many decades. Some folks may miss them, but most people do not. It does seem that there are a lot more auto manufacturers now in the US than there were 15 to 20 years ago, and they are all traditionally foreign auto manufacturers. I believe that some of the cars built in the US are even exported. We are always going to lose jobs to others that do the job for less cost and especially if they do a good job. They do have to overcome the distance to market and language barrier. Recent start-ups in the US took advantage of this. There is an electronic board manufacturer in Baltimore that took work away from Chinese manufacturers because they are within a few hours of their customers and really do understand what the customer says. This leads to on time deliveries, something the Chinese manufacturers couldn’t do. The world has been a tough place to earn a living and continues to be so. It’s just a different set of challenges to meet.
Oh, that’s right, I forgot about the corruption… that project was ripe with corruption. sorry about that. 
My wife has a Bose kitchen radio with built-in disc player which is proudly made in the USA. We bought it because of the superb reception with FM, since 4 other radios, one a Sony made in Japan, could not do this without interference.
This toy cost $750 8 years ago, but it’s extremely well made and hopefully will last a very long time.
There is an electronic board manufacturer in Baltimore that took work away from Chinese manufacturers because they are within a few hours of their customers and really do understand what the customer says.
When we moved here to NH in the early 80’s there were probably well over 500 board manufacturers within a 50 mile radius of my house. Today…I know of NONE. One reason for the decline is shrinking electronics. We had one company in Leominster MA that built memory boards. The boards where 12x20 inches…and would hold 2gb of ram…that amount easily fits on a chip. The other reason is cheaper labor. MUCH cheaper labor. Well below poverty US poverty standards…but that pay in China is very good.
In order for US labor rates to be competitive ours have to drastically lower…or theirs have to drastically increase. I don’t know too many places in this country where you can live on less then $200/month. So until the foreign companies come up…we’ll never be able to compete in that arena. We’ll be able to compete when we become a third-world country.
The operating costs became prohibitive when the Chinese PWB factories couldn’t build to print in a reasonable amount of time. The extra cost was in sending people to China frequently to make sure that the boards were correct, and in lost revenue when deliveries were late. That is not always the case, but there were enough troubles with Chinese vendors that some US companies have been able to step in and make a living off them.
You can make good or bad products anywhere.
My only concern if those making the product are earning a fair living wage or if production is move somewhere to avoid environmental standards.
the standard of living is moving up in China and I’m hopping we’ll slowly see some manufacturing return as the cost benefit to Chinese manufacturing changes.
Also I’m curious what opinions people in other countries have when they see a made in the USA label?
Their opinions can’t be that bad. China has become a major market for automotive manufacturers. The new Lincoln Continental was designed specifically with the Chinese market in mind.
I’m hopping we’ll slowly see some manufacturing return as the cost benefit to Chinese manufacturing changes
What you’re going to see is a shift to the next lowest cost country. I mentioned that a shift back to Mexico is occurring as costs in China rise slightly and make Mexico competitive again. But there is no apparent lack of places on the globe in the foreseeable future that could be the next hot spot.
@HankScorpio Yes, wages and benefits are rising in China, but a lot of manufacturing will be moving to Mexico instead of back to the US. Mexico has become a reliable place to make things and wages are still only 1/5 of those in the US. Transportation is easy and fast. Both the Toyota Corolla for Canada and the Mazda 3 will be made in Mexico.
For routine manufacturing China only made sense with rock bottom wages.
Wages are rising in China…in another 1-2 decades they’ll be at are current minimum wages. Right now it’s about $1.25/hr.