[scottj]

James,

No offense taken. It was my mistake to refer to the quality of the imports in a post where quality had no relevancy.

My argument is this; it is not in the best interests of our nation to have an ever-increasing trade deficit while the “net worth” of the country is transferred abroad, regardless of the quality of the consumables.

US manufacturing lost another 24,000 jobs in October. Manufacturing is now only 14% of the GDP and employs only 5% of the population. 90% of the US population is more concerned about inexpensive products than they are US manufacturing and the trade deficit. The proof of that is Walmart is projecting sales of 14 billion dollars in Chinese imports in ’04.