I recently found a nice little (2-1/2 inches closed) two-bladed folder with beautiful scales that were polished reddish wood with a band of re-constituted mother of pale midway along each scale. It was only $10.00 and looked like a great little knife for my hobby toolbox, so I bought it. Well, I got it home and discovered it was made in China.
Every knife collector knows that the knife market in the U.S. is flooded with Chinese-made knives, and that many other inexpensive products sold in the U.S. are made in China, even a lot of products sold under American manufacturers' brands, which means U.S. companies are exporting jobs to China and other Asian countries. Most of us also know that the Chinese have bought a frightening amount of American assets. We have also heard a lot of negative publicity about their civil rights policies.
Now, my conscience is bothering me about my purchase of a knife made in China, but I'd like to know what iKC members think about this.
1. First, is it unpatriotic to buy Chinese-made knives?
2. Second, what about buying other Chinese-made products? Is that unpatriotic?
3. Third, what do our members think about U.S. manufacturers who have their products made in China to keep their prices down? Is that unpatriotic?
What's your opinion on these issues?
RIGHT ON, SLADE! You condensed down all my verbage to a very eloquent statement of the REAL problem. You are a true patriot and a very wise American. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Unfortunately for the American worker, it is indeed a world market. I guess we should count our blessings, though, because just about every American can afford a to buy an inexpensive knife that will serve him/her reasonably well, and foreign-made knives serve that purpose. Anyway, as a collector of "ethnic" knives, I can't legitimately expect anyone to feel unpatriotic about buying foreign-made knives. By the way, our local Safeway store has GREAT Chinese food at a very reasonable price, and my wife and I have it 2 or 3 times a month. It's one thing Chinese that I'm actually grateful for.....lol.