Anvil, excuse me for my lack of political correctness, but the answer to your question is pretty simple. Consumers use to be very quality concious, look at the message in the old Maytag Repairman commercials. Today, most people have a Walmart mentality. They will buy whatever is cheapest and are happy to replace it without any thought of the long term cost. No one wants to save so they can buy quality, they want everything now. How many Chinese bicycles do you think will be around in 40 years? The good news is, there are some enterprising Americans, many are members of this forum, who know how to make their own masterpieces.