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China and Japan have thousands of years of history of producing fine China but I suspect what was being produced for this market by this company is something quite different. This company was probably producing a commodity and they were unable to compete under the taxes and regulations, including Obamacare, impose on them in the United States against commodities produced by cheap labor and sold under a manipulated currency.

Much like immigration, our trade policy has been pretty much in line with the demands of the Wall Street Journal and it is time to reassess whether free trade, like open borders, can any longer be sustained by a welfare state competing against manipulated economies.

Open borders, whether admitting people or goods, is a political decision in which one part of society is benefited at the expense of another part of society. This is a reality that goes back to regional differences shaping America's response to the war of 1812. Should the country protect New England manufacturers at the expense of Southern consumers?

Today the Wall Street Journal wants us to protect American businesses with cheap labor through immigration and it wants us to protect high-tech exporters at the expense of commodity manufacturers. We have pretty much done so and the results are not pretty. But it is not as simple as that, we have benefited consumers but not if they are blue-collar workers in the manufacturing sector.

One thinks back to the warnings of Pat Buchanan and, dare I say it, Ross Perot which predicted the hardships we are now experiencing.

One thinks back to the warnings of Pat Buchanan and, dare I say it, Ross Perot which predicted the hardships we are now experiencing.

It's worse, we don't have American Quality. Try buying replacement plumbing fixtures and your old knob doesn't fit the new valve because the tolerance stack up is all wrong and that means they have no QC or don't care in China. Want to buy 4130 Chrome-Moly Steel Steel Tubing for the Roll Cage in your Race Car? Better ask where it made, i.e the US, Germany, or China because what are Tubing "Certs" i.e. papers in China? Many in the know ask, and don't trust what in coming from China, we don't know if it really is 4130, close or absolute junk...

“...they were unable to compete under the taxes and regulations, including Obamacare, impose on them in the...”

You have “hit the nail on the head” with that statement.

As an owner of a manufacturing business I can tell you that the cost of an employee and the massive regulations involved, makes it very hard to set the price of a manufacturer’s product at a competitive level with anyone or any foreign company not under the thumb of the U.S. government regulators.

Take the cost of unions and it gets much worse.

The simple way to bring America back to it’s glory is to completely remove all government and union forces against business and we would once again be the most powerful economy in the world.....in very short order.

That's a nice summary.

As far as the consumer saving through imports, I'd question that. For quality merchandise the consumer doesn't save when it's not made in the USA. The corporations, spokesmen, those transporting the goods do very well. Does anyone seriously think Nike wouldn't make a profit if their $200 sneakers were made in the USA? On the other end, a lot of the cheap merchandise needs replacement more often.

It's certainly not helping the US to have all wealth sucked upward. What's the answer? The cynic in me suspects there isn't one until the global economy collapses.