@Will posted:You could decide to buy only trains made in the US, but what about everything else you buy?
Our entire economy is based on consumption. Everyone wants everything and as cheap as possible. How do you think Walmart got to be the biggest company in the world? Selling American manufactured products?
Now everyone has to have a snow blower, a power washer, a leaf blower, a 60" TV, a giant gas grill, and for God's sake they are selling log splitters at HD! When I see someone blowing a few leaves around a yard, I want to walk out with a rake and say "Ever see one of these? They are pretty useful, and you might actually get a workout."
If we made do with less, we could buy more American products and better quality products, but that's not who we are. It's certainly not who the modern train collector is.
But that's the bargain we've struck. The elimination of organized labor, and the concentration of wealth at the top, that so many cheer about would be unsustainable without dirt-cheap consumer goods to keep the 99% happy.
