From: "Phil Payne" 

> > Look for the graphs detailing the relationships between
"supply" &
> > "demand" & "price".
>
> Look up the word "productivity".

I wrecked an angle grinder a couple of months ago.  A Black and Decker
5" Professional that cost me GBP105 in 1987.  I thought about getting
it repaired.

I ws in Halfords in Sheffield buying something else and I casually looked
at their prices.

GBP14 for a device that, superficially, is the same quality as my old one
and came with five discs included in the package.  It's taken a hammering
since and seems fully up to the job.

I can't see the Chinese having inventory problems.  Not in my lifetime.
They're going through the same quality transition that the Japanese did.
Years ago the Japanese were known for cheap tinplate toys - now they've
moved up the quality scale so far that German shops advertise "Made in
Japan" on Japanese-brand equipment to distinguish it from the same
company's products made in South America.

It's the same with the Chinese.  I just bought a new digital camera for the
workshop - I don't need high resolution but I need a macro facility and a
tripod socket.  It's a 1.3mp "epsilon DIGITAL dream".

$40.  Even has a movie mode and a dictation facility.

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