[Carmine]

Maybe so, but they [mitsubushi] DID make some SORRY engines! Like the 3.0 v6 in the late 80's Chrysler products. that was a LOSER, i have seen ,and heard of MANY of them that were DEAD, by the time 100k miles came around.

Maybe you didn't see the little laughing smiley RCA 2000, but that was sarcasim. For anybody involved in the auto industry, the idea of a high-quality Mitsubishi car is laughable.

Which of course illustrates the problem. The public at large is sold on the idea of high-quality foreign products on the basis of names like Toyota, Honda and Sony. With an occasional exception, this reputation is deserved. However, since we are a melting-pot nation that prefers not to deal with "details", we tend to paint things and people with broad strokes. So we forget the crummy Suzukis, Isuzus, and Gold Stars.

Rather than say "Sony builds a good TV", people say "Japanese TVs are good". Of course, the other side of this coin is "American made TVs are bad.", pretty soon it just becomes "Foreign stuff is better".

What makes the the statement of:

electronics made anywhere other than in the US are significantly better

...laughable at best, is the idea that US and Asian electronics were ever really competing in the market at the same time. We all know that most US brands started using foreign parts around the same time foreign sets started catching on, not years later. First in the cheaper B&W portables, then in color sets. For this statement to be even slightly true, you would need to compare (for example) a Chicago-built Zenith color set from around 1964 to a color Sony from the same era. What? You say there were no roundie color Sony sets back then? Hmmm, maybe we should compare grandad's old Zenith to a solid-state Sony color set from the 70s. That's fair, right?

Of course the idea of "anywhere" beside the US is stupid too, since I'd be pretty surprised to find an African, Russian or Chinese set from the 60s/70s/80s that was built better than its US counterpart. Sorry but when when you make such a broad statement, it sure does sound like you've got an axe to grind with your countymen.

So tell me Mr. Anywhere-but-US, why does the rest fo the world do it better than US? You clearly consider Angelo, Asian and Germanic goods to be superior (even if you can only offer stories from yer buddies). Thus it can't be that part of America that you dislike.... Are our corporations somehow greedier and more evil that those in other nations? Reading a foreign newspaper filled with corruption and corporate cover-ups wouldn't seem to indicate this.... hmmm, must just be something about "those" American workers.

You see, I am not a bigot. I have no problem admitting that many foreign products are better than certain American products. The reverse is also true. I don't consider any particular race or nation's people to be better or worse than Americans. I don't judge based on the actions of a few. I take the time to judge individuals, (products or people) and don't make blanket statements.

I share your interest and fascination for "foreign" products, not because I automatically consider them superior, but simply because they are different and I like to see other takes on product design.

BTW, Volvo's primary safety innovation was the shoulder safety belt. The first Swedish-spec Volvos to use it did so WITHOUT any lap belt. Shoulder belts alone practically guaranteed a neck injury in a crash. These early models were soon recalled. However, you can thank Chrysler (1974) for being the first manufacturer to install inertia-reel "uni-belts" (three point). This style of belt is the standard to this day.

That is, unless you were implying that when Volvo propped-up the roof of a sedan with 4x4s and cut the roof supports on other vechicles during an infamous TV commerical during the 80s as a safety feature?

Volvo story, Sixth paragraph

I guess I shouldn't voice my opinions anymore...

Boo-Hoo. Playing the 1st amendment marter doesn't impress me. Opine all you wish, just don't expect me to sit by silently.